Bob Berg

Tenor saxophonist Bob Berg drew upon the assertive energy of hard bop to establish himself among the most articulate and inventive soloists in modern jazz, developing a richly nuanced tone supported by impeccable execution. Born April 7, 1951, in New York City, he spent his childhood in Brooklyn and began studying piano at six. At thirteen he switched to alto saxophone after a high-school instructor exposed him to Cannonball Adderley and Horace Silver, prompting his first immersion in jazz. Leaving New York’s High School of Performing Arts, he entered a specialized non-academic program at the Juilliard School of Music. His first professional work came in 1968, touring with Brother Jack McDuff; by the close of the decade he had concentrated on tenor saxophone, with John Coltrane exerting a decisive influence on his subsequent direction. A short engagement with free jazz gave way to a decisive return to postwar bop. Recommended by saxophonist Michael Brecker, Berg joined Horace Silver’s band in 1973 and stayed three years before succeeding George Coleman in Cedar Walton’s Eastern Rebellion. He launched his recording career with the 1978 album New Birth, then, after departing Walton in 1981, documented Steppin’: Live in Europe; his profile rose sharply when he entered Miles Davis’s group in 1984, an association that culminated in the 1987 release Short Stories. The decade ended with the cooperative band he formed alongside guitarist Mike Stern, which produced Cycles in 1988 and In the Shadows in 1990. In 1992 Berg joined Chick Corea’s acoustic quartet and simultaneously led his own quartet on a U.S. Department of State tour of the Caribbean. After issuing the 1997 date Another Standard he reunited with an acoustic edition of Steps Ahead; in 2000 he also participated in the Jazz Times Superband alongside Randy Brecker, Joey DeFrancesco, and Dennis Chambers. He next appeared with vibraphonist Joe Locke in the ensemble 4 Walls of Freedom. Their self-titled debut recording reached the public only after Berg’s death in an automobile accident near his Long Island home on December 5, 2002.