Jay Berliner (born May 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist who has worked with Harry Belafonte, Ron Carter, Charles Mingus, and Van Morrison, among others.
Berliner had his first television experience at age seven with his sister Eve on The Children's Hour on NBC. He was the guitarist for Harry Belafonte in the early to mid-1960s, appearing on many of Belafonte's recordings and playing in venues around the world. At the Metropolitan Opera house in Manhattan he was house guitarist and mandolinist, toured Japan as a banjo soloist, performed at The White House, and at the Metropolitan Opera with Barbara Cook, Audra McDonald, Josh Groban, and Elaine Stritch, which was recorded live for DRG Records. His solo albums include Bananas Are Not Created Equal, Romantic Guitars, Erotic Guitars, three classical albums for Nippon-Columbia, and three classical albums for Spanish Music Center Records. He can be heard on Romantic Sea of Tranquility under the pseudonym "Chris Valentino."
Berliner began playing as a studio musician in the early 1960s. Since then he has made more than 13,000 recording sessions for records, commercials and films. He has played on albums by Charles Mingus (including The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady) and Ron Carter, George Benson's White Rabbit, Stephane Grappeli's Uptown Dance, Deodato's Also Sprach Zarathustra, and Milt Jackson's Sunflower. He recorded with singers Andrea Bocelli, Debby Boone, Kristin Chenoweth, Perry Como, Harry Connick Jr., Sammy Davis Jr., Blossom Dearie, Sergio Franchi, Astrud Gilberto, Rupert Holmes, Bernadette Peters, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Vale, Frankie Valli, and Russell Watson.[1]
He played on Van Morrison's 1968 album Astral Weeks. In November 2008 he joined Morrison to play Astral Weeks in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. A vinyl LP and CD from these concerts entitled Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl were released in February 2009.[2]
Berliner is an original member of Rob Fisher's Coffee Club Orchestra on Garrison Keillor's American Radio Company and later at City Center's Encores series. He is also an original member of the Guys All-Star Shoe Band on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. He has performed in concert with William Warfield and Earl Wild at the Lewisohn Stadium, at Town Hall with Andrea Velis, and with Charles Bressler, playing the American premier performance of songs for tenor and guitar by William Walton and Benjamin Britten. In 2009, he played banjo, mandolin, and baritone ukulele onstage in the Broadway show Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre.
Berliner has won seven NARAS Most Valuable Player awards as well as the NARAS MVP Virtuoso Award in 1986.
With Harry Belafonte
With Ron Carter
With Cynthia Crane
With Blossom Dearie
With Nellie McKay
With Charles Mingus
With Van Morrison
With others
