The author and trumpeter discusses his new book, which features intimate interviews with jazz greats from Bertha Hope to Robert Glasper. The book and its companion album shine a light on how personal history is cultural history. (Theme music is "You Made Me" by Sleeping Lion)

Jeremy Pelt's 'Griot' Reveals the Personal Side of Jazz History

Composer Ray Soul takes us behind the making of his track, "Seu Aprendiz," which is an honest, moving, and cathartic reckoning with his mother's suicide.

To Make Art from Grief, Ray Soul Needed a New Language

The alum and leader of Illuminati Hotties discusses the long road to her latest album and how her work as a producer gave her the confidence to finish the record. [Image by Courtney Cole]

How Sarah Tudzin Let Herself Make One of 2021's Best Albums

"Electro-symphonic” composer David Ibbett breaks down his process for turning scientific data into musical notes.

What Does Science Sound Like?

The Berklee student and Boston Calling–bound indie folk artist explores how discovering songwriting and a supportive queer community led to deeper self-discovery.

Chrysalis's Indigo Ansin Emerges

Goose’s live act attracts a devoted following—and the band's studio work highlights the sharp songs that spark their legendary jams. So on this summer edition of the podcast, we're exploring both sides of the Goose experience, from the studio to the stage, and hearing from the band as well as their fans along the way.

Episode credits:
Produced, engineered, and edited by John Mirisola
Coproduced by Bryan Parys
Theme music by Sleeping Lion

Media excerpted (all songs by Goose, available at goosetheband.bandcamp.com):
"The Whales" and "Feel It Now" from '2023​/​07​/​06 Thompson's Point, Portland, ME'
"Hungersite" from 'Live at the Salt Shed'
"Dripfield," "Arrow," "Honeybee," and "Hot Tea" from 'Dripfield'

Enjoy the show? Have thoughts or questions for the Sounds of Berklee team? Let us know at soundspodcast@berklee.edu.

Both Sides of Goose, America's Premier Jam Band

By Lesley Mahoney
August 26, 2011
Photo by Kelly Davidson

MP&E professor Susan Rogers teaches students technical skills as well as the science behind the music.
Photo by Kelly Davidson
Music production and engineering professor Susan Rogers saw much success as a recording engineer, mixer, and producer, working with such artists as Prince, the Jacksons, India.Arie, Barenaked Ladies, and Laurie Anderson. Then she decided it was time for something different and left the music business to pursue life as a scientist, studying psychology and neuroscience, and then music perception and cognition. 

Rogers has found in Berklee a platform to combine both of these worlds, teaching classes in MP&E as well as music perception and cognition.

Hear Rogers talk about her intriguing journey from studio to lab and back again.

Inside Berklee: MP&E Professor Susan Rogers (Prince, Barenaked Ladies)

By Lesley Mahoney
April 25, 2012

The Artist captured audiences and critics, earning it the Oscar for Best Picture and the distinction of bringing newfound attention to silent films. The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra has been carving a corner on that market, too. Under the direction of film scoring professor Sheldon Mirowitz, students compose original scores to classic silent movies and perform them live-to-picture on the big screen. The without-a-net element adds another layer to the communal movie-going experience.

Each semester Mirowitz's class, Scoring Silent Films, takes on a new project. Students have composed and performed three silent scores: Sunrise (1927), It (1927), and Battleship Potemkin (1925). They debuted at Brookline's Coolidge Corner Theatre, which commissioned the works, and Berklee took Sergei Eisenstein's Potemkin on the road for a packed performance at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center. For Potemkin, five students each conducted the reel they composed, passing the baton between reels, and spotters ensured the music of the 10-piece orchestra matched up with the picture.

The Kennedy Center audience was rapt with attention as the dramatic score punctuated the emotion in the tale of a 1905 mutiny aboard the Russian battleship when the sailors rebelled against their Tsarist leaders. While the score itself is remarkable, the synchronization to the film with such seamless precision is another feat altogether.

"It's a really good score," Mirowitz said of Potemkin. "All three of our projects are legitimate scores." 

Next up is E.A. Dupont's Piccadilly starring Anna Mae Wong on May 7 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.

Hear Mirowitz talk about the complexity of composing for and performing to silent film, and how Berklee students more than live up to the task.

Inside Berklee: Sheldon Mirowitz

By Adam Olenn
K Ishibashi and Zac Colwell founded Jupiter One after working together as traveling musicians in the Barnum’s Kaleidoscope orchestra.

Many of their tracks have been used in video games, including Madden NFL, NHL 08, Burnout Paradise, and FIFA 08. Other tracks have been used in advertisements for Mazda, the FIFA soccer federation, Payless shoes, and the MLB network.  

Both their eponymous debut and Sunshower are out on Cordless Recordings, and they opened for Regina Spektor on her 2009 and 2010 tours.

Jupiter One, "Countdown"

By Rob Hochschild
January 24, 2012

Whether reinventing jazz standards, breathing fresh life into classical repertoire, or premiering its own original works, Tre Corda generates a compelling sound all its own. The group's three instrumentalists are Berklee faculty members, coming together in an environment where they are free to explore their own creative paths—independently and collectively—and are able to do so independent of boundaries and categories that limit musical expression. 

Cellist Eugene Friesen's dynamic rhythms and incredible array of bowing and plucking techniques, trumpeter Greg Hopkins's virtuosic leaps and outrageous genre-bending phrases, and pianist Tim Ray's lyric melodicism and two-fisted pyrotechnics provide a wealth of refreshing surprises to their audiences.

Tre Corda, "Church Rhythms"

By Adam Olenn
January 30, 2012

The punk-ska yeomen of Big D and the Kids Table have been touring almost nonstop since the nine founding members graduated from Berklee in the late '90s.

Playing up to 220 shows a year, Big D and the Kids table has earned its accolades one fan at a time, with a strictly do-it-yourself work ethic. And it's paid off big-time.

Big D and the Kids Table has toured with Rancid, Flogging Molly, the Suicide Machines, and the Dropkick Murphys and played every Warped tour since 2003. Kevin Lyman, founder of the Warped Tour, says of the band, "They've been around for 14 years, and each year they're still relevant."

Big D and the Kids Table, "Dirt Lip"

By Rob Hochschild | May 29, 2012
Student pianist Hamish Napier was raised in the Scottish Highlands and learned flute, whistles, and voice, in addition to his principal instrument. After earning multiple award nominations for young Scottish musicians and recording with some of the country's leading musicians, Napier enrolled at Berklee to pursue an interest in fusing traditional music with jazz.

The American version of the Hamish Napier Band brings together some of Berklee's best jazz and bluegrass student musicians, and has played the Celtic Connections Festival, and the Glasgow International Jazz Festival. This summer it plays in July and August as part of Berklee's Summer in the City series.

This edition of Sounds of Berklee features a Napier original, "Dr. Flute."

Hamish Napier, "Dr. Flute"

In this edition of Inside Berklee, Werner discusses how to break these negative patterns and how his institute can help musicians do this by teaching them to play from the deepest parts of themselves and rediscover their connection to the music.


Inside Berklee: Kenny Werner

Wang Leehom ’99 is a world-renowned singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, movie star, record producer, film director, and cultural ambassador who will join Berklee students in performing selections from his catalogue at Boston's Symphony Hall on Sunday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. He will be presented with an honorary doctor of music degree at the concert.

Change Me

Wang Leehom '99: "Falling Leaf Returns to Roots"

It’s been a big year for singer and bassist Tonina Saputo, one of the Mediterranean Music Institute’s emerging artists. In 2016, she was a featured vocalist on the MMI project Refugio del Sonido (Refuge of Sound), spearheaded by Javier Limón, and last month Saputo’s career got another major boost when she was selected as one of the first three emerging artists in Univision’s U-LAB project.

Read the story

Tonina Saputo, "Como Yo"

Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus of the violin-driven hip-hop and rock duo Black Violin use their strings not only to challenge the concept of what makes for popular music but also to blow open racial stereotypes.

Black Violin, "Stereotypes"

Esperanza Spalding and the BIRN's Tony Brown talk about the inspiration for her album Emily's D+Evolution and how the song "Unconditional Love" came about.

Inside Berklee: Esperanza Spalding, Part I

In this episode of Inside Berklee, Rhoda Bernard discusses how her decade of successful work in educating special-needs students and their teachers has evolved into the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs, and where she plans to take this program in the future.

Inside Berklee: Rhoda Bernard

Molly Tuttle, a 2014 Berklee alumna, recently won the International Bluegrass Music Association award for Best Guitarist, becoming the first female to do so since the IBMAs began in 1990. In 2017, Tuttle's debut EP, 'Rise,' debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart.

This podcast features a track from that EP, which is available via CDBaby here: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/mollytuttle

Photo by Andy Cambria, courtesy of the artist

Molly Tuttle, "Save This Heart"

In this episode, we’ll check out Associate Professor David Gilmore’s jazz-fusion song "Blues Mind Matter." Gilmore will perform at the Berklee Performance Center on August 13.

David Gilmore's "Blues Mind Matter"

In this episode, we’ll listen to “Banshee” by the late jazz pioneer John Abercrombie ’67. Abercrombie will be celebrated with a Signature Series tribute concert on October 10.

Remembering the Timeless Sounds of John Abercrombie ’67

Keyboard wunderkind and performance major Domi Degalle (a.k.a. DOMi) teams up with multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole (of KNOWER) for the synth and live-loop driven "Dark Webb," the first of a three-song collaboration.

DOMi and Louis Cole Explore the 'Dark Webb'

As a player and an educator, Berklee's new Guitar Department chair balances deep roots in tradition with stylistically diverse collaborations.

Visit kimperlak.com for links to more music by Kim Perlak and the Perlak/Tronzo Duo.

Classical Guitarist Kim Perlak Explores the American Style

Berklee alumna Nella Rojas muses on solitude with a Latin beat in the title track from her upcoming album.

Nella Rojas Explores Solitude with 'Voy'

Buck Meek B.M. ’10 discusses returning to Berklee on tour with Jeff Tweedy, writing and recording with Big Thief, how a surreal encounter with Joni Mitchell helped him finish his song “Halo Light," and more. Image by Shervin Lainez.

Big Thief's Buck Meek Comes Full Circle

Oakland-born singer Dalaun (Jordan Holly B.M. ’17) sings with the laid-back confidence of a seasoned R&B star on her first single, "Beggin.'" Catch her at BAMS Fest (https://www.bamsfest.org) on Saturday, June 22.

Engineered by Tony Brown 
Edited by Darcy Davis
Theme music by Sleeping Lion

Dalaun Gets Vulnerable on Debut Single ‘Beggin’’

Niu Raza, a Berklee alumna and Madagascar native, gets audiences to dance with her pop track "Moramora."

Niu Raza Issues a Dance Challenge with "Moramora"

The alumnus goes behind the scenes of some of 2019’s top releases, including Bon Iver's 'i, i' and Big Thief's 'U.F.O.F' and 'Two Hands.'

We also asked Sarlo to curate a collection of some of the most memorable tracks he’s produced over the years. Listen and read see what Sarlo had to say about each track he selected on Berklee Now: https://www.berklee.edu/news/berklee-now/andrew-sarlos-big-year-producing-bon-iver-big-thief-and-more

Theme music by Sleeping Lion.

Andrew Sarlo's Big Year: On Producing for Bon Iver, Big Thief, and More

The long-time Berklee faculty member talks imagination, her opera 'Rumpelstiltskin,' composing without computers, and more.

Note to listeners: this episode refers to a planned performance of 'Rumpelstiltskin' at the Kennedy Center that has now been canceled.

Composer Marti Epstein Makes 'Unimaginable' Music

Michela McDonagh B.M. '19, who goes by the artist name MHIC (pronounced “Mick"), remembers sensing the uneasiness in the air just before lockdown began in Manhattan, where she worked while living at home with her parents on Long Island. The ambient tension made her think about how her generation, the last to have a memory of 9/11, was brought up in an anxious world and is graduating into a particularly distressed moment.

MHIC Says Song "Fear" Reflects the Anxiety of a Generation

Listen to the stars of tomorrow…today, as well as Berklee faculty members, alumni, and a few legendary artists, coming to the college as visiting artists.

Popular tracks by Sounds of Berklee