Press + Interviews
2024
Transition festival: the spark of new jazz
At the Utrecht jazz festival, Transition in TivoliVredenburg, musical discoveries are at their best. Such as the American Sasha Berliner, who throws fireballs behind her vibraphone.
NN North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam
Live Nation’s NN North Sea Jazz Festival (NSJ) […] provided plenty of highlights to impress both casual NSJ ‘newbies’ and festival old hands alike. […] Early Saturday mention goes to US vibraphonist Sasha Berliner, with a great band including emerging sax star Nicole McCabe and some fabulous drumming by Jongkuk (JK) Kim in particular.
Sasha Berliner and Gretchen Parlato celebrate International Women’s Day at Savoy JazzFest, Helsinki
Two top female jazz artists created a spellbinding evening of shimmering vibes and breathy vocals in the Finnish capital. […] The slow-burning ‘Jinx!’ was breathtaking, with Berliner gradually raising the stakes, eventually showing her blindingly fast, intricate mallet improv in the upper register. Berliner showcased the delicate, shimmering side of her sound on an unaccompanied arrangement of ‘My Funny Valentine’.
2023
NPR Music Jazz Nights in America: Youngbloods, Vibes - Joel Ross, Sasha Berliner, and Simon Moullier
In 2022, we introduced our first installment of Youngbloods, a new class of jazz artists paving their way, and more importantly, pushing the music forward. Our inaugural class featured five exciting artists, all under the age of 30. For our second season, we spotlight six artists divided between vibes and brass, presented amongst their peers. This episode, we tell the story behind three trailblazing vibraphonists: Joel Ross (28), Simon Moullier (29), and Sasha Berliner (25) .
Sorties Jazz Nights: Sasha Berliner and Jocelyn Gould/Caity Gyorgy + Young Talent Grand Prix @ Festi Jazz International de Rimouski
Festi Jazz International de Rimouski to explore and discover jazz artists, we offer you the Nuits Jazz Toyota Rimouski series with Sasha Berliner (photo) on Friday September 1st and the duo of guitarist Jocelyn Gould with singer Caity Gyorgy on Saturday September 2nd.
Hot House Jazz Magazine: Sasha Berliner - Winning Spins
New albums by female percussionists — a veteran drummer / leader now in her 50s and a rising mallets star still in her early 20s — are this month’s Spins. Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s latest just won the Grammy for Best Jazz Recording. Sasha Berliner has been voted a Rising Star on Vibes, the instrument she plays exclusively on her new release
Stetson Presents: The New Age Jazz - Stetson Stories
As evidenced on her lush, swirling 2022 album “Onyx,” 24-year-old vibraphonist Sasha Berliner is one of the most exciting voices in jazz today. Naturally percussive, with an ever-expanding grasp of harmony and counterpoint, the Bay Area native studied at the New School in NYC’s Greenwich Village.“I always wanted to move to New York. Once I saw the music, I thought, this is the place for me.”
Sorties Jazz Nights REVIEW: Sasha Berliner – Onyx
A rising star to follow since her arrival in New York in 2016, young composer and vibraphonist Sasha Berliner made a strong impression in the jazz world when she released her first album in 2019. With Onyx (2022), her second album appeared last July, the musician refined her harmonic palette and her atypical writing, crossing a whole range of emotions and atmospheres like the dark and mysterious aspect of the stone which gives its title to the album.
Dark Blue Notes: Genç Kuşağın Gövde Gösterisi: Sasha Berliner
Denir ki, davulcu Lionel Hampton kaydını tamamladıktan sonra stüdyonun bir köşesinde duran vibrafonu fark eder. Cazı boşverin, diğer türlerde dahi sadece çeşni versin diye kullanılan bu enstrumanla oynadıkça sesini sever ve ustalaşıncaya kadar, bulduğu her fırsatta vibrafon çalışır.
2022
Jazzwise: Sasha Berliner - Onyx (Review)
This 24-year-old San Francisco-born, NY-based vibraphonist-composer showed great promise on her 2019 debut Azalea, with her unique brand of obliquely impressionist Milesian electric jazz and her Gary Burton-inspired four-mallet approach. Having previously contributed to bands among them Tyshawn Sorey and Nicolas Payton, she releases an even stronger second album Onyx.
Glide Magazine - Vibraphonist Sasha Berliner Taps Elite Musicians for edgy “Onyx”
To get a feel for the tone of the album, consider that the “Onyx” is a dark stone with a bold, cryptic nature. Berliner latched onto this, feeling it was a good descriptor for her atypical harmonic range and offbeat compositions that course through a range of emotions and moods. As she noted in a recent interview, “The opening up of crypticism and darkness to something very spiritual and powerful on the other end lends itself to the title ‘Onyx.’” To accompany her, she chose an elite group of younger, ascending contemporaries…
Bandcamp daily - the best jazz on bandcamp: august 2022
I hesitate to mention the specific dynamic interplay between vibraphonist Sasha Berliner and drummer Marcus Gilmore for fear it might deflect from how tight this group sounds as a whole. The seamless unity of melody and rhythm on Berliner’s latest is an absolute joy to experience…
JAZZIZ: “SASHA BERLINER: CRYSTALLIZED EXPRESSION”
Vibraphonist Sasha Berliner refines her aesthetic vision with the darkly sparkling Onyx. New York City-based vibraphonist Sasha Berliner describes her sophomore album, Onyx, as an “unabashed assertion of self.” “It definitely feels like a more confident effort, like I know who I am more, musically, as an artist…”
WBGO 88.3 FM: Hear a gemlike first single from 'Onyx,' the much-anticipated second album by Sasha Berliner
Perhaps you recall the moment, earlier this year, when the soothsayers warned about a “vibe shift.” They weren’t referring to Sasha Berliner — the musician voted Rising Star, Vibraphonist in a recent DownBeat Critics' Poll — but in some sense that would have fit. Berliner, after all, belongs to a generation currently reshaping the parameters of improvised music from the inside.
All About Jazz: Kandace Springs Quartet/Sasha Berliner Quartet At Jazz Alley
Berliner's set confirmed the initial inclination to avoid saddling her with the "up and comer" tag, or the "young mallet star" designation. Despite her tender age of 23, Berliner plays, composes and leads her band with maturity and artistic presence rarely attained. Being concerned with what she has in store for us in the future as a rising star is at this point, and was on that evening, irrelevant.
2021
Kulturzentrum Tollhaus Karlsruhe: SWR NEW JAZZ MEETING 2021: Sasha Berliner
Die aus San Francisco stammende 23jährige Vibrafonistin Sasha Berliner ist die erste Frau, die von den Kritikern des amerikanischen Jazzmagazins „Down Beat“ in der Kategorie „Rising Star Vibraphone“ auf den ersten Platz gewählt wurde. Heute ist sie eine kreative Kraft der jungen kreativen Brooklyner Szene, die zum einen fest in der experimentellen Musikwelt verankert ist und zum anderen tief in der Jazztradition steht. Sie setzt sich gegen Misogynie und Rassendiskriminierung ein.
SWR2: SWR NEWJazz Meeting 2021 mit der Vibrafonistin Sasha Berliner
Die 23-jährige Vibrafonistin Sasha Berliner aus San Francisco ist Leiterin des 52. SWR NEWJazz Meetings 2021. Beim traditionsreichen SWR Jazzlabor erarbeitet sie mit ihrem eigens zusammengestellten Ensemble neue Kompositionen, die sie auf Konzerten in Tübingen (19. 11.) , Karlsruhe (20.11.) und Mannheim (21.11.) dem Publikum vorstellt…Sasha Berliner schafft es, dem Vibrafon – ein manchmal störrisches Instrument – Emotionen zu entlocken, es zum Leuchten und Strahlen zu bringen.
JAZZTIMES: NEWPORT JAZZ 2021: DAY 3
First came the Quad stage’s “Vibes Summit” featuring Warren Wolf, Joel Ross, and Sasha Berliner—kind of like an old-fashioned cutting session, but with three vibraphones. Of course they began with a 12-bar; Wolf’s solo was about virtuosity, Berliner’s about angularity, and Ross’ about the power of repetition.[…] Berliner took over with a remarkable solo four-mallet arrangement of “My Funny Valentine” that conjured rippling surf…
Post Genre Media: Observations from Day Three of the Newport Jazz Festival
Sasha Berliner then shared a hauntingly beautiful rendition of “My Funny Valentine.” Her version, set to be released on next year’s Eponyx, gave new life to an eighty-four-year-old song. Her unconventional use of echos and space suggested some exotic land just starting to be musically explored. […] Berliner is an artistic force to be reckoned with and it is commendable that the Festival seems cognizant of that fact.
2019/2020
Tidal: The Tidal Guide to the 2020 Winter JazzFest Marathon
The vibraphone is likewise an instrument you don’t see all that often in jazz, but lately a couple of auspicious young players have been gaining stature and attention. One of them is Sasha Berliner, the 21-year-old vibraphonist whose shimmering and thoughtful new record, Azalea, is one of the more promising recent debut albums.
The new york city jazz record: Festival report - winter jazz fest
“After flitting back and forth between Sultan Room and House of Yes!, your correspondent headed northwest, first to Music Hall of Williamsburg for a few songs by the reggae-pop group Phony Ppl, then an impressive set of originals by vibraphonist Sasha Berliner at the acoustically well-appointed National Sawdust.”
The New York Times: The Playlist: Kesha Simmers, and 9 More New Songs
Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. […] At just 21, the young vibraphonist Sasha Berliner has already started to make an impression as a bandleader on the New York scene.
Jazztimes magazine: Vibraphonist sasha berliner finds her own groove
At 21, Sasha Berliner is already an accomplished vibraphonist, composer, bandleader, and performer. In 2018, she won the first Letter One Rising Stars Jazz Award competition to be held in North America, beating out 230 other artists.
2018
SF jazz: 10 Rising Women instrumentalists
More than ever, monstrously talented young women are rising through the ranks of jazz instrumentalists, challenging the male-dominated status quo. In March 2016, we published a list of eight rising stars that included the likes of trombonist and vocalist Natalie Cressman, trumpeter Bria Skonberg, and saxophonist Melissa Aldana.
All about jazz news: percussionist sasha berliner wins seven-city jazz festival tour
“With the LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award, a tour across the U.S. and Canada, and a new record in the works, Sasha Berliner is poised to be one of modern-day jazz’s most promising up-and-comers.” The jazz scene has a new rising star, and she’s a vibraphonist. Sasha Berliner, a 20-year old musician, composer, producer, and bandleader from San Francisco, won the LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award, an annual competition that offers up-and-coming jazz musicians an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
The Namm show - Sasha Berliner now using vater vibraphone mallets
Vater is excited to announce Sasha Berliner as a Vater Vibraphone Mallet Artist. “Vater is a reputable community of percussionists that I’m honored to be a part of…”
2017
the jazz gallery - harmonic choices: sasha berliner speaks
Sasha Berliner is eager to show her range. Her dynamic range; her emotional range; her multi-instrumental and interdisciplinary range — she’s ready, with mallet in hand and message in mind. The percussionist and composer is gaining career traction as a force on the vibraphone.
Hot house jazz magazine - artists talk influences: sasha berliner
Percussionist Sasha Berliner recently came to attention of national press outlets after she penned an influential open letter addressing misogyny in the jazz industry. Sasha wields a technique and musical sense that portends a thrilling career. In her original works, she also deserves significant praise, having already asserted herself as a genre-defying composer and an excellent bandleader with a keen sense of possibilities for the music. (Pages 27-28).
PBS news hour: Female jazz musicians raise their voices against sexism
At this year’s Winter Jazz Fest in New York, one of the world’s biggest jazz festivals, women took center stage in more ways than one. In a year when more than a third of the festival’s acts has female bandleaders — the highest in history — it also joined 44 international music festivals to sign onto Keychange, a European music industry initiative for gender parity.
Tom Tom magazine - Activist Vibes: Sasha Berliner
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