Max Gerl (born 1992) is an American

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

player and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician. Gerl has performed internationally at venues including the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. ...

, and

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sc ...

. Gerl grew up in a family of musicians in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. He first learned the piano and

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

, and switched to the electric bass at the age of eleven under the influence of a

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

DVD. He also took

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

lessons starting at the age of 15. After high school, he studied at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in Boston with

John Patitucci John Patitucci (born December 22, 1959) is an American jazz bassist and composer. Biography John James Patitucci was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began playing the electric bass at age 10, performing and composing at age 12, and at age 15, s ...

, Steve Bailey, James Genus, Victor Bailey, Bruce Gertz,

Tia Fuller Tia Fuller (born March 27, 1976) is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator, and a member of the all-female band touring with Beyoncé. Fuller is currently a faculty member in the ensembles department at Berklee College of Music. Full ...

and Hal Crook. Gerl moved to New York City in 2017. From there he toured the United States and Europe with pianist Cameron Graves, and participated in the album ''Seven'' (2021). In 2019 he moved to

Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

. He worked with Dan Kye, Makaya McCraven, James Francies,

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fus ...

, Tia Fuller, Shaun Martin, Bernard Wright and Chris Cheek. At the end of 2019, he released his debut album ''Tbilisi'' on Dolfin Records with saxophonist Aaron Shaw, pianist Paul Cornish and drummer Mike Mitchell. With Greg Spero's band Spirit Fingers he released ''Peace'' in 2020. Sasha Berliner brought him into her group, Tabula Rasa, for the SWR New Jazz Meeting 2021. Gerl released his first solo album, ''Max Gerl'', on July 28, 2023, with the New York jazz label JMI Recordings, which specializes in

analog recording Analog recording is a category of techniques used for the recording of analog signals. This enables later playback of the recorded analog audio. Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. La ...

. ''Max Gerl'' was produced by bassist

alongside associate producer Steven Mandel. The album includes five free improvisation tracks. JMI Recordings released Gerl's ''Max Gerl Trio'', featuring Brian Richburg Jr. on drums and Yesseh Furaha-Ali on tenor saxophone in February, 2025.

Discography

Studio albums

Solo albums

As lead artist

As featured

References

External links

* {{Authority control Living people American jazz double-bassists American jazz bass guitarists Jazz musicians from Texas 1992 births