Shelly Berg Earns GRAMMY® Nomination for Composition “At Last” From Newly Released Album Alegría (ArtistShare)
“At Last” has been nominated for Best Instrumental Composition at the 67th GRAMMY® Awards
“The pianist’s eighth leader album is… virtuosic.” – Jazz Journal
“An instant jazz piano trio classic.” – Modern Drummer
“…buoyant joy.” – Jazz Views
New York, NY – World-renowned pianist-composer-arranger Shelly Berg is celebrating his fifth career GRAMMY® nomination. “At Last”, a beautiful cut from his newly released album Alegría, has been nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition category.
The 67th GRAMMY® Awards will take place on February 2, 2025.
“It is exciting and also very touching to receive a GRAMMY® nomination for a composition that meant so much to me to write. I am thrilled that the real-life feelings I poured into “At Last” moved listeners to put a checkmark on their ballots,” Shelly Berg shared in a statement.
Berg’s effervescent trio gesture Alegría features longtime friends and collaborators Carlitos Del Puerto on bass, Dafnis Prieto on drums, and special guest Melvin Butler on tenor saxophone. Funded by fans on ArtistShare and released and distributed on the ArtistShare label, Alegría connects personal stories with the emotive, at times, cathartic power of music. “When music is at its best,” says Berg, “it can create a deep connection between performers and listeners.”
Engineered and mixed by Carlos Alvarez and mastered by Paul Blakemore, Alegría — the Spanish word for “joy” — transmits layers of emotion, memories, private longings, and abundant bliss. Bonding thoughtful orchestration and of-the-moment improvising, the album spotlights brand-new Berg originals, and fresh takes on classics from Leonard Bernstein and The Beatles. The fourth track on the album, “At Last” captures the paradox of love, of finding a true soulmate — that forward feeling of anticipation within a pause of reflection. “Every time I play the coda,” says Berg, “I’m thinking, ‘and forever more.’”
An award-winning educator with over 40 years of leadership in higher education, Shelly Berg is Dean and Patricia L. Frost Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Including Alegría, Berg has released eight studio albums as a leader and has worked with an eye-popping array of musical icons including Tony Bennett, Steve Miller, Seal, Lizz Wright, Andra Day, Monica Mancini, Kari Kirkland, Carmen Bradford, Chris Botti, Renée Fleming, and Arturo Sandoval. He is also athe rtistic director of The Jazz Cruise, artistic advisor for the Jazz Roots series at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center of Miami-Dade County, and music director of The Barclay and Beyond Jazz Orchestra at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.
His first GRAMMY® nomination came in 2013 for his arrangement of “Out There” performed by vocalist Lorraine Feather. Nominations in the arranging categories continued in 2013, 2015, and 2017. This is Berg’s first recognition in the Instrumental Composition category.
Shelly Berg is proud to be nominated alongside Christopher Zuar, André 3000, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau & Carlos Niño, the late Chick Corea, and Pascal Le Boeuf.