A Cleveland native who played extensively around the city in the early 1980s, David Berkman’s appearance at BOP STOP marks his first hometown performance in over a decade. The Berkman/Armacost Quartet features:

• David Berkman, Piano
• Tim Armacost, Sax
• Aidan Plank, Bass
• Zaire Darden, Drums

DAVID BERKMAN: Since moving to New York in 1985, David Berkman has been an essential part of the jazz community. He is a highly sought-after pianist with a unique, creative and swinging personal voice and a highly regarded composer and arranger. He is an award-winning composer/bandleader (Doris Duke/ChamberMusic America) and a recording artist with 8 recordings under his name that have appeared on numerous best records of the year critic's lists (the New York Times, the Village Voice, Downbeat, JazzIz, Jazz Times and others). David Berkman is a busy educator, an associate professor and director of Jazz Studies at Queens College in New York and has published three books on jazz with Sher Music Publishing (“The Jazz Musician’s Guide to Creative Practice”, “The Jazz Singer’s Guidebook” and “The Jazz Harmony Book”) that are used in many universities worldwide. Berkman has played in countless bands including those of Cecil McBee, Tom Harrell and the Vanguard Orchestra and has performed with and/or recorded and/or arranged for numerous jazz luminaries, including: Sonny Stitt, Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Ray Drummond, Billy Hart, Dick Oatts, Chris Potter, Scott Wendholt, Lenny White, Scott Colley, Craig Handy, Bill Stewart, Dave Stryker, FatheadNewman, Bob Berg, Shunzo Ohno, Hank Crawford, and Jane Monheit. Now appearing more often as a bandleader, David Berkman has performed solo and with his quartet, quintet and sextet at festivals, clubs and concert halls in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, the U.K. and Asia.

His most recent CD, "Old Friends and New Friends” (2015, on Palmetto Records) with Brian Blade, Linda May Han Oh, Billy Drewes, Adam Kolker and Dayna Stephens has received rave reviews worldwide. (He performs regularly with this sextet—the next performance will be live-streamed at Smalls Jazz Club in New York September 27 and 28). He co-leads the New York Standards Quartet which just finished its 12th annual Japanese tour.

http://davidberkman.com/

TIM ARMACOST: After a life of travel and discovery on three continents, Grammy nominated saxophonist Tim Armacost has established himself as one of the most important improvisers on the New York scene today. Armacost was born in Los Angeles, but came of age as a musician in Tokyo, New Delhi and Amsterdam, where he burnished his reputation as an upcoming talent, with a big tenor sound and an impeccable rhythmic sense. He tours regularly around the world both as a sideman and a leader. Armacost has worked with a phenomenal number of jazz greats, including Al Foster, Jimmy Cobb, Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Peter Erskine, Ray Drummond, Roy Hargrove, Don Friedman and Randy Brecker. He has recorded 14 critically acclaimed records as a leader, performed on more than 50 as a sideman, and has composed for Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

He is a widely respected educator, having begun his teaching career as the head of the saxophone department at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam for five years. After returning to the States, Armacost earned his masters degree in Jazz Composition at Queens College, and since then has taught at the Jamey Aebersold and Stanford Summer Jazz Workshops, as an adjunct professor at Queens College in New York City and as a clinician at Universities throughout the U.S., Japan and Europe.

In addition to his own groups, Armacost co-leads the New York Standards Quartet, and the Brooklyn Big Band, for which he composes and arranges. His most recent recording, Time Being, featuring Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts and Bob Hurst has met with critical acclaim around the world.

http://www.timarmacost.com/