A-one and a-two and a-you know what to do...!
Come on down and swing along with the best ragtime, stride, and jazz musicians in town.
Upper Terrace (at the base of the William Cullen Bryant Statue behind the New York Public Library)
Bertha Hope
Jazz, Composer, Arranger
"I’ve studied everyone who’s tried it, from Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett to Geri Allen and Jason Moran, and I’m telling you, Bertha is absolutely killing it…" - Ethan Iverson, JazzTimes Magazine (on Bertha playing in the Ornette Coleman tradition)
Bertha Hope is an American jazz pianist, teacher, composer and arranger who has traveled around the world, and worked with a diverse group of artists, from Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Foster, to Nat Adderley and Philly Joe Jones. In addition to being the leader of the Bertha Hope Trio, she has re-formed the Bertha Hope 5tet featuring Elmo Hope compositions. During the pandemic crisis, she focused on wider recognition of her own compositions and was included in trumpeter Jeremy Pelts first edition of his book Griot, published in 2021. As composer and arranger of several recordings her works include: In Search of Hope and Elmo’s Fire (Steeplechase); Between Two Kings (Minor Records) and her latest on the Reservoir label, Nothin’ But Love. After completing a two-year residency at Minton's Supper Club in Harlem, Bertha began work on a documentary about her life, as well as a new CD. In addition, Seattle-based trio, New Stories, has recorded a CD of Hope-Booker's music entitled, Hope Is In the Air. In 2016 Kennedy Center’s Artistic Jazz Director Jason Moran invited Bertha to perform at Kennedy Center and the Apollo Theatre in a two-city program. She has been honored by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and continues to work with her daughter, Monica Meaux Hope, on a music CD for Meaux, Hopes’ Play Healing Fractures. Bertha was married to, and worked with, the late legendary bassist Walter Booker.
Thank you for the music!
Many thanks to Sam Ash Music Stores for their support through the years.
