Sounds of Berklee

By Berklee Office of Communications June 3, 2009 Poignant songs and masterful musicianship come together in the music of Nini & Ben, a duo that accentuates its acoustic sound with gritty slide guitar and pedal steel. Nini & Ben has spent years performing all over Europe and Australia, writing songs, and falling in love with the gypsy life style. Having been cowriters since their teenage years, Nin...

May 8, 2009 Student Cole DeGenova—a pianist, vocalist, songwriter, percussionist, and poet from Chicago—studied classical, jazz, blues, Cuban, and Brazilian percussion, but was also influenced by neo-soul and hip-hop. He has performed with or opened for some of Chicago's top artists, including Kurt Elling, Patricia Barber, Jon Faddis, and Corey Wilkes. DeGenova toured the Midwest with Hal Reed and...

By Berklee Office of Communications January 30, 2009 Dorm Sessions 6, the latest release from Berklee's student-run label, Heavy Rotation Records, features the original songs of nine innovative student bands, including the melodic rock of Model Cars. Pianist/violinist Claudio Olachea began putting together the band in 2006 by looking for bandmates who would help him create intelligent indie rock w...

Trio Holiday Mountain, a self-described "dance psych pop workout," has been defying genres since forming in Berklee in 2011. Composed of alumni Laura Patiño '12 (vocals, synthesizers), former Five-Week Summer Performance Program student Zander Kagle (drums, electronic percussion), and Bradley Will '09 (synthesizers, electric bass, vocals), the Austin transplants were recently featured in Spin maga...

May 6, 2015 by Curtis Killian Around Thanksgiving 2012, after a string of tours performing with the likes of CeeLo Green and Imagine Dragons, multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter DaNiiVORY ‘08 intended to shift focus toward producing her own music. But when she received the call to play keys with Beyoncé, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. Her second gig: The 2013 Super Bowl XLVII halftim...

Chrissy Tignor, assistant professor of contemporary writing and production, is a producer, engineer, songwriter, and remix artist, often producing in the pop/EDM genres under the name Data Child. In this episode, Tignor talks about the programs she's started at Berklee, the skills students need to keep up with an ever-changing technological landscape, and gives us a snippet of the new track "Maste...

Grey Season is a band that fuses folk and rock to bring its fans five-part harmony, blues-rooted guitar solos, and memorable melodies driven by the plucking of bouzoukis and banjos. The band released its debut album, Time Will Tell You Well, in 2014, a recording that was produced by Benny Grotto, a Boston Music Awards producer of the year; and three-time Grammy winner Justin Guip, at Levon Helm St...

April 21, 2015 by Curtis Killian New York based pianist and composer Mina Yu '12 began playing at age 4 in her native Korea under the tutelage of her mother, an accomplished piano teacher, where her prodigal talents earned her a scholarship to Berklee. With an expansive style rooted in jazz, Yu has toured and recorded internationally, working as bandleader, sideman, musical director and educator....

April 6, 2015 by Curtis Killian Jason Rueger and Austin Nelson of the Brooklyn-bred duo Curtin released their debut album, One for the Doghearted, in 2014. Largely recorded at Nelson's home studio in Charleston, South Carolina, the album features Berklee alumni Sweeney Tidball ’03 and Andrew Tracy ’04, who also handled mixing, as well as Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen. From One for the Doghear...

By Lesley Mahoney March 10, 2014 In 2005, professor Bill Banfield launched a weekly series at Bob the Chef's (now Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen) in Boston's South End, featuring alumni, student, and faculty jazz musicians. Their collaboration created a new kind of cross-generational sound that fused jazz, soul, and funk while fostering an environment of mentorship. That marked the birth of the gro...

By Kimberly Ashton December 18, 2013 Photo by Phil Farnsworth Michael Sweet, an associate professor who teaches video game scoring, has seen gaming grow from a niche market into a $60-billion-a-year industry. As money has poured into the field, and its technological achievements have soared, games have grown increasingly sophisicated in terms of visuals, storylines, and music. "The video game manu...

March 26, 2015 By Sophie Maricq and Rob Hochschild The New York-based Gregorio Uribe Big Band is a 16-piece orchestra that blends cumbia and other Colombian rhythms with the powerful sound and arrangements of a high-intensity large ensemble. Led by Colombia-born vocalist and accordionist Gregorio Uribe, the band held a monthly residency for four years at Zinc Bar in Greenwich Village, and has perf...

March 26, 2015 By Sophie Maricq and Rob Hochschild The New York-based Gregorio Uribe Big Band is a 16-piece orchestra that blends cumbia and other Colombian rhythms with the powerful sound and arrangements of a high-intensity large ensemble. Led by Colombia-born vocalist and accordionist Gregorio Uribe, the band held a monthly residency for four years at Zinc Bar in Greenwich Village, and has perf...

March 9, 2015 by Curtis Killian Founded by Greek-born singer, film scorer and composer Magda Giannikou '08, Banda Magda deftly melds styles from samba to Greek folk to Columbian cumbia. Having studied film scoring at Berklee, Giannikou has caught the attention of everyone from Kronos Quartet to Louis C.K., even singing a duet with the comedian for his hit TV show. In 2014 Giannikou released the al...

By Berklee Office of Communications September 2, 2008 Faculty and flutist Fernando Brandão is one of the more than 120 musicians performing at the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, September 25–27. His septet will be among the many artists performing in the free outdoor show on Saturday, September 27, in Boston's South End neighborhood. BeanTown Jazz attracted 70,000 music fans to the free concerts...

By Berklee Office of Communications October 1, 2008 Berklee student Shea Rose's MySpace bio describes her as the black Rickie Lee Jones and the female Lenny Kravitz. The Boston-born musician also has an armful of original songs that reveal an expansive emotional range while highlighting her chops as both a vocalist and guitarist. Shea Rose's "Free Love" is one of the tunes on tap for her performan...

Cordelia and the Buffalo is an electronic indie rock band led by Berklee student Cordelia Vizcaino, a Mexican-American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. The Texas native—a vocalist who plays keyboards and synthesizers—draws her musical inspiration from Mexican Indian tribes and Native American cultures. She formed the band in 2011 with classmates Yusuke Sato (guitar), Rodrigo Gramitto (g...

By Curtis Killian January 29, 2015 Jazz bassist, vocalist and composer Katie Thiroux celebrates the release of her debut CD Introducing Katie Thiroux in concert on Wednesday, February 4 at Cafe 939 and streaming live at wgbo.org via The Checkout - Live at Berklee. Thiroux received a Presidential Scholarship to Berklee in 2006, gaining the attention of alumni Terri Lyne Carrington and Branford Mars...

By Rob Hochschild January 9, 2015 Three musicians—bassist Alissia Benveniste, guitarist Maddie Rice, and drummer Amber Baker—founded Common Thread as Berklee students in 2013. The band is an all-female collective of like-minded musicians from all over the globe, brought together by a passion for funk and pop music. The group fuses influences from a range of genres, building a sound that brings tog...

December 22, 2014 by Curtis Killian With inspiration from the likes of Hank Williams and Johnhny Cash, Girls Guns and Glory tours 250 days a year, bringing their Boston-bred Americana worldwide. Featuring Ward Haden on vocals, Josh Kiggans on drums, Chris Hirsch on guitar and Berklee alumnus Paul Dilley of H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E. on upright and electric bass, the band was recently named one of ten new...

December 16, 2014 by Curtis Killian The Shills have been a driving force in the Boston rock scene for the past decade, offering audiences tightly crafted grooves, powerful vocals and an expansive creative range, and were recently listed as #1 in Vents Magazine's top-ten list of Boston bands. Frontman Bryan Murphy, who is also a member of expiremental band Man Man, and guitarist Ryan Jackson are jo...

By Berklee Office of Communications August 1, 2008 Berklee alumnus Kendrick Oliver and his 19-piece New Life Jazz Orchestra has been described by Jazz Times magazine as "inventive, vital, and fresh." The group plays Count Basie-style swing with foot-stomping arrangements, high-octane rhythms, and an unrestrained brass section. Their take on "Wade in the Water" features Christian McBride on bass.

By Berklee Office of Communications July 1, 2008 The Berklee Latin All Stars are winners of the 2008 Down Beat Student Music Award for Best College Jazz Band under the name La Timbistica. Sounds of Berklee for July 2008 features the six-piece group performing "Centro Havana," a composition by Cuban flutist Oriente Lopez.

By Berklee Office of Communications June 2, 2008 Zili Misik is an all-woman band whose repertoire ranges from Haitian to blues to Afro-Cuban music and beyond. Most of the group's eight members are Berklee students or alumni. In the Sounds of Berklee podcast for June 2008, you'll hear "Praia," a song from the group's debut disc, New World Soul. You can also hear it live during Berklee's free summer...

By Berklee Office of Communications May 9, 2008 Sounds of Berklee for May 2008 brings you the music of Jennifer "Nesi" Chianesi, an 18-year-old rapper from Cranston, Rhode Island. Her original, "Shake Up," made her one of two grand prize winners in Berklee and Essence magazine's Hip-Hop Songwriting Contest. The contest winners were selected by a panel that included hip-hop celebrity judges Yo-Yo,...