Karl Berger

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Karl Hans Berger (March 30, 1935 – April 9, 2023) was a German-American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. He was a leading figure in jazz improvisation from the 1960s when he settled in the United States for life. He founded the educational Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, in 1972 with his wife and Ornette Coleman, to encourage international students to pursue their own ideas about music.

Life and careerEdit

Berger was born on March 30, 1935, in Heidelberg.<ref name="West" /><ref name="LarkinJazz">Template:Cite book</ref> He started playing classical piano when he was ten and worked in his early twenties at a club in his hometown.<ref name="West" /> He learned modern jazz from visiting American musicians, such as Don Ellis and Leo Wright. During the 1960s, he started playing vibraphone.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> He studied musicology and sociology at the Free University of Berlin, achieving a doctoral degree in 1963 with a dissertation on music in Soviet ideology.<ref name="SWR">Template:Cite news</ref> He worked as a member of Don Cherry's band in Paris.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/><ref name="West" /> When the band went to New York City to record Symphony for Improvisers, he recorded his debut album as a leader.<ref name="West" /><ref name="Kelsey">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Berger worked with drummers Ed Blackwell and Jack DeJohnette, bassist Dave Holland, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman, Lee Konitz and Ivo Perelman.<ref name="West" /> He worked further with Michael Bisio,<ref name="West" /> Anthony Braxton and Baba Olatunji,<ref name="HV1" /> as well as with Carla Bley, Bill Laswell<ref name="Laswell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> John McLaughlin and Roswell Rudd,<ref name="West" /> and with the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra,<ref name="DNB" /> As musical arranger and conductor, he contributed to albums by Better Than Ezra,<ref name="Ezra">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Buckethead,<ref name="Buckethead">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jeff Buckley,<ref name="Buckley">{{#ifeq: | yes | https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1032440{{

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}}</ref> Angélique Kidjo, Natalie Merchant and Rich Robinson, among others.<ref name="SWR" />

With Coleman and Ingrid Sertso, Berger's wife, he founded the Creative Music Studio (CMS) in Woodstock, New York, in 1972,<ref name="West" /> to encourage students to pursue their own ideas about music.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> Berger considered Coleman his friend and mentor, and like Coleman he was drawn to avant-garde jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation.<ref name="West" /><ref name="Kelsey" /> The focus of CMS was "teaching improvising musicians to develop their own aesthetics, and to draw and mesh ideas from across genres, traditions, and international borders".<ref name="West" /> Among the teachers were John Cage, Steve Lacy, George Russell and Richard Teitelbaum.<ref name="SWR" /> They closed the facility in 1984, but held masterclasses internationally, called World Jazz. Berger and Sertso founded Sertso Recording Studio in Woodstock in 2004.<ref name="West" />

Berger also taught at the New School,<ref name="West" /> and at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts from 1994 to 2003.<ref name="SWR" /> He then led the department of music of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to 2005.<ref name="SWR" /> He and his wife revived CMS in 2013, and retired in 2017.<ref name="West" /> He remained active in music for the rest of his life, releasing his final album in the fall of 2022.<ref name="West" /><ref name="Heart is a Melody">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Berger died at a hospital in Albany, New York, on April 9, 2023, at age 88, from complications after surgery.<ref name="West">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="HV1">Template:Cite news</ref>

DiscographyEdit

Berger's recordings include:<ref name="jazz">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Brady">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="DNB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="All About Jazz">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="TIDAL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As leaderEdit

From Now On (ESP Disk, 1967)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
Tune In (Milestone, 1969)<ref name="jazz" />
We Are You (Calig, 1972)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
With Silence (Enja, 1972)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
All Kinds of Time (Sackville, 1976)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" /><ref name="TIDAL" />
Interludes (FMP, 1977)<ref name="jazz" />
Changing the Time (Horo, 1977)<ref name="jazz" />
Just Play (1976) (Quark, 1979)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
New Moon (Palcoscenico, 1980)<ref name="All About Jazz" />
Live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival (MPS, 1979)<ref name="Brady" />
Transit (Black Saint, 1987)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" /><ref name="TIDAL" />
Karl Berger + Paul Shigihara (L+R/Bellaphon, 1991)<ref name="TIDAL" />
Around (Black Saint, 1991)
Sudpool Jazz Project II: Moon Dance (L+R/Bellaphon, 1992)
Crystal Fire (Enja, 1992)<ref name="All About Jazz" /><ref name="TIDAL" />
Conversations (In+Out, 1994)<ref name="All About Jazz" /><ref name="TIDAL" />
No Man Is an Island (Douglas Music, 1997)<ref name="All About Jazz" />
Stillpoint (Double Moon, 2002)<ref name="jazz" />
Strangely Familiar (Tzadik, 2010)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
Synchronicity (Nacht, 2012)<ref name="All About Jazz" />
After the Storm (FMR, 2012)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
Gently Unfamiliar (Tzadik, 2014)<ref name="jazz" />
Moon (NoBusiness, 2015)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
Live at the Classical Joint (Condition West, 2017)<ref name="jazz" />
In a Moment (Tzadik, 2018)<ref name="jazz" />
Conjure (True Sound, 2019)<ref name="jazz" />
Sketches (Fresh Sound, 2022)<ref name="jazz" /><ref name="All About Jazz" />
Heart is a Melody (Stunt, 2022)<ref name="jazz" />

As sidemanEdit

With Don Cherry

Togetherness (Durium, 1966)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 Vols. 1–3 (ESP Disk, 1966)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Symphony for Improvisers (Blue Note, 1966)<ref name="Brady" />
Eternal Rhythm (MPS, 1969)<ref name="DNB" />
Multikulti (A&M, 1990)<ref name="DNB" />

With Bill Laswell

Jazzonia (Douglas Music, 1998)<ref name="Laswell" /><ref name="linearnotes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
Filmtracks 2000 (Tzadik, 2001)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Points of Order (Innerhythmic, 2001)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

With Ivo Perelman

Reverie (Leo, 2014)<ref name="All About Jazz" /><ref name="TIDAL" />
The Art of the Improv Trio Vol. 1 (Leo, 2016)<ref name="TIDAL" />
The Hitchhiker (Leo, 2016)

With others

Better Than Ezra, How Does Your Garden Grow? (Elektra, 1998)<ref name="Ezra" />
Carla Bley, Escalator Over the Hill (JCOA, 1971)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Anthony Braxton, Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Buckethead, Giant Robot (CyberOctave, 2000)<ref name="Buckethead" />
Jeff Buckley, So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley (Legacy/Columbia, 2007)<ref name="Buckley" />
Neneh Cherry, Broken Politics (Smalltown Supersound, 2018)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Chocolate Genius, Black Music (Everlasting, 1998)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Coheed and Cambria, Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV (Columbia, 2005)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Lajos Dudas, Talk of the Town (Double Moon, 2000)<ref name="DNB" />
Slide Hampton, Jazz Live Trio with Guests (TCB, 2013)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Theo Jorgensmann, Fellowship (hatOLOGY, 2005)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Kalaparusha, Kalaparusha (Trio, 1977)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hans Koller, Big Sound Koller (Sonorama, 2016)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Lee Konitz, The Lee Konitz Duets (Milestone, 1968)<ref>{{#ifeq: | yes

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Lee Konitz, Seasons Change (Circle, 1980)
Rolf Kuhn & Joachim Kuhn, Transfiguration (SABA, 1967)
Sylvain Leroux, Quatuor Créole (Engine Studios, 2012)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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John Lindberg, Duets 1 (Between the Lines, 2006)<ref name="Brady" /><ref name="TIDAL" />
Machine Gun, Machine Gun (MU, 1988)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Magpie Salute, The Magpie Salute (Eagle, 2017)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Albert Mangelsdorff, Albert Mangelsdorff and His Friends (MPS, 1971)<ref name="DNB" />
Kesang Marstrand, Our Myth (North Node, 2011)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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John McLaughlin, Where Fortune Smiles (Dawn, 1971; Esoteric Recordings, 2017)<ref name="All About Jazz" />
Charles Mingus, Epitaph (Columbia, 1989)<ref name="DNB" />
Ryan Montbleau, Patience On Friday (Blue's Mountain, 2007)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Musica Elettronica Viva, United Patchwork (Horo, 1978)
Robert Musso, Innermedium (DIW, 1999)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Pete Namlook, Polytime (Fax, 1998)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Rich Robinson, Through a Crooked Sun (Circle Sound 2011)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Roswell Rudd, Blown Bone (Emanem, 2006)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Frederic Rzewski, Attica/Coming Together/Les Moutons De Panurge (Opus One, 1974)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Alan Silva, Skillfullness (ESP Disk, 1969)<ref name="DNB" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Creative Music Studio
Sertso Studio
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