Bass Player: Jeff Berlin

Another monster part from the ‘Marmite of Bass Education’, Mr Jeffrey Arthur Berlin.

Berlin was born on January 17, 1953 in Queens, New York. He studied violin from 4 until 14 years of age, when he was inspired to play bass guitar after seeing The Beatles. He attended Berklee College of Music to study bass.^[4]

After session work with Patrick Moraz, Dave Liebman and Patti Austin, he gained widespread international attention in 1977 when UK drummer Bill Bruford handpicked him for his debut album, ‘Feels Good To Me’. He played in Bruford’s namesake band until 1980. His Bruford bandmate Allan Holdsworth employed Berlin for his 1983 Warner Brothers album, ‘Road Games’.

Berlin continued to record and tour throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Following the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown, Berlin published he Bass Mastery reading course for beginners and also had a string of controversial arguments with Steve Bailey, Victor Wooten and metronomes. He has many supporters and many detractors in the business but you can’t argue with those chops. The attached transcription is the full performance of the tune ‘Freight Train Shuffle’ from the 1986 Berlin Passport Jazz album, ‘Pump It’.