David Berkman stands out as a creative pianist and composer whose work weaves unexpected subtleties and exploratory elements while staying firmly anchored in jazz conventions. Raised by an amateur pianist father, he began on bass for a brief period before shifting his focus to the piano. Local gigs marked his early efforts, yet he only embraced music with full commitment during college, a stretch that included studies at Berklee. After finishing his education he returned to Cleveland, where he regularly worked alongside drummer Greg Bandy and bassist Junie Booth while backing visiting headline performers. In 1985 he relocated to New York, and from that point onward his performances included engagements with trumpeter Scott Wendholt, tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, drummer Eliot Zigmund (resulting in a trio album), the Woody Herman Orchestra on its 1989 tour, drummer Matt Wilson, Joe Lovano, Billy Hart, and bassist Ray Drummond; he also supplied arrangements for vocalists Eden Atwood and Lisa Michel. His most sustained and significant partnerships developed with bassist Cecil McBee, yielding the recording Unspoken, as well as with the Vanguard Orchestra and Tom Harrell. Alto saxophonist Steve Wilson and Harrell both appeared on Berkman’s 1998 quintet album Handmade, issued by Palmetto. Communication Theory followed in 2000.
