Bob Berg Dies In Car Crash

By I Dec. 6, 2002

Saxophonist Bob Berg died in a car crash on Thursday morning in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 51. The crash, in which a cement truck hit his car, was the result of the snow storm in the area.

Berg was one of the most notable post-Coltrane stylists on the scene. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 7,1951. By the age of 13, Berg was listening to jazz and was performing in his school band. A drop-out from the The School for the Performing Arts, he spent a year studying at Juilliard School in a non-academic music program. Starting in 1966 and continuing for the next three or four years his interest in Coltrane’s later avant-garde work spurred his immersion into the free-jazz scene of the day.

A strong reaction to playing more “outside” music led Berg to go back to studying the more classic 1950s formations led by Miles Davis with Coltrane as well as Coltrane’s earlier work. This led to work with organist Jack McDuff in 1969, where he played in a more funky, Gene Ammons-inspired style. Berg’s reaction to free-jazz was followed by a similar aversion to the jazz-rock fusion of the 1970s. Instead, he devoted himself to playing strictly acoustic jazz in a bebop style. In 1974-‘76, he played with pianist Horace Silver’s band, followed by a period with pianist Cedar Walton’s quartet (1976-‘81). This work led to his being exposed to the festival circuit, both in the United States and internationally.

From 1981-‘83, Berg lived and played in Europe, returning to the U.S. in early 1984 to join the Miles Davis band. He stayed with Davis until 1986. His style of playing with Davis’ electric group was allowed to go beyond mere vamps and fusion cliches, playing as he did with a robust, well-articulated sound. Since then, Berg has gone on to collaborate and record under his own name.

Recordings include: Enter The Spirit (with Chick Corea, Stretch, 1997), Riddles (Stretch, 1994), Virtual Reality (Denon, 1993), Back Roads (Denon, 1991), Cycles (Denon, 1989) and Short Stories (Denon, 1987). He had just completed a new release for Sirocco, due out in the spring of 2003.