David Berkman is the son of a piano player who wanted to turn his home in Cleveland into an environment where art in general and music in specific would play an important role. Aged 12 Berkman took up a series of piano lessons that would lead to a fulltime study at the Berklee College of Music. After his studies Berkman returned to Cleveland, where he could soon be found in various local bands. In 1985 he moved to New York where he sparred with musicians and bands like Cecil McBee, Tom Harrell, the Vanguard Orchestra, Joe Lovano, Billy Hart, Ray Drummond and the Woody Herman Orchestra. Berkman was signed up by the quality label Palmetto Records and his debut album Handmade made a big impression. From that moment on Berkman has been successfully pushing his technical, improvisational and compositional boundaries.
