Jay Berliner

Who is Jay Berliner?

Jay Berliner is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Starting with his first television experience at age 7 on NBC’s The Children’s Hour with sister Eve, his career has spanned the globe: from the Metropolitan Opera house, where he was house guitarist and mandolinist; to Kenya’s 1963 Independence Day celebration as accompanist for Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba; touring Japan as a banjo soloist; performances at The White House; and more recently, playing onstage at the Metropolitan Opera with Barbara Cook, Audra McDonald, Josh Groban, and Elaine Strich, recorded live on DRG Records, Inc.

Recordings under his own name include Bananas Are Not Created Equal, Romantic Guitars, Erotic Guitars, three classical albums for Nippon-Columbia, and three classical albums for Spanish Music Center Records. Jay also can be heard on Romantic Sea of Tranquility under the pseudonym "Chris Valentino."

For almost 50 years, Jay has been an active studio musician, logging more than 13,000 recording sessions for records, commercials, motion pictures, etc., earning him seven NARAS Most Valuable Player awards as well as the NARAS MVP Virtuoso Award in 1986. He has played on albums by Charles Mingus and Ron Carter, George Benson’s White Rabbit, Stephane Grappeli’s Uptown Dance, Deodato’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Milt Jackson’s Sunflower, and many other Creed Taylor recordings. Jay has recorded with numerous singers including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Jerry Vale, Astrud Gilberto, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sergio Franchi, Rupert Holmes, Frankie Valli, Debby Boone, Andrea Bocelli, Russell Watson, Harry Connick, Jr., Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, Blossom Dearie, and LaTanya Hall.