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Remembering Bob Berg

10K views 20 replies 16 participants last post by  Vader 
#1 ·
From wikipedia...
Bob Berg (April 7, 1951 - December 5, 2002) 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.

Discography
As leader

New Birth (1978; Xanadu Records)
Steppin': Live in Europe (1982)
Short Stories (1987) Denon Records
Cycles (1988)
Live at the Sweet Basil with Randy Brecker [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 Davis

You're Under Arrest (1985)

With Horace Silver

Silver 'n Brass (1975)
Silver 'n Wood (1976)

With Dizzy Gillespie

Rhythmstick (1990)

With Cedar Walton

First Set (1979) [Steeplechase]
Second Set (1979) [Steeplechase]
Third Set (1979) [Steeplechase]
Animation (1979) [CBS]
Eastern Rebellion 3 (1979) [Timeless]

With Chick Corea

Time Warp (1995)

With Mike Stern

Upside Downside (1986)
Time in Place (1988)
Jigsaw (1989)
Odds or Evens (1991)
Standards and Other Songs (1992)

With Wolfgang Muthspiel

Timezones (1989)

With Tom Coster

Let's Set The Record Straight (1993) [JVC]
The Forbidden Zone (1994) [JVC]
 
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#5 ·
Still tied at #1 on my list w/Mike Brecker - such a fantastic player. We lost a giant when we lost him. Listening to his version of Autumn Leaves right now...
 
#10 ·
Awesome player!!! Remember seeing him live a few times around 1990 in the Netherlands, wow.....
We miss you Bob!!!

A friend of mine had a VHS of Bob playin' with Miles at the North Sea Jazz festival in the 80's. This clip is from that concert:

 
#11 ·
This guy seemed very intense. As such, do you think he may have been driving too fast for the weather conditions? Just wondering...but I suppose we may never know exactly what happened that fateful day.... At any rate, James Dean, another intense artist, died behind the wheel WAY too soon too, so he's in select company....
 
#13 ·
I got to know Bob a bit and yes, he was very intense. His personality and playing were almost exactly alike, and he was an amazing guy. However, I'm pretty sure the accident was caused by a tractor-trailor truck jackknifing on an icy road and taking his Cadillac out, seriously injuring his wife as well. I'm probably being a bit over-sensitive and I apologize, but I'm not really sure what the point of the question was.
 
#14 ·
I believe his accident was in no way his fault. It was on a day of a heavy snow fall, especially out in the Hamptons where Berg lived & just as the previous guy said, a truck jack knifed at an intersection & smashed into Bob's vehicle, killing him pretty much instantly, but leaving his wife relatively ok. I'm not sure if he was in a Cadillac or an SUV, I think I heard it was an SUV. Either way, a tough, unlucky day for him & his family & all his fans.
 
#17 ·
Great player, Short Stories and Cycles were on heavy rotation in my CD player for a long time... Liked his playing on some of Sterns recordings too like Upside Downside, Time in Place, and Jigsaw...

A great "modern" player he could really burn with high energy intensity and be very sensitive and melodic too...

what was that... the solo on "Snakes"... begins with a quote from Wayne Shorter's Footprints from Miles Smiles...he was well steeped in the blues and history of jazz...

Shawn
 
#18 ·
Top favorite on my list too. "Promise" from the album Enter The Spirit, my favorite, the way he develops on that a bit unusual minor tune.
 
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