Sasha Berliner

Described a "young mallet master" by JazzTimes, Sasha Berliner is an award-winning musician, composer, producer and band leader from San Francisco. A rock drummer turned vibraphonist, she was introduced to the instrument while attending Oakland School for the Arts. In 2016 she moved to New York City to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music under acclaimed vibraphonist Stefon Harris, whose mentorship influenced her harmonic approach and helped shape her unique style.

Berliner’s first marquee show on the New York scene was at Winter Jazz Fest in 2018, followed by Atlanta Jazz Fest and Burlington Jazz Fest. In 2019 she became the first U.S. recipient of the LetterOne “Rising Stars” Jazz Award, which led to her debut album Azalea. The record was nominated for JazzTimes Readers’ Poll “Best New Release” and praised for its politically charged, genre-blending sound.

She was named “Rising Star – Vibraphone” in the 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll, becoming both the first woman and, at 21, the youngest person ever to receive the award. She has appeared in the DownBeat Readers Poll Top Ten Vibraphonists every year since 2021. As artist-in-residence with Modern Marimba and the SWR NewJAZZ Meeting, she created Tabula Rasa, released in 2023. Her second studio album, Onyx, tracked entirely analog to tape and featuring an all-star lineup, reached No. 1 on Jazzwise’s “Charting the Jazz Message” and was named one of the year’s best albums by UK Vibe, Textura, Jazz Vinyl Collector and the Francis Davis Jazz Poll.

Berliner has headlined major international venues including Newport Jazz Festival, Blue Note, Montreal Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival. She has recorded and performed with Tyshawn Sorey, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride and Cécile McLorin Salvant, and she is an endorsing artist for Marimba One and Vater Drumsticks.

A dedicated educator, she has lectured at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UC San Diego, the Stanford Jazz Workshop and Berklee College of Music. She is currently Professor of Jazz and Jazz Composition at UC Irvine. Her third studio album, Fantôme, featuring Taylor Eigsti, Harish Raghavan, Jongkuk Kim and Lex Korten, will be released in March 2025 on Outside In Music.

For more, visit sashaberlinermusic.com