Peter Bernstein

Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein was born September 3, 1967, in New York City. He got his first break while attending the New School when he met <a href="spotify:artist:5pMmqpG3HsoJ6EDDoXGXEr">Jim Hall</a>, who recruited him for a concert of guitarists as part of the 1990 JVC Jazz Festival in New York. The show was recorded by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22MusicMasters%22">MusicMasters</a> and issued as Live at Town Hall, Vol. 2. Bernstein quickly began playing with other jazz musicians, notably appearing on albums by <a href="spotify:artist:063xkuRULzZu8fcoPR2rKR">Lou Donaldson</a>, Michael Hashim, <a href="spotify:artist:6wTD4jLsPadWutQ9nJvzT6">Larry Goldings</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1ImIJagDcfOPBYWDJmUh35">Mel Rhyne</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4C9XpuR6wL4nAPiSD9nih1">Jesse Davis</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5rlMzX0jL0ENT9XEVPJMnu">Geoff Keezer</a>. He recorded his first album as a leader, Somethin's Burnin', for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Criss+Cross%22">Criss Cross</a> in December, 1992, as part of quartet with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Brad Mehldau</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:03xXcbbFNqZUU3ENJcY8a0">John Webber</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:7KLg0R9RSUabK2CG2MTbBJ">Jimmy Cobb</a>.

After working with such artists as <a href="spotify:artist:4nZN9kln8toEzOifhWG2uF">Patti Page</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0tdWD3Wpf0kyUYI6zeT1w3">Walt Weiskopf</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2jOWJM2ILZD1NTyORxsduI">Brian Lynch</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2iE4tV40WH7VZKH9pfdnMi">Laverne Butler</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4obfH4xleG9EzLN4NTNEfu">Eric Alexander</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:15QPTkzWjzD8Elv2zPX8VH">Hendrik Meurkens</a> in 1993-1994, Bernstein returned to his solo work with Signs of Life. Issued in May of 1995, the album once again found the guitarist backed by pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Mehldau</a>, along with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5ACxPOI9gR3l0cyy2dvkHv">Christian McBride</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:4uFjFfYlOxBKvdHKuHqk2y">Gregory Hutchinson</a>. Further work as a sideman with <a href="spotify:artist:7Dco6JsORozdfcdYswxGOT">Ghetto Philharmonic</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:79qkJbEOrnwHJkTLbniRIb">Trudy Desmond</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5h5pxPQmWGa9k57TtliR47">Teodross Avery</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3uaHfXYx9Fh4HjqMbrWn5S">Joshua Redman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7sJEt4QPDYhjJ9tcHSlhhN">Kevin Mahogany</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6IZ7GpoXDwKj3t7zaYCzOL">Grant Stewart</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5HOZypv3IkaUfwr6UwhOX7">Mike LeDonne</a> preceded the release of his third album, Brain Dance, in June 1997. This time, he led a quintet also containing organist <a href="spotify:artist:6wTD4jLsPadWutQ9nJvzT6">Goldings</a>, tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:4obfH4xleG9EzLN4NTNEfu">Eric Alexander</a>, trombonist <a href="spotify:artist:37SVnwHrnnfBR1Gb0Yq7GD">Steve Davis</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:1P5JD0ocEllsCSrj0fgBA1">Billy Drummond</a>. Prior to his fourth album, Earth Tones, Bernstein recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:0XgULGnRJGGorwVrKbkDTu">Ralph Lalama</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5L5kEl8EklYkI6eSj2F5iN">Eric Comstock</a>, among others. Earth Tones, issued in August, 1998, found him fronting a trio with <a href="spotify:artist:6wTD4jLsPadWutQ9nJvzT6">Goldings</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6g23EYtQQXDz44soLZMS39">Bill Stewart</a>.

Five years elapsed before the release of Heart's Content, Bernstein's fifth album as a leader, and he occupied the time working with a wide variety of musicians including Tom Aalfs, <a href="spotify:artist:2dRin7g5w3nHSoAdYLQ9as">Group 15</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7KLg0R9RSUabK2CG2MTbBJ">Jimmy Cobb's Mob</a>, David Bubba Brooks, <a href="spotify:artist:7D1t3L2NpGJrxDTjqXZoZx">Doug Lawrence</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6rMp5njV15uyFIk72LasbD">Sam Yahel</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6wGoACdj7R2JEOa5SPscmq">David Morgan</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5vEmQKLLJZkjXOryvufs3Y">Jon Gordon</a>, Michael Karn, <a href="spotify:artist:3MQuznxWl9mKRcCPWEYEVw">Spike Wilner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0LmFWmRPzDK376bTFlnVr5">Anna Lauvergnac</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7HEPzI1k3SXs2lJ3EixmjR">Harry Allen</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6Bx9bTUwUioJwa4P5Bk1Xp">Paula West</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3cwVFmQ6mcUoGR6ZvIPuZ4">Nicholas Payton</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3CEdEF8RsuL3hAFJaujvr0">Etta Jones</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3r7bArUGKhCBqsEQltrNSr">Béla Szakcsi Lakatos</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4YNvbaOaqp5pzC5US5t48k">Lee Konitz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2nwNBRZ0DZlRAQBBO0Pdym">Klaus Doldinger</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:05ZColDwFrnLPvoaJkvqcX">Ralph Bowen</a>. Heart's Content, which was released in May 2003, was credited to "Peter Bernstein + 3," and the three were <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Mehldau</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6g23EYtQQXDz44soLZMS39">Bill Stewart</a>, and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4HGsz6HI7mw7t14Fb2irLV">Larry Grenadier</a>. The same year the album appeared, Bernstein could be heard on albums by <a href="spotify:artist:5xPZyHgmLYsNiG3GI8ESEk">Ryan Kisor</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3XpQZYLkyv9lwvnjL81dXg">Wycliffe Gordon</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2blUGbClJQ09oJnGyJivoG">Janis Siegel</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4jmwrOP4JG1b5s7Jfzj5gT">Martin Sasse</a>, among others.

Stranger in Paradise, Bernstein's sixth album, was released in June 2004 by the Japanese <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tokuma%22">Tokuma</a> label, and employed the same lineup as that on Heart's Content. In addition to musicians with whom he had recorded before, Bernstein appeared on albums by <a href="spotify:artist:3IGkxNZTmP3hXLMH6UrNim">Jim Rotondi</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1ZpPJRe9erwiWi548SKVyn">Dr. Lonnie Smith</a> in 2004 and <a href="spotify:artist:0UU6nu1CB307xhtSW1Z4XA">Kathy Kosins</a> in 2005. On August 23, 2005, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mel+Bay%22">Mel Bay</a> released the DVD Peter Bernstein Trio Live at Smoke, taped at a jazz club on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Among his many sideman sessions in the mid-2000s, Bernstein added dates with <a href="spotify:artist:4mkcf39pQB23yEXGGuFH0f">Joe Magnarelli</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0kd3p9TyCgr9TblcD2GOad">Alvin Queen</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5JaHnRdam62GdAL2bMf27C">Planet Jazz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:303QrIrO6RruzUXkxQ5iAk">Anton Schwartz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2WUJLquoFIOF06aJFP0VbR">John Pisano</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5OPNYwuIto3q4ac46rIIZC">David "Fathead" Newman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:14MjR2Ht5rXoMPixAw5cpC">Don Friedman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0YB9WHBn7xTEQsvcFZRUdy">Cory Weeds</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1N7DqnFDmHY1H3F6pN967K">Andrew Suvalsky</a> to the list of his credits, along with repeat appearances with others. In January 2009, the newly reactivated <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Xanadu%22">Xanadu</a> label released Bernstein's seventh album, Monk, a tribute to <a href="spotify:artist:4PDpGtF16XpqvXxsrFwQnN">Thelonious Monk</a> featuring bassist <a href="spotify:artist:1saP3owFxRlgBXeJkD6oaq">Doug Weiss</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6g23EYtQQXDz44soLZMS39">Bill Stewart</a>.

In 2013, he paired with guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:6PQjUcMKCXXV4oQpeZLFTa">Joachim Schoenecker</a> for the duo album Dialogues. A year later, he joined longtime associates <a href="spotify:artist:6wTD4jLsPadWutQ9nJvzT6">Larry Goldings</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6g23EYtQQXDz44soLZMS39">Bill Stewart</a> on Ramshackle Serenade. He then made his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Smoke+Sessions%22">Smoke Sessions</a> debut with 2016's Let Loose, a lively quartet date featuring pianist <a href="spotify:artist:5mYw31MXiGnqTMliAcl7m8">Gerald Clayton</a>. Also that year, he collaborated with fellow guitarists <a href="spotify:artist:2M03MDiToa7YZRsbi61uks">Rale Micic</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1OCdpTg8d7Ehpj8B9j4iqa">John Abercrombie</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1QspC2BZg5TrVDc5eZ177E">Lage Lund</a> on Inspired. For the guitarist's second <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Smoke+Sessions%22">Smoke Sessions</a> date, Signs Live!, he reunited the band that had recorded his 1995 album Signs of Life, including pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Brad Mehldau</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5ACxPOI9gR3l0cyy2dvkHv">Christian McBride</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:4uFjFfYlOxBKvdHKuHqk2y">Gregory Hutchinson</a>. Released in 2017, Signs Live! was the first time Bernstein and the members of the quartet had all played together in over 20 years. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi