Karl Berger
Karl Berger,c. 1985
Born	Karl Hans Berger (1935-03-30)March 30, 1935 Heidelberg, Gau Baden,Germany
Died	April 9, 2023(2023-04-09) (aged 88) Albany, New York, U.S.
Education	Free University of Berlin
Occupations	Jazz pianist vibraphonist composer conductor academic teacher
Organizations	Creative Music Studio The New School Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Karl Hans Berger (March 30, 1935 – April 9, 2023) was a German-American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. He was a leading figure in jazz improvisation from the 1960s when he settled in the United States for life. He founded the educationalCreative Music Studio inWoodstock, New York, in 1972 with his wife andOrnette Coleman, to encourage international students to pursue their own ideas about music.

Berger was born on March 30, 1935, inHeidelberg.^[1][2] He started playing classical piano when he was ten and worked in his early twenties at a club in his hometown.^[1] He learned modern jazz from visiting American musicians, such asDon Ellis andLeo Wright. During the 1960s, he started playingvibraphone.^[2] He studied musicology and sociology at theFree University of Berlin, achieving a doctoral degree in 1963 with a dissertation on music inSoviet ideology.^[3] He worked as a member ofDon Cherry's band in Paris.^[2][1] When the band went to New York City to recordSymphony for Improvisers, he recorded his debut album as a leader.^[1][4]

Berger worked with drummersEd Blackwell andJack DeJohnette, bassistDave Holland, and saxophonistsOrnette Coleman,Lee Konitz and Ivo Perelman.^[1] He worked further withMichael Bisio,^[1]Anthony Braxton and Baba Olatunji,^[5] as well as withCarla Bley,Bill Laswell^[6]John McLaughlin andRoswell Rudd,^[1] and with the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra,^[7] As musical arranger and conductor, he contributed to albums byBetter Than Ezra,^[8]Buckethead,^[9]Jeff Buckley,^[10]Angélique Kidjo,Natalie Merchant andRich Robinson, among others.^[3]

With Coleman and Ingrid Sertso, Berger's wife, he founded theCreative Music Studio (CMS) inWoodstock, New York, in 1972,^[1] to encourage students to pursue their own ideas about music.^[2] Berger considered Coleman his friend and mentor, and like Coleman he was drawn toavant-garde jazz,free jazz, andfree improvisation.^[1][4] The focus of CMS was "teaching improvising musicians to develop their own aesthetics, and to draw and mesh ideas from across genres, traditions, and international borders".^[1] Among the teachers wereJohn Cage,Steve Lacy,George Russell andRichard Teitelbaum.^[3] They closed the facility in 1984, but held masterclasses internationally, called World Jazz. Berger and Sertso founded Sertso Recording Studio in Woodstock in 2004.^[1]

Berger also taught at theNew School,^[1] and at theFrankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts from 1994 to 2003.^[3] He then led the department of music of theUniversity of Massachusetts Dartmouth to 2005.^[3] He and his wife revived CMS in 2013, and retired in 2017.^[1] He remained active in music for the rest of his life, releasing his final album in the fall of 2022.^[1][11]

Berger died at a hospital inAlbany, New York, on April 9, 2023, at age 88, from complications after surgery.^[1][5]

Berger's recordings include:^{[12][13][7][14][15]}

• From Now On (ESP Disk, 1967)^[12][14]
• Tune In (Milestone, 1969)^[12]
• We Are You (Calig, 1972)^[12][14]
• With Silence (Enja, 1972)^[12][14]
• All Kinds of Time (Sackville, 1976)^[12][14][15]
• Interludes (FMP, 1977)^[12]
• Changing the Time (Horo, 1977)^[12]
• Just Play (1976) (Quark, 1979)^[12][14]
• New Moon (Palcoscenico, 1980)^[14]
• Live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival (MPS, 1979)^[13]
• Transit (Black Saint, 1987)^[12][14][15]
• Karl Berger + Paul Shigihara (L+R/Bellaphon, 1991)^[15]
• Around (Black Saint, 1991)
• Sudpool Jazz Project II: Moon Dance (L+R/Bellaphon, 1992)
• Crystal Fire (Enja, 1992)^[14][15]
• Conversations (In+Out, 1994)^[14][15]
• No Man Is an Island (Douglas Music, 1997)^[14]
• Stillpoint (Double Moon, 2002)^[12]
• Strangely Familiar (Tzadik, 2010)^[12][14]
• Synchronicity (Nacht, 2012)^[14]
• After the Storm (FMR, 2012)^[12][14]
• Gently Unfamiliar (Tzadik, 2014)^[12]
• Moon (NoBusiness, 2015)^[12][14]
• Live at the Classical Joint (Condition West, 2017)^[12]
• In a Moment (Tzadik, 2018)^[12]
• Conjure (True Sound, 2019)^[12]
• Sketches (Fresh Sound, 2022)^[12][14]
• Heart is a Melody (Stunt, 2022)^[12]

With Don Cherry

• Togetherness (Durium, 1966)^[16]
• Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 Vols. 1–3 (ESP Disk, 1966)^[17]
• Symphony for Improvisers (Blue Note, 1966)^[13]
• Eternal Rhythm (MPS, 1969)^[7]
• Multikulti (A&M, 1990)^[7]

With Bill Laswell

• Jazzonia (Douglas Music, 1998)^[6][18]
• Filmtracks 2000 (Tzadik, 2001)^[19]
• Points of Order (Innerhythmic, 2001)^[20]

With Ivo Perelman

• Reverie (Leo, 2014)^[14][15]
• The Art of the Improv Trio Vol. 1 (Leo, 2016)^[15]
• The Hitchhiker (Leo, 2016)

With others

• Better Than Ezra,How Does Your Garden Grow? (Elektra, 1998)^[8]
• Carla Bley,Escalator Over the Hill (JCOA, 1971)^[21]
• Anthony Braxton,Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)^[22]
• Buckethead,Giant Robot (CyberOctave, 2000)^[9]
• Jeff Buckley,So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley (Legacy/Columbia, 2007)^[10]
• Neneh Cherry,Broken Politics (Smalltown Supersound, 2018)^[23]
• Chocolate Genius,Black Music (Everlasting, 1998)^[24]
• Coheed and Cambria,Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV (Columbia, 2005)^[25][26]
• Lajos Dudas,Talk of the Town (Double Moon, 2000)^[7]
• Slide Hampton,Jazz Live Trio with Guests (TCB, 2013)^[27][28]
• Theo Jorgensmann,Fellowship (hatOLOGY, 2005)^[29][30]
• Kalaparusha,Kalaparusha (Trio, 1977)^[31]
• Hans Koller,Big Sound Koller (Sonorama, 2016)^[32]
• Lee Konitz,The Lee Konitz Duets (Milestone, 1968)^[33]
• Lee Konitz,Seasons Change (Circle, 1980)
• Rolf Kuhn &Joachim Kuhn,Transfiguration (SABA, 1967)
• Sylvain Leroux,Quatuor Créole (Engine Studios, 2012)^[34]
• John Lindberg,Duets 1 (Between the Lines, 2006)^[13][15]
• Machine Gun,Machine Gun (MU, 1988)^[35]
• Magpie Salute,The Magpie Salute (Eagle, 2017)^[36]
• Albert Mangelsdorff,Albert Mangelsdorff and His Friends (MPS, 1971)^[7]
• Kesang Marstrand,Our Myth (North Node, 2011)^[37]
• John McLaughlin,Where Fortune Smiles (Dawn, 1971; Esoteric Recordings, 2017)^[14]
• Charles Mingus,Epitaph (Columbia, 1989)^[7]
• Ryan Montbleau,Patience On Friday (Blue's Mountain, 2007)^[38]
• Musica Elettronica Viva,United Patchwork (Horo, 1978)
• Robert Musso,Innermedium (DIW, 1999)^[39]
• Pete Namlook,Polytime (Fax, 1998)^[40]
• Rich Robinson,Through a Crooked Sun (Circle Sound 2011)^[41]
• Roswell Rudd,Blown Bone (Emanem, 2006)^[42]
• Frederic Rzewski,Attica/Coming Together/Les Moutons De Panurge (Opus One, 1974)^[43]
• Alan Silva,Skillfullness (ESP Disk, 1969)^[7][44]

• Creative Music Studio
• Sertso Studio
• Karl Berger discography atDiscogs
• Karl Berger atIMDb

• 1935 births
• 2023 deaths
• Musicians from Heidelberg
• People from the Republic of Baden
• Post-bop pianists
• Post-bop composers
• German jazz composers
• Male jazz composers
• ESP-Disk artists
• Enja Records artists
• MPS Records artists
• Milestone Records artists
• Avant-garde jazz pianists
• Avant-garde jazz composers
• German musicologists
• German jazz pianists
• German jazz vibraphonists
• Musicians from Woodstock, New York
• 20th-century German male pianists
• 21st-century German male pianists
• Academic staff of the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts
• Machine Gun (band) members
• Sackville Records artists
• FMR Records artists
• Tzadik Records artists
• Black Saint/Soul Note artists
• NoBusiness Records artists
• American jazz vibraphonists
• Male jazz pianists

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