Shelly Berg (Photo courtesy of Frost School of Music)
Shelly Berg is an acclaimed jazz pianist and a multi-Grammy nominated arranger, orchestrator and producer. The big names in jazz he has performed or recorded with, or arranged include Nancy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Monica Mancini, Ray Brown, Branford Marsalis, Dave Grusin, and Woody Herman, and many, many more. He has produced scores of CDs, and has composed music for movies and TV shows. He is also dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, with 40 years of experience and awards in higher education.
Lisa Fischer (Photo courtesy of Christina Alonso)
He is also the artistic director of the Jazz Roots at the Adrienne Arsht Center, and he talked about the upcoming concert, "Sarah Vaughn: A Sassy Centennial," that kicks off Friday night, Nov. 1.
miamiartzine.com: Your show on Nov. 1, "Sarah Vaughn: A Sassy Centennial" is a curated show. What does that mean?
Lisa Fischer (Photo courtesy of Alex Logaiski)
Shelly Berg: A curated show is a show that was especially created for this performance; we write the script, pick the stars, and pick the theme, and the show is only performed once. For instance, we did "British Invasion-Latin Style," where we did the music of the British Invasion as it would have sounded if it had been performed by Latin stars, and "Jazz and the Philharmonic," which featured classical music performed as jazz.
maz: Why did you chose Sarah Vaughn's music as your theme?
SB: First, it is the centennial of her birth, but also because she is second only to Ella Fitzgerald as one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. If there was Mount Rushmore of Jazz singers, she would be one it.
maz: What will the audience take away from this show?
SB: I want them to have a great evening, and leave, feeling so glad they came, and I also want them to gain some knowledge of Sarah Vaughn, the history of the music she sang, and its importance to American culture.
Patti Austin (Photo from Artist Management)
maz: Tell me why you chose these particular performers.
SB: Patti Austin actually knew Sarah Vaughn. She is the closest link to Sarah Vaughn, she is a Grammy winner and a great singer in her own right. Randy Brecker, along with Wynton Marsalis, is one of the two more iconic trumpet players in the world. I don't think there is a better singer today than Lisa Fischer. She has sung everything, including Funk and R&B, and we wanted to make sure this was a living and breathing concert, not just a museum piece. As for Tyreek McDole, he is the winner of the 2023 Sarah Vaughn Vocal Competition, and he is a star on the rise. Sarah Vaughn loved to do duets, so we will be recreating some of the classic Sarah Vaughn and Joe Williams Duets.
maz: You know the question I always ask you—will you be performing as well, I am hoping?
SB: Yes! I also love doing duets, and Patti has asked me to do a duet with her.
maz: The performers will be backed by the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. Tell me about this orchestra.
SB: The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra is the resident orchestra at the Frost School of Music and performs at all our Jazz Roots shows. These students not only learn to play in an orchestra and a jazz band, but they also get to play with famous guest stars before a huge audience, and play on film tracks and for TV shows too. Since this is a curated show, almost every note that they play was is not only played by, but was arranged by either a Frost School of Music student, or a faculty member.
Randy Brecker (Photo courtesy of Artist Management)
maz: Tell me about the other shows in this season's Jazz Roots series.
SB: Chucho Valdés and his Royal Quartet is coming up on Feb. 7. He is a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts, named for being one of the most influential figures in Latin and Cuban-Afro jazz, and he is a perennial favorite of ours.
Next up, on March 25, is "Jason Moran performs the Music of Duke Ellington: My Heart Sings." This is another curated show; Jason Moran is creating a Duke Ellington show, and he is our modern-day Duke Ellington. He will perform this show with his wife, Alicia Hall Moran, who is a terrific opera singer, who starred as Bess in the Tony award-winning revival of "Porgy and Bess."
maz: And tell me about that season finale you've got coming up on April 11 showcasing Arturo Sandoval.
SB: "Auturo Sandoval: A Master of Afro-Cuban Jazz," will be an incredible night. We know Auturo in Miami, of course, because he had a club here, but he is an acclaimed trumpeter, jazz musician, and a national figure. He is getting the Kennedy Center Honor in December, last year he was honored with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Recording Academy, he was given the Congressional Medal of Honor, and his life story was a movie starring Andy Garcia. This will be an incredible night.
WHAT: "Jazz Roots: A Sassy Centennial"
WHEN: 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1
WHERE: Knight Concert Hall, 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami, 33132.
TICKETS: $40 - $130.
INFO: Box Office: (786) 486-2000, www.artshtcenter.org
