Jeff Berlin – Bass

‘Hi, I’m Jeff Berlin’.

Ol’ Jeff is something of an enigma. An absolutely monster player but someone who has not really had the best gigs in terms of his profile. I think his approach to playing requires a certain strength of purpose or focus on the part of potential bandleaders or producers and this can make things difficult for someone who has as much personality as JB. I also think that a lot of his solo work is beautifully written but generally produced on a limited budget so isn’t as well put together as it deserves to be. Consequently, I think a lot of his best work has been as a sideman when it is not him that calls the tune but someone else who can harness JB’s skills to the max. Bill Bruford is an obvious example but there are others who seem to get the best out of him, one of which is guitarist Kazumi Watanabe. Watanabe has recorded three albums with Berlin, ‘The Spice Of Life’, ‘The Spice Of Life Too’ and ‘Spinning Globe’. The compositions are focussed and are put together with JB in mind so it all works beautifully.

This is a weird read. It generally alternates between bars of 9:4 and 5:4 with a couple of 4:4 section and another brief one that alternates 9:8 and 7:8. Frankly, you’ve got no chance. It is playable though and there is a lot of written parts as opposed to blowing so, one you get it, you’ve got it. This is the tune Fu Bu Ki from the 1988 Kazumi Watanabe album, ‘Spice Of Life Too’.