He is 72 this year and he is still bringing it!
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Jeff Berlin’s Current Tour
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
He is 72 this year and he is still bringing it!
He has just turned 70 in January, Dr. Cheese.
All the same, what a guy and what a talent. I saw the video of his band playing 'Bach' the other day and I was blown away. It wasn't a piece I had expected to hear on this tour! I really wish I could have got out somewhere to see the guys live. For the first leg, Jeff was very busy doing travel videos which he was posting to Facebook. He makes a great host, his observational humour is very witty and it gives a bit of an insight onto life on the road for a small jazz act in Europe. He has recently been greatly enjoying his time in Italy, a country he loves dearly. He's got the energy and drive of a guy half his age.
All the same, what a guy and what a talent. I saw the video of his band playing 'Bach' the other day and I was blown away. It wasn't a piece I had expected to hear on this tour! I really wish I could have got out somewhere to see the guys live. For the first leg, Jeff was very busy doing travel videos which he was posting to Facebook. He makes a great host, his observational humour is very witty and it gives a bit of an insight onto life on the road for a small jazz act in Europe. He has recently been greatly enjoying his time in Italy, a country he loves dearly. He's got the energy and drive of a guy half his age.
I was mistaken, I thought Jeff Berlin was part of the great cohort of bass guitarists born in 1951. I guess he was born in '52. As for his energy and drive, I think music is a great source of energy and vigor.
There can't be many players with an endorsement deal with both Cort and Just for Men.
Impressive playing, but fastidious and detailed rather than big on emotion or pathos. I find a lot of Berlin's stuff doesn't get much beyond 'I did a complex, anally retentive musical thing on bass'. Sure you can transcribe a Clapton guitar solo or Bach piano piece for bass but A) they sound better on their native instruments and B) they sound like midi tracks if you use that dry, bridge pickup tone and hyper consistent attack.
And I'm not saying this as one of those players who shuns learning musical theory or reading notation incase it interferes with the natural mojo they (usually don't) bring to the instrument. I could listen to Berlin teaching all day; I would just prefer to buy a book of his lessons over an album of his music.
Impressive playing, but fastidious and detailed rather than big on emotion or pathos. I find a lot of Berlin's stuff doesn't get much beyond 'I did a complex, anally retentive musical thing on bass'. Sure you can transcribe a Clapton guitar solo or Bach piano piece for bass but A) they sound better on their native instruments and B) they sound like midi tracks if you use that dry, bridge pickup tone and hyper consistent attack.
And I'm not saying this as one of those players who shuns learning musical theory or reading notation incase it interferes with the natural mojo they (usually don't) bring to the instrument. I could listen to Berlin teaching all day; I would just prefer to buy a book of his lessons over an album of his music.
Well put, although his Tears in Heaven will always be insane to me. It's different every time as he improvises all the in between licks.
Yeah, he's overly clinical, but man can that guy solo!
I gave his version of Tears in Heaven a listen! It is brilliant. He lands every note perfectly; no sloppiness or fluff at all. You can hear that he always knows exactly where he is, harmonically.
Bbbbut.... it's Clapton's ode to his dead son, so it again seems slightly emotionally lacking to turn it into a chord progression to run musical rings inside of. Fast flurries of notes, paired with dynamic changes, can bring a lot of emotion to pieces of music (like Debussy's Syrinx) but not if you are glued to a precise tempo set out by a drummer and use a limited range of dynamics.
I gave it a listen and I think it is beautiful as well. But to your criticism, it no longer sounds like a sad song. I suspect he isn't trying to "speak" for Clapton or to recreate his grief. I hear springtime and Irish green pastures.
I understand what you're saying, but without the lyrics, it's not about that anymore.
You need to listen to live versions of Jeff playing this song to understand what I meant. I had written out the studio version, and was going to give it to him for a look at a clinic of his I attended, but he played it live there and it was completely different! He never plays it the same way twice. Same chord structure and feel, but different licks and different chord voicings every time.
I think the highlighted point is the crux of the issue: Berlin is an insanely talented bass player. But the music he writes sounds like it comes from the mind of an insanely talented bass player...not from the mind of a composer.
iow, I greatly prefer hearing him play other people's material. They bring a depth to the writing that he's yet to muster.
Jeff is finally flying home this evening after a tour that seems to have gone on for months, most of it in Italy! Whoever was booking him in Italy has done a great job as as he has been there for weeks now, gigging constantly. Unsurprisingly for a guy with a famous work ethic, his farewell video from his plane home talked of how this tour has allowed him to determine what he needs to practice now to improve. That's dedication!
