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John Berkman: The Soloist

by Daniel Berkman

supported by
Steve Lawson
Steve Lawson thumbnail
Steve Lawson Wow! What an amazing artefact! Such exquisite performances and really remarkable recording quality for 1955! These recordings are a delight (and those violin runs at the beginning of the presto in the Walton are outrageous!! 🙂)
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about

John Berkman, (May 22nd, 1929 - February 28th. 2017), made his name as a Broadway accompanist, conductor, dance arranger (Follies, Pippin, Minnie's Boys, Sugar, Cabaret, Flora The Red Menace and more) and was a composer and successful concert and studio session pianist for over 60 years.
But, only a handful of people knew John was once an accomplished violinist.

There was a Berkman family legend that at one time John had performed the Walton Violin Concerto and Brahms and Rachmaninoff concertos on the same night for the President's Own Marine Band but there was no evidence.
While attending the Hartt School of Music in Hartford Connecticut in the early nineties, I attempted to track down these fabled recordings myself.
Then, almost 20 years later, it was John who miraculously came upon them by contacting the archives in Washington when we least expected him to be able carry out such detective work himself. Mystery solved!

Now these bravura performances have made their way to your ears to be enjoyed once again after decades of silence.

February 28th, 2019 will mark the 2 year anniversary of John Berkman's passing and this digital release is a tribute to his life-long contribution to music and a precious snapshot of history which he never saw fit to share with us in his own lifetime.

May his music live on in our hearts and ears...

-Daniel Berkman (2019)

credits

released February 26, 2019

Violin & Piano performed by John Berkman
with the President's Own United States Marine Band, circa 1955
Produced by Daniel Berkman
Cover art by Daniel Berkman
Mastered by Daniel Berkman
© Daniel Berkman 2019

Recording courtesy of "The President's Own" US Marine Band™
Use of this recording does not constitute or imply endorsement by the
Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps, or U.S. Marine Band

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all rights reserved

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about

Daniel Berkman San Francisco, California

Daniel Berkman is a Bay Area electronic musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, looper and innovator of the Kora (a 21-stringed harp-lute from West Africa) and it's modern counterpart, the Gravikord.
Daniel composes for dance, film, instrumental, vocal and also has recordings under his electronic music moniker Colfax.
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