Bob Berg

[Milestones]

Any fans of Bob Berg?

Seems like he was a pretty fine player on both tenor and soprano. I'm getting perhaps my biggest exposure now by listening to his work on Corea's Time Warp. I know he worked a lot with Mike Stern, but most of my Stern is from the past dozen years. I've caught some footage of him on YouTube as a very young man playing with Horace Silver.

I get the feeling he was too much under my radar.

[BillF]

Here he is with Horace in Italy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njf7pY7oUxg

I also have him on this fine Eastern Rebellion album:

Finally, this one is good enough to have been added to my Spotify playlists:

I remember Jerry Bergonzi speaking movingly of Bob Berg's tragic death in a car accident.

Edited September 16, 2014 by BillF

[CJ Shearn]

"Holding Together" by Steps Ahead has some smoking Berg, which I think was his last recording. Maybe he flew under the radar because he was sharing the same grammar as Grossman and Brecker as far as that post Trane thing that began in the late 60's early 70's, he was such a fine player. I enjoy his playing very much.

Edited September 16, 2014 by CJ Shearn

[sidewinder]

I caught him in 'Eastern Rebellion' at Ronnie Scotts several times. The first time must have been just after he took over the tenor role from George Coleman. The band played much of the material from the first 2 Eastern Rebellion albums (David Williams was on bass). Also saw Berg a bit later on with Miles - much more of a fusion feel to his playing in that band.

Edited September 16, 2014 by sidewinder

[marcello]

I first saw/heard him with Horace Silver in a band that included Tom Harrell. Joe Locke's 4 Walls of Freedom had what I believe is his last recorded work. Great Recording! Billy Higgins' Soweto has some very good Berg, also.

[xybert]

I like his playing with Corea and Stern... for me has that 'smooth' sound that can be offputting at first, maybe somewhere between Garbarek and Brecker, somewhat akin to Eric Marienthal, but i can get my head around it. I remember picking up a second hand Steeplechase album that had him on it, can't remember if he was the leader or if he was a sideman but disappointingly it was too scratched/glitchy to keep. From memory it was in that straight ahead seventies vein and was interesting to hear Berg in that setting.

[jlhoots]

For some reason I group him with players like Bergonzi & Margitza.

They all have their moments.

[sgcim]

I don't know if he grew up in Brooklyn, but he played there back in the 70s with some musicians I used to know.

They talked about how he'd do some wedding gigs with rhythm sections that didn't know tunes like "ATTYA", and he'd be able to blow on it using only one hand, and with the other hand he'd signal the chord changes (one finger= F, two fingers= Bb, etc...)!

One of the first LPs he played on was a Trane type quartet led by a pianist from Philly named Kenny Gill. I think the LP was called "What Was, What Is, What Will Be".

Gill OD'd in his 30s.

I saw BB at the Jazz Forum in the quintet that he co-led with Tom Harrell back in the 80s.

They were playing some great high-energy stuff with the great pianist Armen Donelian.

The only thing I didn't like about BB was his tendency IMHO to overplay on ballads, but his you couldn't touch him on fast, high-energy things.

[LarryCurleyMoe]

IMO he's one of the best. Just love the fire and passion! Waiting for "New Birth" to be at a price I can afford, or reissued again on cd.

[fasstrack]

Sorry to say not a huge fan. Too much of the pattern playing and he played too loud and nasal for me---even on ballads. He was very good though, just not my taste.

[Gheorghe]

First heard him on "Eastern Rebellion" and liked it very much, and all the stuff that followed.

So I really was looking forward when it was announced he will join the Miles Davis Group.

But even he couldn´t change the situation, the general boredom of the Miles Shows from around 1984 on.

I remember, he really looked bored on stage, playing very little.

Anyway, what can you add to "Time after Time" and "Human Nature", if you must play it every evening, year for year......

[soulpope]

I caught him in 'Eastern Rebellion' at Ronnie Scotts several times. The first time must have been just after he took over the tenor role from George Coleman. The band played much of the material from the first 2 Eastern Rebellion albums (David Williams was on bass). Also saw Berg a bit later on with Miles - much more of a fusion feel to his playing in that band.

seemingly caught him during the same tours, but at different locations (witnessed subject performancs in Vienna) - Berg with Cedar Walton was great (at some point nearly matching the Cilfford Jordan combination I`ve heard prior to that...) and the impressions with Miles were aptly described by yourself and Gheorge in another thread contribution...

Edited September 23, 2014 by soulpope

[Jay]

Really dig those Denon records with Stern and Dennis Chambers.