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 Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

, in 1972 with his wife and

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

, to encourage international students to pursue their own ideas about music.

Life and career

Berger was born on March 30, 1935, in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. He started playing classical piano when he was ten and worked in his early twenties at a club in his hometown. He learned modern jazz from visiting American musicians, such as

Don Ellis Donald Johnson Ellis (July 25, 1934 – December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time signatures. Later in his ...

and Leo Wright. During the 1960s, he started playing

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

. He studied musicology and sociology at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

, achieving a doctoral degree in 1963 with a dissertation on music in

Soviet ideology Before the perestroika reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev that promoted a more liberal form of socialism, the formal ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was Marxism–Leninism, a form of socialism consisting of a Centralisa ...

. He worked as a member of Don Cherry's band in Paris. When the band went to New York City to record '' Symphony for Improvisers'', he recorded his debut album as a leader. Berger worked with drummers

Ed Blackwell Edward Joseph Blackwell (October 10, 1929 – October 7, 1992) was an American jazz drummer, best known known for his work with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Biography Blackwell was born in New Orleans on October 10, 1929. His career began ther ...

and

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, B ...

, bassist

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, and saxophonists

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and Ivo Perelman. He worked further with

Michael Bisio Michael Bisio (March 4, 1955 Troy, New York, Troy, New York) is an American jazz double bassist, composer, and bandleader. Since 2009 he has been the bassist for the Matthew Shipp Trio. Bisio appears on over 100 CDs, leading on 12 CDs and co-l ...

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and Baba Olatunji, as well as with

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim for her jazz opera ''Escalator ...

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

John McLaughlin and

Roswell Rudd Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. (November 17, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist and composer. Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including Dixieland, which he performed while in college), and other genres of musi ...

, and with the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, As musical arranger and conductor, he contributed to albums by

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and

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, among others. With Coleman and Ingrid Sertso, Berger's wife, he founded the Creative Music Studio (CMS) in

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

, New York, in 1972, to encourage students to pursue their own ideas about music. Berger considered Coleman his friend and mentor, and like Coleman he was drawn to

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

, and

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

. 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". Among the teachers were

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

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, George Russell and

Richard Teitelbaum Richard Lowe Teitelbaum (May 19, 1939 – April 9, 2020) was an American composer, keyboardist, and improvisor. A student of Allen Forte, Mel Powell, and Luigi Nono, he was known for his live electronic music and synthesizer performances. He ...

. They closed the facility in 1984, but held masterclasses internationally, called World Jazz. Berger and Sertso founded Sertso Recording Studio in Woodstock in 2004. Berger also taught at the

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers ...

, and at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts from 1994 to 2003. He then led the department of music of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to 2005. He and his wife revived CMS in 2013, and retired in 2017. He remained active in music for the rest of his life, releasing his final album in the fall of 2022. Berger died at a hospital in Albany, New York, on April 9, 2023, at age 88, from complications after surgery.

Discography

Berger's recordings include:

As leader

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

As sideman

With Don Cherry * '' Togetherness'' (Durium, 1966) * '' Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966'' Vols. 1–3 (ESP Disk, 1966) * '' Symphony for Improvisers'' (Blue Note, 1966) * '' Eternal Rhythm'' (MPS, 1969) * '' Multikulti'' ( A&M, 1990) With Bill Laswell * '' Jazzonia'' (Douglas Music, 1998) * '' Filmtracks 2000'' (Tzadik, 2001) * ''

Points of Order In parliamentary procedure, a point of order occurs when someone draws attention to a rules violation in a meeting of a deliberative assembly. Explanation and uses In '' Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'' (RONR), a point of order may be r ...

'' (Innerhythmic, 2001) With Ivo Perelman * ''Reverie'' (Leo, 2014) * ''The Art of the Improv Trio Vol. 1'' (Leo, 2016) * ''The Hitchhiker'' (Leo, 2016) With others *

, '' How Does Your Garden Grow?'' (Elektra, 1998) *

, ''

Escalator Over the Hill ''Escalator over the Hill'' (or ''EOTH'') is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction", with "words by Paul Haines (poet), Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Mic ...

'' (JCOA, 1971) *

, '' Creative Orchestra Music 1976'' ( Arista, 1976) *

, '' Giant Robot'' (CyberOctave, 2000) *

, '' So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley'' (Legacy/Columbia, 2007) *

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

, '' Broken Politics'' (Smalltown Supersound, 2018) * Chocolate Genius, ''

Black Music Music of the African diaspora is a sound created, produced, or inspired by Black people, including Music of Africa, African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including some Caribbean mus ...

'' (Everlasting, 1998) *

Coheed and Cambria Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. It consists of Claudio Sanchez (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Travis Stever (guitars, vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, keyboards, backing vocals), and Za ...

, ''Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV'' (Columbia, 2005) * Lajos Dudas, ''Talk of the Town'' (Double Moon, 2000) *

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombone, jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tub ...

, ''Jazz Live Trio with Guests'' (TCB, 2013) * Theo Jorgensmann, ''Fellowship'' (hatOLOGY, 2005) * Kalaparusha, ''Kalaparusha'' (Trio, 1977) * Hans Koller, ''Big Sound Koller'' (Sonorama, 2016) *

, '' The Lee Konitz Duets'' (Milestone, 1968) * Lee Konitz, '' Seasons Change'' (Circle, 1980) * Rolf Kuhn & Joachim Kuhn, ''Transfiguration'' (SABA, 1967) * Sylvain Leroux, ''Quatuor Créole'' (Engine Studios, 2012) * John Lindberg, ''Duets 1'' (Between the Lines, 2006) * Machine Gun, ''Machine Gun'' (MU, 1988) * Magpie Salute, ''The Magpie Salute'' (Eagle, 2017) *

Albert Mangelsdorff Albert Mangelsdorff (September 5, 1928 – July 25, 2005) was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics. Early life Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt on September 5, 1928, as the son of the book ...

, ''Albert Mangelsdorff and His Friends'' (MPS, 1971) * Kesang Marstrand, ''Our Myth'' (North Node, 2011) * John McLaughlin, '' Where Fortune Smiles'' (Dawn, 1971; Esoteric Recordings, 2017) *

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

, ''

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

'' (Columbia, 1989) * Ryan Montbleau, ''Patience On Friday'' (Blue's Mountain, 2007) * Musica Elettronica Viva, ''United Patchwork'' (Horo, 1978) * Robert Musso, ''Innermedium'' (DIW, 1999) * Pete Namlook, ''Polytime'' (

Fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

, 1998) *

, '' Through a Crooked Sun'' (Circle Sound 2011) *

, '' Blown Bone'' (Emanem, 2006) *

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 up to his eventual death, he lived mainly in Be ...

, ''Attica/Coming Together/Les Moutons De Panurge'' (Opus One, 1974) * Alan Silva, '' Skillfullness'' (ESP Disk, 1969)

References

External links

Creative Music Studio

Sertso Studio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Karl 1935 births 2023 deaths Musicians from Heidelberg People from the Republic of Baden Post-bop pianists Post-bop composers German jazz composers Male jazz composers ESP-Disk artists Enja Records artists MPS Records artists Milestone Records artists Avant-garde jazz pianists Avant-garde jazz composers German musicologists German jazz pianists German jazz vibraphonists Musicians from Woodstock, New York 20th-century German male pianists 21st-century German male pianists Academic staff of the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts Machine Gun (band) members Sackville Records artists FMR Records artists Tzadik Records artists Black Saint/Soul Note artists NoBusiness Records artists American jazz vibraphonists Male jazz pianists