In addition, this bass player born in Long Island, New York, in 1953, released several cult records, for example “Talking Notes”, “In Harmony’s Way”, “HBC”, “Ace of Bass”, “High Standards” and “ Low Standards”, just to mention some of the main studio works. But since the first big influence on the young Berlin was the bass player of the trio Cream, the dialogue started with Jack Bruce:
“Bruce’s amazing solos and jams in that band that had Eric Clapton on guitar and Ginger Baker on drums were my first big influence, and I think that’s what got me into playing electric bass more than anyone else. stuff. I think a lot of my style stems from how impressed I was by Bruce’s virtuosic improvisations.”
Bill Bruford is considered one of the greatest drummers of all time, and the Yes and King Crimson member chose the Berlin bass when putting together a solo band. With Bruford, the other two musicians of his quartet, guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist Dave Stewart Berlin, recorded four cult albums, including titles in which he co-composed some tracks such as “Feels Good to me” and “One of a Kind” that lovers of rock and the so-called “fusion” have never stopped listening to.
“There is music that does not stand the test of time, and instead there are albums that, for some reason, are remembered through the decades. The records we recorded with Bruford continue to be listened to by people all over the world and that is something that excites me a lot”, explains the bassist. “Bass and drums somehow always go together in the rhythm section. Bruford is a drummer who makes rhythms and makes very special sounds, but when we played together it was enough for us to open our ears and immediately understand each other perfectly”.
Berlin used a lot of praise to describe the musicians he collaborated with, but only once did he use the expression “genius” and that was when he remembered Frank Zappa: “I played very little time with Zappa in the early ’80s. He was a one hundred percent original composer, he is what I can define as a true genius. His arrangements were totally personal and rare, and it was hard for me to read his scores, which he had to study a lot. At that time I was involved in jazz, and on the other hand Zappa mixed rhythms of all kinds, surely that is why I played a short time with him and his band”.
The story that seems incredible is the one that Berlin tells about how he gathered strength to not be part of one of the great groups of American rock, Van Halen: “Eddie Van Halen liked my way of playing bass, and soon we began to making friends and playing at his house all the time, and suddenly there was David Lee Roth and I was almost the bass player for Van Halen, so when bass player Michael Anthony left they asked me to be a formal member of the group. The truth is that I thought about it a lot, but they were a band with a special presence, where everyone sings, for example, and I explained to them that on the one hand I loved the idea, but that I wasn’t sure I could fit into a band like Van Halen. They insisted, but I had to refuse. And to this day I believe I made the right decision.”
Returning to jazz and to the year 2022, Berlin is excited to play again in Buenos Aires, a city he knows very well given the various shows he has already offered at Club Bebop: “To begin with, the Argentine public is unique in its enthusiasm. But above all, there are Argentine musicians who are true masters and I don’t say that as a hypocrite, to look good. My friends with whom I am going to play, the drummer Quintino Cinalli and the pianist Mariano Agustoni, would be teachers in any country in the world, and I am happy to play with them. We are going to do some songs that I composed and that are on my albums, and also standards that everyone recognizes, but in our own way, in our versions. Besides, I love Argentina and beyond how beautiful jazz is and playing with my friends, I’m going to confess the honest truth: my favorite restaurant on the entire planet is in San Telmo, it’s called El Desnivel and I’m dying of anxiety for savor that flan with dulce de leche”.
Source: Ambito
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