Sounds of Berklee

By Adam Olenn May 2, 2011 International songstress Gemma Genazzano '02 has toured and recorded with artists as diverse as Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Shania Twain, and Nine Inch Nails. The daughter of Italian actor Oswaldo Genazzano, she has claimed her own place in the spotlight, performing at European jazz festivals and American institutions like the Blue Note and Madison Square Garden.

By Adam Olenn April 8, 2011 Mark Small's music is a distinctly American blend of jazz, blues, sacred, and classical. His eighth album, Scenes, was released in February 2011. Small's pieces have placed in several international composition competitions and been recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. His arrangement of Pat Metheny's "Letter from Home" was included by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet...

By Adam Olenn March 23, 2011 Songwriters Amy Heidemann '08 and Nick Noonan '08 strip their performance down to the essentials of music: melody, harmony, and rhythm. Using only their voices, an acoustic guitar, and a Peruvian box drum called a cajón, they manage to create fully realized covers of pop hits and their original songs. Their first album, Inside Out, was released in 2010, and they've gar...

By Adam Olenn March 18, 2011 The music of Israeli-Mexican guitarist Ilan Bar-Lavi rings with authentic globalism, blending Latin and Middle Eastern music with rock and jazz. Bliss, his 2009 album of original compositions, features saxophonist Matan Chapnizka, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo, and drummer Jeffrey Fajardo. Bar-Lavi has performed on some of the jazz world's top stages...

By Adam Olenn March 8, 2011 London-born Christine Vaindirlis was raised in apartheid-era Johannesburg, but left to study at Italy's Milan Conservatory. She was awarded an Achievement Scholarship at Berklee, and graduated with honors. Vaindirlis’s debut album Dance Mama! is influenced by traditional jazz and South African music, and features accomplished Berklee alumni including Bryan Baker, Dan Br...

By Adam Olenn K Ishibashi and Zac Colwell founded Jupiter One after working together as traveling musicians in the Barnum’s Kaleidoscope orchestra. Many of their tracks have been used in video games, including Madden NFL, NHL 08, Burnout Paradise, and FIFA 08. Other tracks have been used in advertisements for Mazda, the FIFA soccer federation, Payless shoes, and the MLB network. Both their eponymo...

By Adam Olenn February 7, 2011 Hailed by Guitar Player magazine as a "world-class [group], with authenticity, aplomb, and exuberance," Esthema is a world fusion ensemble hailing from Boston that fuses progressive rock and jazz with traditional music of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Greek multi-instumentalist Tery Lemanis, Brazilian percussionist Bruno Esrubilsky, and Argentinian bassist Igna...

January 21, 2011 You've heard of English guitarists like Clapton, Beck, and Page. Well, Guthrie Govan may just be better than all of them. The instrumental rock virtuoso—comfortable in a range of styles, from mainstream shred rock to chicken-picking country—brings his eclectic compositions and improvisational prowess to the Berklee Performance Center this month. He'll hit the stage with the Jon Fi...

December 15, 2010 Virtuoso jazz pianist Takeshi Ohbayashi '10 is a member of the inaugural class of students selected to be in the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. He and guitarist Lionel Loueke '01 perform as part of NPR's Toast of the Nation live holiday broadcast on December 31, 2010. The show will be heard on 200 NPR affiliates. Begin the New Year's celebration a little early by listening to a n...

November 29, 2010 While hanging out in front of Berklee's 150 Mass. Ave. building this summer, Five-Week Performance Program student Tristan Allen had a fateful meeting with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. The two pianists hit it off, have written and recorded together, and they're giving a concert at the Berklee Performance Center on December 12. The latest Sounds of Berklee podcast features...

November 17, 2010 Each spring break Berklee students make a pilgrimage to Nashville, but this year, Kathy Mattea is bringing Nashville to Berklee. The Grammy-winning country singer presents a concert with students on March 10 as part of Berklee's Signature Series, and tickets are on sale now. Get a taste with Mattea's version of "Red-Winged Blackbird," from her new disc, Coal.

October 8, 2010 The Berklee World Strings is a chamber-sized string orchestra emphasizing improvisation and the rhythmic capabilities of string instruments, playing jazz, bluegrass, contemporary classical, and a range of other styles. On October 14, they present a concert with bassist Ron Carter in tribute to pioneering bebopper Oscar Pettiford. Listen to their arrangement of Eddie Sauter's "Night...

June 17, 2010 Berklee student saxophonist Hailey Niswanger is only 20 years old, but she's already established herself as a serious jazz artist. She's shared the stage with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, McCoy Tyner, and many others. A student in the inaugural class of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Niswanger recently released a debut recording that so impressed legen...

June 4, 2010 Tubby Love is a Berklee student group with a mission to help lead what it calls a "reggae soul revolution." While the group's music looks forward, there's no mistaking its nod to the reggae tradition of spreading positive messages. The group plays several free outdoor shows as part of Berklee's 2010 Summer Concert Series. This Sounds of Berklee podcast features the Tubby Love tune, "C...

May 21, 2010 Versatile student vocalist, pianist, and guitarist Julia Easterlin released two albums at the age of 17, one a jazz disc and the other folk-rock. While a member of the Grammy Jazz Ensemble, she performed with Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers, and others. She's developing a buzz for her concerts, during which she'll often use a looping station to create and build backing tracks as...

May 5, 2010 This edition of Sounds of Berklee recognizes the student musicians who help make their classmates sound good in the recording studio. While the artist and songwriter Brianne Crawford clearly has loads of talent, her song comes to life at the hands of music production and engineering majors Avi Gunther and Tom Kain, who produced and engineered the recording, respectively. Gunther and Ka...

April 28, 2010 Berklee's student-run record label Jazz Revelation Records released its seventh compilation album, Birds of a Feather, in April. The disc features 11 young jazz artists from around the globe—each leading a band performing original compositions. The scope of the CD is wide-ranging, with artists performing styles including traditional and contemporary jazz, nu-jazz, fusion, and jazz w...

March 24, 2010 Nearly 25 percent of all Berklee students hail from countries outside the United States. The musical melting pot leads to fusions of countless contepmorary styles, and there's one Berklee concert every year where those global influences are front and center - the International Folk Music Festival. The 2010 festival features student and faculty artists from 11 countries. One of them...

By Berklee Office of Communications March 16, 2010 Several bands featuring Berklee students and alumni are off for Austin, Texas, this month, as the college returns to the South by Southwest Music Conference. Several of the artists are student groups that have recorded on Berklee's student-run label, Heavy Rotation Records. Many up-and-coming artists have appeared on HRR compilations, including St...

By Berklee Office of Communications March 1, 2010 Berklee faculty members Livingston Taylor, Donna McElroy, and George W. Russell Jr. are among several artists performing in Berklee's Concert for Haiti in February. The concert will also feature the Berklee Reggae Ensemble, a cappella group Pitch Slapped, Women of the World, and an ensemble from OAMEC, an organization that provides free music educa...

By Berklee Office of Communications February 12, 2010 This year, Berklee's Africana Studies music programming brings together musicians from all over the world. One of the guest artists featured during the Roots and Reason concert series is EMI recording artist, guitarist, and Berklee alumnus Lionel Loueke '01. Loueke grew up in Benin, West Africa, and his new album, Karibu, combines West African...

By Berklee Office of Communications January 27, 2010 This year, Berklee's Africana Studies music programming celebrates the richness of America's roots music traditions. One of the guest artists featured during the Roots and Reason concert series is Mississippi Delta blues guitarist Ben Payton. Payton spent years on the Chicago blues scene, playing with artists such as Eddie Shaw and Junior Wells....

By Berklee Office of Communications October 16, 2009 Cuba-born drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto has been a dynamic force on both the jazz and Latin music scenes since moving to New York ten years ago. He's been nominated for Grammys and played with artists like Chuco Valdes, Michel Camilo, and Don Byron. Prieto brings his Si o Si Quartet to Cafe 939 for two concerts this month as part of Marsali...

By Berklee Office of Communications September 3, 2009 Berklee alumnus and saxophonist Donald Harrison is the originator of the nouveau swing style, which merges acoustic swing with modern r&b, second-line, hip-hop, New Orleans roots music, and reggae rhythms. Harrison has played with many of the big names in jazz, but he has also discovered and nurtured talented up-and-comers like Christian Scott,...

By Berklee Office of Communications August 4, 2009 Drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington always seems to be ahead of the curve. She began her Berklee studies at the age of 13 and was touring with jazz legends like Clark Terry before she was out of her teens. After more than 20 years of touring with luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, and Cassandra Wilson, she...