Jeff Berlin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeff Berlin (born January 17, 1953) is an American electric bass player. Since the mid-1970s, he has been known for his virtuosic jazz fusion and prog rock bass playing. Some consider him to be among the top living electric bass players.[citation needed]
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[edit] Childhood
Jeff Berlin was born to parents who were both musically inclined (his father an opera singer and his mother a pianist). As a child he was considered a prodigy on the violin, but switched to bass guitar at 14 years old. His early bass training included time at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
[edit] As a musician
Beginning in the 1970s, Jeff Berlin's career has been primarily as a sideman to more well-known musicians, but he has also released several solo albums. Notably, he played for some years with Bill Bruford and turned down an offer to join Van Halen.
Jeff Berlin's bass playing has a distinctively "fusion" sound, that is somewhat similar to that of Jaco Pastorius, though Berlin plays a fretted bass and has stated his distaste for Jaco imitators [1].
[edit] As an educator
Jeff Berlin is also well known as a particularly vocal critic and outspoken advocate of (formal) music education. He was a founding member of the Bass Institute of Technology in Los Angeles and later founded the Players School of Music in Clearwater, Florida. Additionally, he regularly writes articles and columns for Bass Player Magazine.
[edit] 'Signature' Equipment
Jeff Berlin earlier had Dean Guitars make a Jeff Berlin signature model electric bass. Before that, Peavey made a Jeff Berlin signature bass dubbed the "Palaedium". There is currently no Jeff Berlin signature model in production.
He also has a signature amplifier combo made by MarkBass
