Bass Player (and composer): Jeff Berlin

Jeff Berlin’s composition ‘Joe Frazier’ first appeared on the 1980 Bruford album ‘Gradually Going Tornado’. The main theme of the tune is a bass/piano unison head which places demands on the bass player that, in those days at least, were way out of the reach of the average bass player. The tune became one of the ‘must hear’ bass tunes alongside Jaco’s ‘Donna Lee’, ‘Portrait Of Tracy’ and ‘Continuum’ and Stanley Clarke’s ‘Schooldays’ and ‘Silly Putty’. Bass led albums are ten a penny these days but, back in the late 1970s and early 80s, the ‘bass-led’ albums were a much rarer animal.

The success of ‘Joe Frazier’ led to Jeff Berlin revisiting the tune for his 1986 album ‘Pump It’ which featured guitarist Frank Gambale, keyboard player Clare Fischer and drummer Tris Imboden. ‘Joe Frazier Round Two’ is a much meatier and tighter performance than the Bruford version and much more heavily produced. There are some absolutely remarakable moments including a bar of triplet sixteenths in Jeff’s bass solo (bar 73), a great shout chorus that crosses the bar lines beautifully (bar 143-6 and repeated later) and a remarkable broken fill at bars 150 – 151 (watch it; the transcription is Bilbo’s hearing of it. You may disagree). One for studdy rather than cold reading but great fun.