Bernie Upson has spent more than five decades in the music business. Born in Harlem in 1937, Bernie cut his musical teeth on the New York City jazz scene. His first teacher was Wendell Marshall (from Duke Ellington’s Orchestra), and by the age of 20, he was touring the East Coast with Claude Reddick (from the Ed Sullivan Show) and The Show of Shows. From a stint in the U.S. Army where he befriended and played with saxophonist Joe Henderson, Bernie went on to perform with many acclaimed musicians including George Benson, Illinois Jacquet, Buddy Tate, Arnett Cobb, Roy Haynes, Sammy Davis Jr., Grover Washington Jr., King Curtis, Richie Havens, Marvin Gaye and many others. He’s toured Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, and played on such famous American stages as The Apollo, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Burt Bacharach and Cissy Houston are among those Bernie recorded with as a studio musician, and he can be heard with Quincy Jones on the soundtrack for the movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.