Karl Hans Berger (born March 30, 1935 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

, Germany) is a German jazz pianist, composer, and educator.

Career

Berger played piano in Germany when he was ten and worked in his teens at a club in Heidelberg. 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 li ...

and Leo Wright. During the 1960s, he started playing vibraphone and received a doctoral degree in

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

. 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. With

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

and Ingrid Sertso, he founded the

Creative Music Studio The Creative Music Studio (CMS) was a premier study center for contemporary creative music during the 1970s and 1980s, based in Woodstock, New York. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, and Ornette Coleman, it brought together leading in ...

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

, 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 and experimental jazz) 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 to the late 1960s. Ori ...

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

, and

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its ...

. He has worked with

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera '' Escalator over the Hill'' ...

Dave Holland David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years. His extensive discography r ...

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool j ...

, John McLaughlin,

Sam Rivers Sam Rivers may refer to: * Sam Rivers (jazz musician) Samuel Carthorne Rivers (September 25, 1923 – December 26, 2011) was an American jazz musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone ...

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of " sheets of sound", ...

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

, Clifford Thornton, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, and the Globe Unity Orchestra. He collaborated with

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, ...

as musical arranger and conductor, thus contributing to albums by

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

, Better Than Ezra,

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative electric guitar playing. His music spans severa ...

Natalie Merchant Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American alternative rock singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first se ...

Sly & Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

Angélique Kidjo Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo (; born July 14, 1960), known as Angélique Kidjo, is a Beninese singer-songwriter, actress, and activist who is noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. ...

, Hōzan Yamamoto, and

Shin Terai Shin Terai is a Japanese musician and producer most known for his work with Bill Laswell and Buckethead. On his albums he combines ambient and electronic music with dub and avant-garde jazz. Biography Shin Terai gained some first publicity as ...

Discography

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, 1980) * ''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, 2013) * ''Gently Unfamiliar'' (Tzadik, 2014) * ''Moon'' (NoBusiness, 2015) * ''Live at the Classical Joint'' (Condition West, 2017) * ''In a Moment'' (Tzadik, 2018) * ''Conjure'' (True Sound, 2019)

As sideman

With Don Cherry * '' Togetherness'' (Durium, 1966) * ''

Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 ''Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966'', Volumes 1, 2, and 3, is a trio of live albums by trumpeter Don Cherry. The albums were recorded in March 1966 at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark, and were released by ESP-Disk in 2007 (Volume 1), 2008 ...

'' Vols. 1–3 (ESP Disk, 1966) * '' Symphony for Improvisers'' (Blue Note, 1967) * '' Eternal Rhythm'' (MPS, 1969) * ''

Multikulti Multikulti is a slogan of the multiculturalism public policy approach. Its etymological origin is with the German progressive movements of the 1970s and 1980s. It was popularised by the German Green Party and gained popularity throughout Europe. ...

'' ( A&M, 1990) With

* '' 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 rai ...

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

How Does Your Garden Grow? ''How Does Your Garden Grow?'' is an album by the American alternative rock trio Better Than Ezra, released in 1998 via Elektra Records. It was the band's second album with drummer Travis Aaron McNabb. The album peaked at No. 128 on the ''Billb ...

'' (Elektra, 1998) *

, '' Escalator Over the Hill'' (JCOA, 1971) *

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Ch ...

, '' 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 DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk an ...

, ''

Broken Politics ''Broken Politics'' is the fifth solo album by singer Neneh Cherry, and her second to be produced by Four Tet. The album was released on 19 October 2018, and has been called "quieter and more reflective" than its predecessor '' Blank Project''. Th ...

'' (Smalltown Supersound, 2018) *

Chocolate Genius Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civi ...

, ''

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

'' (Everlasting, 1998) *

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

, ''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 trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugel ...

, ''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 Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. A ...

Joachim Kuhn Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

, ''Transfiguration'' (SABA, 1967) * John Lindberg, ''Duets 1'' (Between the Lines, 2006) *

Machine Gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

, ''Machine Gun'' (MU, 1988) *

Magpie Salute Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is on ...

, ''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) *

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

, ''

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 The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...

, ''Innermedium'' (DIW, 1999) * Pete Namlook, ''Polytime'' ( Fax, 1998) *

Rich Robinson Richard Spencer Robinson (born May 24, 1969) is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band the Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 (originally called ''Mr. Crowes Garden'' ...

, '' Through a Crooked Sun'' (Circle Sound 2011) * Roswell Rudd, '' Blown Bone'' (Emanem, 2006) * Frederic Rzewski, ''Attica/Coming Together/Les Moutons De Panurge'' (Opus One, 1974) *

Alan Silva Alan Silva (born Alan Lee da Silva; January 22, 1939 in Bermuda) is an United States of America, American free jazz double bassist and Keyboard instrument, keyboard player. Biography Silva was born a British subject to an Azores, Azorean/Portug ...

, '' Skillfullness'' (ESP Disk, 1969) *

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

, ''

Rhythm Killers ''Rhythm Killers'' is an album by Jamaican musical duo Sly and Robbie, released in May 1987 by Island Records. By the time of the album's recording, Sly and Robbie had transitioned away from their prolific work in the reggae genre. They spent the ...

'' (Island, 1987) *

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

, '' The Burning World'' (UNI, 1989) * Swans, '' Forever Burned'' (Young God, 2003) * Aki Takase, '' So Long, Eric! Homage to Eric Dolphy'' (Intakt, 2014) *

John Tchicai John Martin Tchicai ( ; 28 April 1936 – 8 October 2012) was a Danish free jazz saxophonist and composer. Biography Tchicai was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish mother and a Congolese father. The family moved to Aarhus, where he st ...

, ''2 X 2'' (Taso, 2001) * Clifford Thornton, '' Freedom & Unity'' (Third World, 1969) * Alexander von Schlippenbach, ''Globe Unity'' (SABA, 1967) * Alexander von Schlippenbach, ''Globe Unity 67 & 70'' (Atavistic, 2001) *

Marzette Watts Marzette Watts (March 9, 1938, Montgomery, Alabama – March 2, 1998, Nashville) was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist. He performed and recorded on bass clarinet as well. He had a brief career in music and is revered for his 1966 sel ...

, ''

Marzette Watts and Company ''Marzette Watts and Company'', also known as ''Marzette and Company'', is the debut album by saxophonist and composer Marzette Watts. It was recorded in December 1966 in New York City, and was released by ESP-Disk in 1968. On the album, Watts is ...

'' (ESP Disk, 1968) *

Barney Wilen Bernard "Barney" Jean Wilen (4 March 1937 – 25 May 1996) was a French tenor and soprano saxophonist and jazz composer. Life Wilen was born in Nice, France; his father was an American dentist turned inventor, and his mother was French. He bega ...

, ''Zodiac'' (Vogue, 1966) *

Rachael Yamagata Rachael Yamagata (born September 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Arlington, Virginia. She began her musical career with the band Bumpus before becoming a solo artist and releasing five EPs and four studio albums. Her ...

, '' EP'' (Private Music, 2003)

References

External links

Creative Music Studio

Sertso Studio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Karl 1935 births Living people 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 People from Woodstock, New York 20th-century German male pianists 21st-century German male pianists Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts faculty Machine Gun (band) members Sackville Records artists FMR Records artists Tzadik Records artists Black Saint/Soul Note artists NoBusiness Records artists Jazz vibraphonists