Karl Berger,
PhD
Composer/Arranger/Conductor/Pianist/Vibraphonist/Educator
biography (by Chris Kelsey, allaboutjazz.com)
Pianist and vibraphone player
Karl Berger
cites
Ornette Coleman
as a close friend and mentor;
Coleman
's ways of playing jazz are certainly reflected in
Berger
's concept, more so than any other vibist
one could name.
Berger
eschews four-mallet technique; his style is all single-line, with little (if any)
chordal playing.
Berger
's compositions are brief, songlike free-bop heads in the manner of
Ornette
, with
free/modal solo sections sandwiched in between the theme statements. At his best,
Berger
's
improvisations have much in common with his tunes; they are strongly and logically rhythmic, played over
a swinging pulse, and mostly tied to tonal centers. Like
Coleman
,
Berger
is not as radical in the hearing
as one might expect; both their musics are based on the core elements of swing and coherent melody.
Berger
began playing piano in his native Germany at the age of ten. As a young adult, he landed a gig as
house pianist for jam sessions at Club 54 in Heidelberg. There he accompanied such visiting American
players as
Leo Wright
,
Lex Humphries
, and
Don Ellis
-- learning, in the process, the complexities of
modern jazz. Eventually, he took up vibes and in the early '60s developed an interest in free jazz.
Berger
earned a Ph.D. in musicology in 1963; two years later, he joined
Don Cherry
's Paris-based quintet. The
group traveled to New York in 1966 to record
Symphony for Improvisers
on Blue Note.
Berger
stayed in
the U.S. and recorded his first album under his own name for ESP later that year. From 1967-1971,
Berger
played educational demonstrations in public schools with pianist
Horace Arnold
's group, and led
his own ensembles.
In 1972, he and
Coleman
formed
the Creative Music Studio
in Woodstock, NY
(
www.creativemusicstudio.org
). The school was geared toward encouraging young students to explore
their own creative ideas rather than imposing traditional jazz concepts upon them. Teachers at the school
at various times included
Jack DeJohnette
,
Sam Rivers
, and
Anthony Braxton
, among many other
prominent musicians. In the summer of 1982,
Berger
led a 28-piece big band at a "Jazz and World Music"
concert as part of that year's Kool Jazz Festival in New York.
Berger
cut back on his teaching, shutting
down the
CMS
facility in the mid-'80s, although workshops, live performances, and other activities have
continued into the 21st century, with the latest version of
the CMS
having attained nonprofit status as part
of the Creative Music Foundation. A major endeavor of the foundation has been the CMS Archive Project
(undertaken in collaboration with the Columbia University Center of Jazz Studies), including a series of
CDs of historic recordings from the studio's heyday whose first volume saw limited-edition release to
foundation members in February 2010, followed by a general release through Planet Arts Recordings in
April of that year.
In the years immediately following
the CMS
' initial dissolution, however,
Berger
became more active as a
player, first embarking on a world tour in 1985-1986, during which he served as a guest conductor and
composer for
the West German Radio Orchestra
in Cologne.
Berger
also participated in percussion
festivals in New Delhi and Bombay, and served as a pianist in a duo with the African percussionist
Baba
Olatunji
.
Berger
continued recording in subsequent years, although not prolifically,
working as a sideman
on sessions with guitarist
John McLaughlin
, saxophonist
Lee Konitz
, and bassist
Alan Silva
. (He had also
played on
Carla Bley's
late-'60s recording of
Escalator Over the Hill
.) Of
Berger
's later recordings as
leader, 1987's
Transit
(with
Ed Blackwell
and
Dave Holland
) and 1990's
Around
-- both on Black Saint --
are well worth seeking out. During the '90s,
Berger
led several more dates for a variety of labels, and
during the new millennium he emerged as an arranger, often working in conjunction with producer/bassist
Bill Laswell
, for pop/rock and world music artists including such notables as
Jeff Buckley
,
Natalie
Merchant
,
Better Than Ezra
,
the Cardigans
,
Shin Terai
, and
Angélique Kidjo
.
[from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAZZ MUSICIANS]
He's written over 100 compositions and arrangements for classical ensembles, jazz groups, fusion
groups, big band, symphony, and commercial recordings ( string and horn arrangements, synthesized
scores ) for SONY/Columbia, CBS, EMI, MCA, Epic, Island Records, Island Pictures, London/Polygram,
Virgin, Douglas Music and European Radio + TV Networks. He's done commissions by the National
Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, German Radio:
WDR, NDR, SWF, Radio France, Rai Italy. SWF-Prize 1994.
...
He's the winner of 6 Downbeat Critics Polls as jazz soloist. He's recorded for the Blue Note, Milestone,
Polygram, Enja, Vogue, Pye, JVC, Black Saint, In&Out, CBS, Knitting Factory labels. He's made
appearances at European, Japanese, Brazilian, North- and South American festival and concert venues.
He's recorded and performed with Don Cherry, Lee Konitz, John McLaughlin, Gunther Schuller, Mingus
Epitaph Orchestra, Dave Brubeck and others. He's been the leader of ensembles and recordings with
Dave Holland, Ed Blackwell, Ray Anderson, Carlos Ward, Pharoah Sanders, Blood Ulmer, and many
others.
He's director of Creative Music Studio and president of Creative Music Foundation, Inc. Woodstock NY.
His residencies include US Universities Ann Arbor, Antioch, Banff, Bard, California Institute for the Arts,
Cornish, Dartmouth, Miami, New School, SUNY, Texas Tech, and Wesleyan. His international
residencies also include Accra, Dakar, Lagos, Libreville, Manila, Bombay, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro,
Tokyo, Liege, Berlin, Koln, Stuttgart, Paris, and Venice.
Bibliography:
Karl Berger: Paris, in: Jazz Podium (Apr.1962)
Karl Berger: Musique pour tous, in: Jazz Magazine, #164 (1969)
Karl Berger: Eine Chance..., in: Jazz Podium (Oct.1971)
R. DiNardo: Karl Berger. Interview, in: Coda, 11/212 (1974)
Peter Occhiogrosso: Karl Berger, in: Down Beat (3.Jun.1976)
Ekkehard Jost: Karl Berger's Creative Music Studio, in: Jazz Podium (Dec.1976)
Karl Hans Berger: Cultural Motivation, in: Outlook, 1/2 (1979)
Marie-Paule Negre: Karl Berger. L'ecole de Woodstock, in: Jazz Magazine, #280 (Nov.1979)
J. Solothurnmann: Karl & Ingrid Berger - "Music Universe" in Woodstock, in: Jazz Forum, #66 (1980)
Michael Ullman: Jazz Lives. 1980
Ekkehard Jost: Jazzmusiker. Materialien zur Soziologie der afro-amerikanischen Musik, 1982
R. Zabor: Creative Music Studio, in: Musician, #40 (1982)
Anon.: Karl Berger. Puls, Sprachrhythmus und Form, in: Jazz Podium (Feb.1991)
Karl Hans Berger: Bemerkungen zum Thema Jazz und Weltmusik, in: Jazz Podium (Jul/Aug.1993)
Mike Hennessey: Conversations with Karl-Hans Berger, in: (California) Jazz Now (Oct.1994)
Karl Berger: Jazz and World Music, in: Jazz Educators Journal (May 1995)
Robert E. Sweet: Music Universe, Music Mind. 1996