OUR CONSULTANCY TEAM
Bonsai Talent is composed of a board of seasoned industry leaders that is highly proficient in effectively grooming a limited group of exceptionally talented people in comedy and music.

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BERNIE FURSHPAN 

Since 1981, Bernie Furshpan has been linking up people, concepts, and brands. From his organizational skills to his aggressive and strategic approach, he continues to honor his commitment to conceive and execute authentic and winning campaigns for his clients, by placing no boundaries in his implementations. Bernie has had a professional career in consulting and public speaking since 1975. He made a transition to the world of marketing and talent management via the entertainment industry. Bernie develops fresh ideas when it comes to developing a recipe for success and his multi-faceted team creates the perfect marketing mix for the entertainment talent he manages. Bernie has produced and promoted concerts at Avery Fisher Hall and Hammerstein Ballroom with the likes of Buddy Guy, John Mayer, the late Little Milton, Robert Lockwood Jr, Muddy Waters Band, James Cotton, Mojo Buford, Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin, Calvin Jones, The Howlin' Wolf Band, Jody Williams, Freddie Robinson, Eddie Shaw, Sam Lay, Bob Stroger, Classical Pianists Oxana Yablonskaya and Alexander Peskanov, Motown Legends Martha Reeves, The Spinners and The Temptations, Russian ballet stars Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky. He's also the co-executive producer with Zach Braff of a TV pilot with Jessica Kirson, and featuring Colin Quinn. He's produced numerous commercial and corporate videos and films that included award acting, voice-over and animation talent. Bernie has also been retained to create compelling pitches for a variety of top national brands, including NASCAR and American Airlines.

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DARRELL BRISCOE

Hailing from Indiana, Darrell spent the better part of his youth practicing, and performing on the string contrabass. An avid student of all things musical, he soon became a product of his environment, which included his parents, three sisters, one brother, and five stereos blasting nonstop! From his sisters he recalls endless hours of Motown, his brother introduced him to Jazz, Fusion, and all the Funk he could handle. His mother passed onto him the gospel torch, whilst his father laid down his foundation within the blues, vintage Rock & Roll, and early R&B. This was all topped off by Darrell’s newfound love, classical music, which is where his journey really began on the road to New York, and all things possible!

Darrell began composing almost from the first day he began playing. The hunger to compose classical, and jazz, lead to numerous arranging assignments at the junior high, and high school level. A highly sought after, and vigorously recruited contrabassist, he chose Indiana State University because of their incredible Symphony, AND music business program. “Knowing too well the importance of the business side of the coin, double majoring in composition, and music business made all the sense in the world! “ It was during this time that he also honed his skills as a reputed multi-instrumentalist. Professionally, Darrell has either performed live, or recorded on Contrabass, Electric Fretted, and Fretless Basses, Six, and Twelve String Guitars of various configurations, Piano, Organ, Keyboards/Synths, Banjo, Mandolin, Latin Percussion, and vocals.

Darrell, being himself, couldn’t consider his musical education satisfactory without adding one more stop along the way. He headed to Indiana University and began an intensive study of audio engineering. He was further influenced by other great minds in, and around the famed IU Music Arts Center, The MAC! These influences included Martin Dannemiller, an eventual business partner, and first generation digital audio pioneer for the then Indiana based Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation. Wayne Jackson, the great David Baker, and Dominic Spira, trumpet legend, also served to inspire him immensely.

Forewarned, and forearmed, he worked in many of the Midwest jingle facilities whilst waiting for the perfect composing/scoring opportunity to arrive. This brings us to New York City, and years of the same tireless dedication to his craft, and most importantly, those he shares that craft with. In that time span Darrell has had the honor of working with either on the stage, and/or studio Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, KRS-1, Goat, Johnny Allen, Joan Osborne, Ari Hest, Gabriela Aparicio, to name a few! He now stands as an accomplished composer, songwriter, producer, engineer, manager, consultant, and mentor who has earned the respect and admiration of all those who have worked along side of him.

Anyone who knows Darrell will tell you that he’d just as soon delete an introduction such as I have written above. However, this was not written for those of you who already know this man, but rather for those of you who don’t, and most definitely should!

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