Faculty Profile

Jason Berman

NMS Composition Faculty

Jason Berman is a composer and music theory teacher who spent the last 16 years performing and teaching in and around NYC. His qualifications include a Masters of Music degree in Jazz Composition and arranging from Five Towns College, a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Guitar Studies from Southern Illinois University, and a Certificate of Completion from Berklee College of Music, Full Scholarship. Jason has trained with some of the best musicians in the world including Vic Juris, Dave Stryker, Fareed Haque, Wayne Krantz, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Rogine, and Dr. Felipe Salles.

As a performer, Jason has performed at some of New York’s finest jazz clubs such as the Blue Note, Smoke, Small’s, Fat Cat and Cecil’s. He has also played the SXSW and Afropunk festivals. He has played with or opened for Talib Kweli, Fishbone, Styles P, Denzil Porter, Shinobi Ninja, Quantum Split, Ken Fowser and Kyla Moscovich.

As a composer, Jason has written and arranged works for Netflix, Converse, several independent short films, the Five Towns Jazz Orchestra, the Five Towns Jazz Guitar ensemble, and the SIU classical guitar ensemble. 

Some of his Original works/arrangements have premiered at New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Queens Town Hall and SIU’s Shryock Auditorium. Jason has taught theory masterclasses at the NJPAC music seminar, the Harlem Jazz Museum and online for WePlay music based in Irvine, California.