Bob Berg
Encyclopedia
Bob Berg was a jazz
saxophonist originally from Brooklyn
, New York City
. He started his musical education at the age of six when he began studying classical piano. He began playing the saxophone at the age of thirteen. Bob Berg was a Juilliard
graduate influenced heavily by the late 1964–67 period of John Coltrane
's music. He was known for his extremely expressive playing and tone.
A student from the hard bop
school, he played from 1973 to 1976 with Horace Silver
and from 1977 to 1983 with Cedar Walton
. Berg became more widely known through his short period in the Miles Davis
band. He left Davis's band in 1987 after recording only one album with them.
After leaving Davis's band, Berg released a series of solo albums and also performed and recorded frequently in a group co-led with guitarist Mike Stern
. On these albums he played a more accessible style of music, mixing funk, jazz and even country music with many other diverse compositional elements to produce albums that were always musical. He often played at the 7th Ave South NYC club. He worked with Chick Corea
, Steve Gadd
and Eddie Gomez
in a great quartet.
His tenor saxophone
sound was a synthesis of rhythm and blues
players like Junior Walker and Arnett Cobb
with the lyricism, intellectual freedom and soul of Wayne Shorter
, Joe Henderson
and John Coltrane
.
He was killed in a road traffic accident in East Hampton, NY while driving to buy groceries with his wife Arja. The person who crashed into his car was driving a cement truck that accidentally skidded on ice.
With Horace Silver
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Cedar Walton
With Chick Corea
With Mike Stern
With Wolfgang Muthspiel
With Tom Coster
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist originally from Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He started his musical education at the age of six when he began studying classical piano. He began playing the saxophone at the age of thirteen. Bob Berg was a Juilliard
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
graduate influenced heavily by the late 1964–67 period of John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's music. He was known for his extremely expressive playing and tone.
A student from the hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
school, he played from 1973 to 1976 with Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
and from 1977 to 1983 with Cedar Walton
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
. Berg became more widely known through his short period in the Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
band. He left Davis's band in 1987 after recording only one album with them.
After leaving Davis's band, Berg released a series of solo albums and also performed and recorded frequently in a group co-led with guitarist Mike Stern
Mike Stern
Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
. On these albums he played a more accessible style of music, mixing funk, jazz and even country music with many other diverse compositional elements to produce albums that were always musical. He often played at the 7th Ave South NYC club. He worked with Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
and Eddie Gomez
Eddie Gomez
Edgar "Eddie" Gómez is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, perhaps most notable for his work done with the Bill Evans trio from 1966 to 1977.-Biography:...
in a great quartet.
His tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
sound was a synthesis of rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
players like Junior Walker and Arnett Cobb
Arnett Cobb
Arnett Cobb was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Cobb was born Arnette Cleophus Cobbs in Houston, Texas. His musical career began with the local bands of Chester Boone, from 1934 to 1936, and Milt Larkin, from 1936 to 1942...
with the lyricism, intellectual freedom and soul of Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
.
He was killed in a road traffic accident in East Hampton, NY while driving to buy groceries with his wife Arja. The person who crashed into his car was driving a cement truck that accidentally skidded on ice.
As leader
- New Birth (1978; Xanadu RecordsXanadu RecordsXanadu Records was a jazz music record label specializing in bebop throughout the 1970s and 1980s founded by Don Schlitten, recording and issuing recordings by some legendary names in jazz music.-Discography:...
) - Steppin': Live in Europe (1982)
- Short Stories (1987) Denon RecordsDenon RecordsDenon Records was a Japanese record label owned by Denon, distributed by A&M Records from 1990 through 1992. This was a reissue program that included 390 jazz and classical music titles that were issued on compact disc.-Artists:*Eliane Elias*Peter Erskine...
- Cycles (1988)
- Live at the Sweet Basil with Randy BreckerRandy BreckerRandal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
[Sonet] - In the Shadows (1990)
- New York Journey with M. Genoud, J.C. Lavanchy, I. Malherbe (1990) [Preludio Productions]
- Back Roads (1991)
- Virtual Reality (1992)
- Enter the Spirit (1993)
- Riddles (1994)
- The Best of Bob Berg (1995)
- Another Standard (1997)
- Jazz Times Superband (2000)
As sideman
With Miles DavisMiles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- You're Under Arrest (1985)
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- Silver 'n BrassSilver 'n BrassSilver 'n Brass is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1975 featuring performances by Silver with Tom Harrell, Bob Berg, Ron Carter, Al Foster, Bob Cranshaw, and Bernard Purdie with an overdubbed brass section arranged by Wade Marcus featuring Oscar Brashear,...
(1975) - Silver 'n WoodSilver 'n WoodSilver 'n Wood is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1975 featuring performances by Silver with Tom Harrell, Bob Berg, Ron Carter and Al Foster with an overdubbed horn section conducted by Wade Marcus featuring Buddy Collette, Fred Jackson, Jr., Jerome...
(1976)
With Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
- RhythmstickRhythmstickRhythmstick is a 1990 album and video by Dizzy Gillespie and CTI Records All-Stars.-Tracklisting:#"Barbados" #"Friday Night at the Cadillac Club" #"Nana" #"Caribe"...
(1990)
With Cedar Walton
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
- First Set (1979) [Steeplechase]
- Second Set (1979) [Steeplechase]
- Third Set (1979) [Steeplechase]
- Animation (1979) [CBS]
- Eastern Rebellion 3 (1979) [Timeless]
With Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
- Time WarpTime Warp"The Time Warp" is a song featured in the 1973 rock musical The Rocky Horror Show and in the 1975 film adaption The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as a dance performed during the chorus of the song of the same name. The song is both an example and a parody of the dance song genre in which much...
(1995)
With Mike Stern
Mike Stern
Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
- Upside Downside (1986)
- Time in Place (1988)
- JigsawJigsawJigsaw may refer to:* Jigsaw , a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves* Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces- Film and television :* Jigsaw , a 1949 film noir...
(1989) - Odds or EvensOdds or EvensOdds or Evens is an album by Mike Stern, released in 1991 through Atlantic Records. The album reached a peak position of number eight on Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart....
(1991) - Standards and Other Songs (1992)
With Wolfgang Muthspiel
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Wolfgang Muthspiel is an Austrian guitarist and composer most associated with jazz and brother of the trombonist and pianist Christian Muthspiel....
- Timezones (1989)
With Tom Coster
Tom Coster
Tom Coster is an American keyboardist and composer. Detroit-born and San Francisco-raised, Coster played piano and accordion as a youth, continuing his studies through college and a productive five-year stint as a musician in the U.S...
- Let's Set The Record Straight (1993) [JVC]
- The Forbidden Zone (1994) [JVC]