Warren Bernhardt

Warren was born in Wausau in Wisconsin in 1938. He was exposed to music at an early age. Lawrence, his father, was a pianist, teacher, and close friend of other pianists. Warren moved to New York City with his family at the age of five. There, Warren began studying classical piano literature alongside Miklos Schwalb, Herbert Stessin and Sascha Gorodonitzki. From the age of seven to twelve, he performed in concert at many salons and concert halls across the East Coast. After his father’s death in 1957, Warren decided to study organic chemistry and physical physics at the University of Chicago. He returned to Chicago, where he was surrounded by jazz and blues music. Warren soon joined the Paul Winter touring jazz sextet. In 1962, John Hammond, the legendary Columbia Records record producer, brought the sextet back to New York. Evans became a mentor and friend to Warren, until his passing in 1980. Warren has been living in New York ever since. He is a jazz pianist and accompanist. He also acts as sideman, arranger and producer. He is also a well-known musician in New York, having been awarded the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science (NARAS), Most Valuable Player Award for acoustic keyboard on four occasions. Warren has toured with Clark Terry, Jack Dejohnette and Gerry Mulligan. He has also recorded with Kenny Burrell and Jeremy Steig. Warren was a member of Steps Ahead, a well-known jazz fusion band that recorded several albums in the late 1970s as a leader for the Arista label. He also served as co-leader and keyboardist from 1983 to 1985. He has been concentrating on his own recordings and concerts since then. He has also conducted jazz workshops at State University of New York, New Paltz. He was the Steely Dan’s pianist on the 1993 and 1994 US tours and the 1994 tour to Japan. He was also the Steely Dan’s musical director in 1994. Warren recorded three CDs of solo performances in the spring 1996: one of classical music, one of jazz standards and one of original compositions, and one of improvisations. These recordings were released by Warren’s label Big Guy Sounds (BGS). He recorded eight albums on his own digital music products (DMP) label between 1983 and 2003. All eleven albums can be found in our shop. All of these albums are considered to be his best work and he calls them “labors of passion”. Warren accompanied Art Garfunkel from 1995 to 2005 all over the globe. In ’03 and 2004, he also played with Simon

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