Bob Berg

Bob Berg
Berg playing in Cedar Walton's quartet at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society (The Douglas Beach House), Half Moon Bay, California, November 30, 1980
Background information
Birth name	Robert Berg
Born	(1951-04-07)April 7, 1951 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died	Amagansett, New York, U.S.
Genres	Hard bop Post bop
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Saxophone
Labels	Stretch Records, Denon, GRP
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Mike Stern, Chick Corea

Robert Berg (April 7, 1951 – December 5, 2002) was a jazz saxophonist originally from Brooklyn, New York City.

Biography

Berg 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. He was a Juilliard graduate influenced heavily by the late 1964–67 period of John Coltrane's music. Berg was known for his extremely expressive playing and tone.

A student from the hard bop school, Berg 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, You're Under Arrest, 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 Avenue South NYC club. He worked with Chick Corea, Steve Gadd and Eddie Gómez in a quartet. Berg's tenor saxophone sound was a synthesis of rhythm and blues players such as Junior Walker and Arnett Cobb with the lyricism, intellectual freedom and soul of Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and John Coltrane.

Berg was killed in a road traffic accident in East Hampton, New York, while driving near his home with his wife Arja. He did not wear a seatbelt. The person who crashed into his car was driving a cement truck that accidentally skidded on ice. He was survived by his wife and their son and daughter.

Discography

As leader

• 1978 – New Birth (Xanadu Records)
• 1982 – Steppin': Live in Europe (1982)
• 1987 – Short Stories Denon Records
• 1988 – Cycles
• 1990 – In the Shadows
• 1991 – Back Roads
• 1992 – Virtual Reality
• 1993 – Enter the Spirit
• 1994 – Riddles
• 1995 – The Best of Bob Berg
• 1997 – Another Standard
• 2000 – Jazz Times Superband

As sideman

With Randy Brecker

• Live at the Sweet Basil (1988) [Sonet]

With Chick Corea

• Time Warp (1995)

With Tom Coster

• Let's Set The Record Straight (1993) [JVC]
• The Forbidden Zone (1994) [JVC]

With Miles Davis

• You're Under Arrest (1985)

With Kenny Drew

• Lite Flite (SteepleChase, 1977)

With Moncef Genoud

• New York Journey with J.C. Lavanchy, I. Malherbe (1990) [Preludio Productions]

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Rhythmstick (1990)

With Billy Higgins

• Soweto (Red, 1979)
• Once More (Red, 1980)

With Sam Jones

• Changes & Things (Xanadu, 1977)

With Wolfgang Muthspiel

• Timezones (1989)

With Horace Silver

• Silver 'n Brass (1975)
• Silver 'n Wood (1976)
• Silver 'n Voices (1977)

With Mike Stern

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

With Cedar Walton

• Eastern Rebellion 2 (Timeless, 1977)
• First Set (SteepleChase, 1977 [1978])
• Second Set (SteepleChase, 1977 [1979])
• Third Set (SteepleChase, 1977 [1982])
• Animation (Columbia, 1978)
• Eastern Rebellion 3 (Timeless, 1980)
• Soundscapes (Columbia, 1980)
• The Maestro (Muse, 1981)
• Eastern Rebellion 4 (Timeless, 1984)
• Cedar's Blues (Red, 1985)

External links

• Jazz Professional article about his death
• Interview with Bob Berg
• Biography of Bob Berg