Bass Player: Jeff Berlin

A final transcription of the complete Jeff Berlin bass part for the tune ‘Forever Until Sunday’ from the Bruford album, ‘One Of A Kind’.

One of a Kind is the second solo album by the drummer Bill Bruford and the first proper album by his band, Bruford. Released in 1979 on EG Records, it is a collection of instrumentals in a style that can loosely be defined as jazz fusion. Bruford features guitarist Allan Holdsworth, bassist Jeff Berling and keyboard player, Dave Stewart. “Forever Until Sunday” and another track from the album, “The Sahara of Snow”, had originally been performed at 1978 concerts by Bruford and Holdsworth’s previous band, U.K. They were intended for a studio album, but were never properly recorded by U.K. as Bruford kept the pieces for himself when he and Holdsworth exited the band. U.K. bandmate Eddie Jobson co-wrote “The Sahara of Snow” and reprises his violin part on “Forever Until Sunday”.

The chart is generally easy to read except for the faster passages where Jeff goes into full funk-fusion mode with sixteenth note patterns. Time spent with the chart will reveal that the notes are all generally diatonic with the occasional chromatic run but, despite the obvious complexity, they are a lot more playable that you may, at first, think. A great example of what you can achieve as a player with concentrated study.