March 30, 1935 – April 9, 2023

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Pianist, vibraphonist, and educator Karl Berger passed away on April 9, 2023, at the age of 88.

He was born in Heidelberg, Germany on March 30, 1935, originally playing classical piano.

By the 1950s, Berger was performing modern jazz with local players.

He recorded with tenor-saxophonist Hans Koller (1961), and Helen Merrill (1962), and three songs as a leader in 1963.

Berger, who was attracted to the avant-garde, began doubling on vibes and mostly played that instrument with trumpeter Don Cherry with whom he worked and recorded in 1965-66 (including Symphony For Improvisers).

Berger moved to New York in 1966, made his first full album as a leader for ESP, and was on sessions by Marzette Watts, Rolf Kuhn, Steve Lacy, Clifford Thornton, Lee Konitz, and John McLaughlin; he also worked with Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, and Carla Bley among others.

In 1972 Carl Berger, along with his wife Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman, founded the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, an important educational facility that encouraged young adventurous musicians and sponsored concerts.

While CMS closed in 1984, Berger regularly conducted master classes in later years, taught at the New School, the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, and Dartmouth, and revived CMS in 2013.

Karl Berger appeared on many recordings through the years as a pianist and vibraphonist, and as a leader and a sideman, always playing thought-provoking music, recording as recently as 2022.

Here is Karl Berger in 2011 playing piano, leading and conducting his Stone Workshop Orchestra on “Ornette”; the 20-piece ensemble includes Ingrid Sertso on vocals, trumpeter Thomas Heberer, trombonist Steve Swell, and quite a few others including strings, guitarists, and saxophonists.

This uninhibited performance gives one an idea of the workshops that took place at Woodstock.

-Scott Yanow

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