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Don Berner

About Me

Juno Award winner P.J. Perry has called Don Berner “one of Canada's fastest rising saxophone stars. Reads, doubles, solos, he does it all.” and jazz icon Hugh Fraser has stated ,”Don's talent as a great saxophonist is supported by his compositional and band leading talents.” In addition to appearing alongside such notable jazz luminaries as P.J. Perry, Bobby Shew, Hugh Fraser, Slide Hampton, Bob Stroup, Chu Cho Valdez, Lew Tabackin, Guido Basso, and Tommy Banks, and commercial talents E.C. Scott, Frankie Valley, and the Temptations, he has performed at Edmonton's Jazz City Festival and Yardbird Suite, Calgary's 'Beatniq', Saskatoon's 'The Bassment', and numerous other jazz clubs throughout Canada and the U.S. Berner is the lead Alto player in the Edmonton Jazz Orchestra and was co-producer of Edmonton's Yardbird Jazz Festival in 2005/06. He is currently the director of the 2007/08 Edmonton International Jazz Festival's Jazzworks program. He can be heard on numerous CD's including his own debut CD, “Sextet”. He has performed at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Polish Embassy in Ottawa, as well as leading his sextet to Mexico's Internacional Festival de Cervantino and returning there to perform for the Canadian embassies 'Canada week'. In addition, he has performed on CBC's “Hockey Night in Canada” and numerous radio and TV specials. A former Grant MacEwan Outreach instructor, he maintains a busy performing, lecturing, and teaching schedule. In addition to appearances with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Berner has just released his second album, the critically acclaimed “Fortress of Solitude”. Berner is also the announcer and producer of 'A Time For Jazz', heard every Saturday on CKUA.