Ben Bernstein

Deutsche Grammophon is celebrating Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday (August 18, 2018) with a mammoth project. The great conductor, composer and musical communicator is commemorated in various editions; This Complete Works edition celebrates Bernstein's work as a passionate composer for the first time, a facet of his multiple works that was particularly close to his heart. The entire spectrum of Bernstein's musical work is presented on 26 CDs and 3 DVDs, music for ballets, operas, musicals, soundtracks, symphonic works, as well as piano, chamber and vocal music - Bernstein's work as a composer unfolds not only stylistically but also genre-wise. regarding in living diversity.

Guitarist and composer Ben Verdery cites Leonard Bernstein’s magnanimous artistic spirit as the inspiration for this album of new works for guitar and string quartet with the Ulysees Quartet. Indeed, Bernstein’s openness can be seen reflected in the eclectic aesthetic territory on offer, from Bryce Dessner’s percolating Quintet for High Strings to Verdery’s two works for electric guitar and quartet, and Javier Farias’ South American influenced Andean Suite to Verdery’s arrangement of Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata.

For Once in My Life is Ben Paterson's fourth album as a leader but first as an organist. In his native Philadelphia—home to such giants of the Hammond as Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, Charles Earland and Joey DeFrancesco—Paterson was known as a pianist. He began doubling on organ while living in Chicago, and by the time he moved to New York City in 2013 was gigging regularly on organ and piano all over Manhattan, from Harlem in the north to Greenwich Village in the south. One of the reasons he made the move to organ, Paterson says, is "I get to be the bassist."

MTO Volume 1 is the 2006 recording by Steven Bernstein and his Millennial Territory Orchestra. This one is a a swinger and a beefer and one hell of a beefer it is. This was released by the Sunnyside label.

With groups like Sex Mob, Millennial Territory Orchestra and Diaspora Soul, Steven Bernstein is energizing the downtown scene with a passionate and indefatigable creativity. His brilliance continues with Diaspora Suite, the fourth installment in his Diaspora series for Tzadik and perhaps the best! Twelve original compositions exploring the Jewish tradition are brilliantly performed by a nonet of California musicians including Ben Goldberg, Peter Apfelbaum and several key players from his legendary band the Hieroglyphics. Channeling Miles Davis, Gil Evans and the Sephardic traditions of Darkness and Light, this is fabulous new Jewish music by one of the most talented and charismatic figures in the downtown scene.

No figure in 20th century American classical music had as prominent or controversial a career – or did more to sell classical music to the general public as something genuinely exciting, and worth getting into a sweat over – than Leonard Bernstein. For more than 30 years, from his assumption of the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958 until the final concerts that he conducted in obviously failing health near the end of his life in 1990, he was the most prominent and widely recognized American-born conductor in the world, and the dominant personality in American classical music as both a conductor and, to a lesser degree, a composer. A flamboyant public figure, he burst three different times on the musical world – twice in classical with a rush of success on Broadway in between – in a blaze of glory, in the space of 15 years; and over a career lasting from the early '40s until the beginning of the '90s, he never lost an opportunity to advance his reputation as well as the cause of music.

Leonard Bernstein was without question the greatest musician America ever produced. As an inspirational teacher and renowned conductor he was the nation’s musical ambassador to the world, and his work as a composer bridged gaps and broke down barriers, reaching audiences way beyond the normal boundaries of classical music.

Leonard Bernstein No figure in 20th century American classical music had as prominent or controversial a career – or did more to sell classical music to the general public as something genuinely exciting and worth getting into a sweat over – than Leonard Bernstein. For more than 30 years, from his assumption of the post of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958 until the final concerts that he conducted in obviously failing health near the end of his life in 1990, he was the most widely recognized American-born conductor in the world, and the dominant personality in American classical music as both a conductor and, to a lesser degree, a composer.