Karl Berger
Encyclopedia
Karl Hanns Berger is a musicologist with a PhD
in Music Sociology, jazz composer, jazz
vibraphone
and piano player
.
and Ingrid Sertso he founded the Creative Music Studio
in Woodstock, New York
. During the 1990s, he taught jazz music and ensemble playing as a professor in Frankfurt
, Germany. In 2004-2005, he served as the Chairman of the Music Department of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (USA).
Most of his output has been rather experimental
. He has been active in Free Jazz
circles, recording with Carla Bley
, Don Cherry
, Lee Konitz
, John McLaughlin
, Hōzan Yamamoto
, Dave Holland
, Gunther Schuller
, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, Sam Rivers
, Pharoah Sanders
, Globe Unity Orchestra and many others. Berger continuously won the Down Beat
critics poll in the category of the best jazz vibraphone player of the year between 1969 and 1975. He is improvising in an abstract, but vividly manner. He dealt with world music
very earlier and devised a unique system for understanding and playing in any meter, from standard time signatures to more exotic odd meters and polyrhythms. It was published as "Dr. B.'s Rhythmic Training".
In 1995 he recorded the improviser's orchestra album "No Man Is An Island" ( Douglas/Knitting Factory )
He collaborated with Bill Laswell
as musical arranger and conductor, thus contributing to recordings of Jeff Buckley
, Natalie Merchant
(Ophelia), Better Than Ezra
, Sly & Robbie, Angelique Kidjo
, Buckethead
and Shin Terai
.
He signed with the Tzadik label in 2010 and released a piano solo album "Strangely Familiar", that received much acclaim. A box set of his unreleased music is in preparation for 2012
Presently (2011) Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra appears every Monday at John Zorn's performance space The Stone in New York City.
He directs the Creative Music Studio Archive Project, in collaboration with Columbia University, New York, where over 400 recordings with leading improvising artists of the 70' and 80' are
transferred to digital domains and an oral history component preserves essential information from the heydays of the Creative Music Studio
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Music Sociology, jazz composer, jazz
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...
vibraphone
Vibraphonist
Notable players of the vibraphone include:* Peter Appleyard* Roy Ayers* Karl Berger* Jeff Berman* Jack Brokensha* Larry Bunker* Christian Burchard* Rusty Burge* Gary Burton* Joe Chambers* Teddy Charles* Salem Chiles* John Cocuzzi* Monte Croft...
and piano player
Jazz piano
Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the instrument's combined melodic and harmonic capabilities...
.
Biography
Together with Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
and Ingrid Sertso he founded the Creative Music Studio
Creative Music Studio
The Creative Music Studio was a premier study center for contemporary creative music during the 1970s and 1980s, based in Woodstock, New York. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, and Ornette Coleman, it brought together leading innovators in the jazz and world music communities...
in Woodstock, New York
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 at the 2000 census.The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county...
. During the 1990s, he taught jazz music and ensemble playing as a professor in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany. In 2004-2005, he served as the Chairman of the Music Department of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (USA).
Most of his output has been rather experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
. He has been active in Free Jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
circles, recording with Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
, Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
, Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
, John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, Hōzan Yamamoto
Hozan Yamamoto
Hōzan Yamamoto is a Japanese shakuhachi player, composer and lecturer....
, Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
, Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, Globe Unity Orchestra and many others. Berger continuously won the Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
critics poll in the category of the best jazz vibraphone player of the year between 1969 and 1975. He is improvising in an abstract, but vividly manner. He dealt with world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
very earlier and devised a unique system for understanding and playing in any meter, from standard time signatures to more exotic odd meters and polyrhythms. It was published as "Dr. B.'s Rhythmic Training".
In 1995 he recorded the improviser's orchestra album "No Man Is An Island" ( Douglas/Knitting Factory )
He collaborated with Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
as musical arranger and conductor, thus contributing to recordings of Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
, Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant
Natalie Anne Merchant is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993.-Early life:...
(Ophelia), Better Than Ezra
Better Than Ezra
Better Than Ezra is an American alternative rock trio based in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Formation and early success:Better Than Ezra was formed in 1988 by its four original members - vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin; Joel Rundell, the lead guitarist; bassist Tom Drummond; and drummer, Cary...
, Sly & Robbie, Angelique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, commonly known as Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva". The BBC has...
, Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
and Shin Terai
Shin Terai
Shin Terai is a Japanese musician and producer most known for his work with Bill Laswell and Buckethead. On his albums he combines ambient and electronic music with dub and avant-garde jazz.- Biography :...
.
He signed with the Tzadik label in 2010 and released a piano solo album "Strangely Familiar", that received much acclaim. A box set of his unreleased music is in preparation for 2012
Presently (2011) Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra appears every Monday at John Zorn's performance space The Stone in New York City.
He directs the Creative Music Studio Archive Project, in collaboration with Columbia University, New York, where over 400 recordings with leading improvising artists of the 70' and 80' are
transferred to digital domains and an oral history component preserves essential information from the heydays of the Creative Music Studio
As leader
- 1966: Karl Berger Quartet (ESP-DiskESP-DiskESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...
) - 1972: We are you , with Allen BlairmanAllen BlairmanAllen Blairman is an American jazz drummer best known for his collaboration with Albert Ayler and Mal WaldronAllen Blairman is living in Heidelberg, Germany since 1971.-Career:...
- 1979: Seasons Change (Circle Records (Germany)Circle Records (Germany)Circle Records was an Germany based record label specializing in jazz, established in 1976. -Discography:Circle Records was an Germany based record label specializing in jazz, established in 1976. -Discography:...
, with Lee KonitzLee KonitzLee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
) - 1979: New Moon (Palcoscenico RecordsPalcoscenico Records-Discography:*15001: Gaetano Liguori - Terzo Mondo*15002: George Adams & Don Pullen- All That Funk *15003: George Adams & Don Pullen - More Funk...
) - Tune In (Milestone RecordsMilestone RecordsMilestone Records is a United States based jazz record label, founded in 1966 by Orrin Keepnews and Dick Katz in New York City. The company was incorporated into Fantasy Records in 1972, since then it has been used for reissues as well as for new recordings....
)
As sideman
- Carla BleyCarla BleyCarla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
Escalator Over The HillEscalator over the HillEscalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction" with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.-History:Escalator over the Hill... - Theo JörgensmannTheo JörgensmannTheodor Franz Jörgensmann is a jazz and free-improvising Basset clarinet player and composer. He has been a professional musician since 1975.-Activities:...
Fellowship (Hathut RecordsHathut RecordsHathut Records is a Swiss record label specialising in jazz and contemporary classical music.Founded in 1975 by Werner X. Uehlinger to document the work of saxophonist / trumpeter Joe McPhee...
) - Don CherryDon CherryDon Cherry may refer to:* Don Cherry hockey player, coach, and commentator* Don Cherry , trumpeter* Don Cherry...
Symphony for Improvisors (Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
)