Week's Events Also Include Free Concerts by Piano Faculty JoAnne Brackeen, Laszlo Gardony, Bob Winter, Suzanne Davis, John Arcaro, Josh Rosen, Bob Christopherson, Bruce Katz and Dave Limina

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	Toshiko Akiyoshi

On Tuesday, March 2, Latin jazz and Salsa piano great Eddie Palmieri (see bio below), who received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee in 1998, makes a Visiting Artist appearance for Berklee students and faculty only from 1 to 3 p.m. in the David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston Street. The multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning Palmieri will present an oral history of Latin, Afro-Cuban, and Afro-Caribbean music and discuss their application to piano music, and will also perform during the second half of the presentation.

On Thursday, March 4, Berklee graduate and 1998 Honorary Doctor of Music recipient, pianist/composer Toshiko Akiyoshi '59 (see bio below) will present a Visiting Artist clinic at 1 p.m. in the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue. That event is free and open to the public. That evening Toshiko will perform solo and with her trio in a concert at the Berklee Performance Center. At that evening's concert, as part of Women's Month, Toshiko will be honored in a presentation by the college's Women's Network.

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	Eddie Palmieri

On Tuesday, March 4, there will be two free events in the David Friend Recital Hall. At 4 p.m., Piano Department Chair Stephany Tiernan and Composition Associate Professor Andrew List will present "New Piano Music." Compositions by students William Trevaskis, Beau Kenyon and David Utzinger will be performed by students Chieko Matsunami, Beau Kenyon, Mamasi Tomihisa and Saori Furuya.  And at 7 p.m. Assistant Professor Suzanne Davis will perform jazz originals with Garth Stevenson (bass) and Ziv Ravitz (drums).

Tuesday evening's 8:15 p.m. concert in the Berklee Performance Center will feature some of the Piano Department's top students: Juan Gomez Galiardo, Ian McGuire, Chris Enright and Roy Assaf.

Piano Week 2004 events on Wednesday, March 3, include three free faculty concerts in the David Friend Recital Hall. At 1 p.m. Professor Bob Winter performs original and standard jazz compositions for solo piano. At 4 p.m. Associate Professor Bruce Katz and Assistant Professor Dave Limina present a Hammond B3 Organ Festival. At 7 p.m. Professor Laszlo Gardony performs original jazz with his trio, including Associate Professor John Lockwood (bass) and Percussion Assistant Chair Yoron Israel (drums).

On Wednesday evening, at 8:15 p.m. at the Berklee Performance Center, the Piano Department presents "All Keys Night" — a faculty concert and accordion fiesta with Russ Hoffmann, Ross Ramsay, Bruce Thomas, Dennis Cecere, JoAnne Brackeen and Stephany Tiernan, Bob Winter and Jetro DaSilva, the Matt Jenson Trio, the Josh Rosen Trio, and others.

The final day of Piano Week 2004, Thursday, March 4, kicks off with Toshiko Akiyoshi's free Visiting Artist Clinic at 1 p.m in the Berklee Performance Center. Free events on Thursday continue in the David Friend Recital Hall with the Emmanuel Zambelli Scholarship Concert at 4 p.m., and a piano concert by Assistant Professor Bob Christopherson at 7 p.m.

Piano Week 2004 culminates in an evening concert at 8:15 p.m. in the Berklee Performance Center by Toshiko Akiyoshi, who will perform solo and with her trio, and be honored with a presentation by the college's Women's Network.

Toshiko Akiyoshi
Manchurian-born Toshiko Akiyoshi's interest in the piano started at age six, and by the time her family had moved back to Japan at the end of World War II, Toshiko had developed a deep love for music. She soon began playing piano professionally, which eventually led to being discovered by pianist Oscar Peterson in 1952 during a "Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic" tour of Japan. On Peterson's recommendation, Toshiko recorded for Granz, and not long after, she came to the U.S. to study at Berklee on a full scholarship, accorded her by Berklee founder Lawrence Berk.

Her years in Boston, and later on in New York, developed her into a first class pianist. Her interest in composing and arranging came to fruition when she moved to Los Angeles in 1972 with her husband, saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin. The following year they formed the world-renowned big band that is now known as the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra featuring Lew Tabackin. The band, which began as a vehicle for Toshiko's own compositions, grew in stature during its 10 years on the West Coast and gained a reputation as one of the most excellent and innovative big bands in jazz. In 1976 the band placed first in the Down Beat Critics' Poll, and her album Long Yellow Road was named best jazz album of the year by Stereo Review. In 1977 her recording Insights was named record of the year by Down Beat.

Toshiko has recorded 18 albums with the Jazz Orchestra. Her recording Four Seasons of the Morita Village was awarded the 1996 Swing Journal Silver Award. Toshiko's big band albums have received 14 GRAMMY® Award nominations since 1976. The band was also voted #1 in Down Beat's best big band category, and Toshiko has placed first in the best arranger and composer category in the Down Beat Readers' Poll, making her the first woman in the history of jazz to have been so honored.

In 1996, Toshiko realized a long time dream when she completed her autobiography Life With Jazz, which is now in its third printing in Japanese and will soon be translated into Korean. In 1995 the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra was invited to play in China.

Eddie Palmieri
The world has long admired the Spanish Harlem born, seven-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Eddie Palmieri as one of the foremost Latin pianists of the last half-century. Although he took classical piano lessons for a while, performing at Carnegie Recital Hall at age 11, it was his ability to fuse the rhythms of his Hispanic heritage with the jazz influences of Thelonius Monk and McCoy Tyner that made him an immediate hit when he played New York's Palladium Ballroom ("Home of the Mambo" at 53rd Street and Broadway), in the '50s and '60s.

The Concord Picante recording artist's effusive personality and keenness for a wide range of historical, scientific and musical topics matches perfectly a career which has found him shaping his own agenda, jumping from structured dance records to free jazz. The constant has been his creation of works that nudge the cause of Latin jazz forward while fostering a sizable, remarkably faithful and always growing audience.

Palmieri made his professional debut with Johnny Sequi's orchestra in 1955. He organized his Conjunto La Perfecta after a chance meeting with late trombonist Barry Rogers at the Triton club, another Nuyorican dance club of the time. The two instituted a two-trombone, flute, piano, bass and Latin percussion band that quickly gained acclaim and popularity over then-common trumpet dominated Latin dance ensembles. In 1973, he won the GRAMMY Award's first tropical music accolade, later returning to his dancehall roots before coming back to Latin jazz full force with 1994's recording Palmas. That year, he helped convinced the Recording Academy® to establish the Latin GRAMMY.

Eddie Palmieri has continued to roll on with stylistic innovations over the years, creating classic Tico albums and later mixing salsa with R&B, pop, rock, Spanish vocals and more jazz improvisation. With the passing of Tito Puente, the 67-year-old Palmieri has become the premier Latin jazz ambassador to the world.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.


For more press information, please contact:

Toni Ballard
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
tballard@berklee.edu