Available Everywhere July 22
on Such Sweet Thunder Records, distributed by City Hall Records
Special CD Release Celebration/Performance at Birdland
July 22 at 6 PM, featuring Harry Allen + Joe Temperley

" . . . Now it is possible for those born after the Swing Era to be
in the actual presence of a 15-piece band, The Sultans of Swing, that
not only keeps the joy of that heritage alive but has also absorbed
much of the spirit and language of the jazz that came after."
-- Nat Hentoff, The Wall Street Journal

"Berger draws from his Sultans of Swing immensely accomplished
performances on a par with Ellington's orchestral work."
-- Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

On July 22, 2008 Such Sweet Thunder Music releases David Berger's new
recording I Had The Craziest Dream: The Music of Harry Warren.  This
recording, Berger's first album with his Octet, is a joyful homage to
Harry Warren, a classic American songwriter whose songs are better
known than he is.  The CD features two of the world's great jazz
saxophonists and interpreters of standards, Harry Allen (tenor) and
Joe Temperley (baritone); plus Matt Hong (reeds), Brian "Fletch"
Pareschi (trumpet), Marshall Gilkes (trombone), Isaac ben Ayala
(piano), Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and Jimmy Madison (drums).

In a brilliant career writing for the movies, Harry Warren won three
Oscars, had the first Gold Record, and had more songs on the "Hit
Parade" than any of his peers, including Berlin, Porter, and
Gershwin.  In choosing songs for his Octet, Berger had many beloved
standards to consider.  He chose to match theme and mood to the
special talents of his players and the sound of his ensemble.  He
wanted in particular to feature the unique qualities of Harry Allen
and Joe Temperley, as well as the subtle and varied ensemble
capabilities of his Octet.

"The arrangements were designed to sound fresh and give everyone solo
and ensemble opportunities," says Berger.  From Jeepers Creepers
(Going Places, 1938) to September In The Rain (Stars Over Broadway,
1935), I Had the Craziest Dream (Springtime In The Rockies, 1942), to
I Found A Million Dollar Baby (Crazy Quilt, 1931), Berger's charts and
his soloists' turns are witty, joyful, and swinging.  Like every other
album in Berger's catalog, this one is not just for jazz lovers, but
for anyone and everyone who loves songs.  I Had The Craziest Dream:
The Music of Harry Warren will be available everywhere July 22, 2008,
and online at www.sultansofswing.com, www.amazon.com and
www.cdbaby.com. Such Sweet Thunder Records is distributed by City
Hall Records.

"Harry Warren was probably the most popular American songwriter of
all time, yet no one knows his name," says David Berger.  Between
1928 and 1981 he composed more than 500 songs for 115 movies,
including 42nd Street and all the other great Busby Berkeley movies.
Forty-two made The Hit Parade's Top Ten.  Glenn Miller's recording of
his Chattanooga Choo Choo was awarded the first gold record in 1942.
You'll Never Know won an Oscar for best song of 1943.  Berger marvels
at Warren's breadth and versatility--ballads, tangos, waltzes, swing.
 Author Wilfrid Sheed dedicated his 2007 bestseller about the great
American songwriters, The House That George Built, not to Gershwin,
Kern, Berlin or Porter, but to Harry Warren.  This caused Berger to
take notice, and realize how many great songs, that everyone knows,
had been written by the same guy.  With I Had The Craziest Dream: The
Music of Harry Warren, Berger joins the effort to finally give this
son of Italian immigrants -- born Salvatore Guaragna in 1893 -- his
due.

Jazz composer and arranger David Berger is a leading interpreter of,
and authority on, Duke Ellington and the Swing Era.  Conductor and
arranger for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra from its inception
in 1988 through 1994, Berger has transcribed more than 700 full
scores of classic recordings, including nearly 500 works by Ellington
and Billy Strayhorn.  He maintains a close working relationship with
Wynton Marsalis and continues to transcribe, arrange and contribute
to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.  He has long been associated
with the great baritone sax player Joe Temperley, also a Lincoln
Center stalwart, and for this album was determined to lure the busy
and amazing Harry Allen, whose playing and understanding of the
standards repertory Berger has long admired.

In 1996 Berger collaborated with choreographer Donald Byrd to create
The Harlem Nutcracker, a full-length jazz ballet that expanded the
Tchaikovsky / Ellington / Strayhorn score into an American classic.
The 15-piece band assembled to play this show has stayed together as
The Sultans of Swing and continues to play Berger's music most
Tuesday nights at Birdland in New York City, and on tours throughout
the U.S. and Europe.
 
Berger has written music for television (last fall his band appeared
on the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For Humor, awarded to Billy
Crystal), Broadway shows, including Sophisticated Ladies; films,
including The Great Debaters, The Cotton Club, and Brighton Beach
Memoirs; and dozens of singers, bands, orchestras, and dance
companies.  His jazz compositions, arrangements and transcriptions
are played by hundreds of bands every day all over the world.  A
seven-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships,
Berger resides in New York City.


David Berger & The Sultans of Swing Tuesday Nights
At Birdland 315 West 44th Street, NYC. 
212-581-3080. Sets at 8:30 and 11 PM.
Special CD Release Octet Performance -- July 22 at 6 pm