Peter Bernstein was born in New York City in 1967. He has been playing and recording since 1990 when he first appeared on recordings with Lou Donaldson and the organ trio of Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart, a group still touring and recording today. Peter played in Lou Donaldson's group for 10 years as well as performing and recording with Joshua Redman's group 1995-97. Other associations and collaborations include Jimmy Cobb, Dr. Lonnie Smith, David Fathead Newman, Brad Mehldau, Etta Jones, Melvin Rhyne, Diana Krall, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Konitz, Nicholas Payton, George Coleman, and Sonny Rollins. Peter has played on festival, concert, and club stages all over the world since the early 90's. He has appeared on over 300 recordings with these musicians and many of his contemporaries as well as 14 records under his own name. These recordings have featured many of his own compositions and musicians such as Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Greg Hutchinson, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Stewart, Larry Grenadier, Gerald Clayton, Sullivan Fortner, Peter Washington, Doug Weiss, and Joe Farnsworth among others. His latest recording on the Smoke Sessions label is "Better Angels", and features Brad Mehldau, Vicente Archer, and Al Foster.
NEW RELEASE:
WHAT COMES NEXT
Peter Bernstein (G)
Sullivan Fortner (P)
Peter Washington (B)
Joe Farnsworth (D)
PETER BERNSTEIN | “WHAT COMES NEXT” | AVAILABLE OCTOBER 16 VIA SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS
Guitarist Peter Bernstein Emerges From Quarantine With a New Album, What Comes Next, That Looks Hopefully Forward in Spite of an Uncertain Future Due Out October 16 via Smoke Sessions Records: Features Sullivan Fortner, Peter Washington, and Joe Farnsworth Scintillating Originals, Reimagined Standards, and a Previously Unrecorded Sonny Rollins Composition
Peter Bernstein, Sullivan Fortner, Peter Washington and Joe Farnsworth to Preview Album via Livestream Performance from Smoke Jazz & Supper Club: August 14 and 15 at 8:00PM
The title of What Comes Next, the latest album by guitarist Peter Bernstein, certainly echoes a question that we’ve all been asking ourselves in recent months. Locked away, wary of leaving the house during a global pandemic, divided by politics and protests, all during the most vital Presidential election in living memory – any one of those issues would spell an uncertain future.
But look again at that title: Bernstein very deliberately left off the question mark. While the interrogative continues to apply, especially for musicians in a world without gigs, Bernstein set out to make a statement as well. Due out October 16 on Smoke Sessions Records, What Comes Next not only arrives in the midst of quarantine but was recorded during the lockdown as well. With what once was the simple act of gathering four stellar musicians in a room to play music together, the album points a musical way forward in the way that only the most incisive jazz can. Bernstein will perform in a livestream event at the label’s namesake New York City club this weekend, August 14 and 15, at 8:00PM with the band from the album.
“Without the question mark, What Comes Next implies that you have some idea, some intention,” Bernstein explains. “That seems like such a huge concept now, but it’s inherent to the very idea of playing jazz. It’s the basic question that we deal with all the time when we’re given the freedom to improvise: now what do I play? What note should come next? Where are we in the conversation? With everybody’s lives being put on hold, that idea can be extended beyond the fact of just playing music.”
With tour schedules and conflicting dates hardly being an issue these days, Bernstein assembled a dream quartet for the date. He’s joined by Grammy-winning pianist Sullivan Fortner (Cécile McLorin Salvant, Roy Hargrove), drummer and frequent collaborator Joe Farnsworth (McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders) and for the first time on one of the guitarist’s own sessions by the always exquisite bassist Peter Washington (Bill Charlap, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers).