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 educational Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, in 1972 with his wife and Ornette Coleman, to encourage international students to pursue their own ideas about music.
Berger was born on March 30, 1935, in Heidelberg.[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 as Don Ellis and Leo Wright. During the 1960s, he started playing vibraphone.[2] He studied musicology and sociology at the Free University of Berlin, achieving a doctoral degree in 1963 with a dissertation on music in Sowjet ideology.[3] He worked as a member of Don Cherry's band in Paris.[2][1] When the band went to New York City to record Symphony for Improvisers, he recorded his debut album as a leader.[1][4]
With Coleman and Ingrid Sertso, Berger's wife, he founded the Creative Music Studio (CMS) in Woodstock, 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 to avant-garde jazz, free jazz, and free 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 were John Cage, Steve Lacy, George Russell and Richard 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]
^Raggett, Ned. "Black Music". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
^"Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV". progarchives.com. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
^"COHEED AND CAMBRIA, Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness".
^"Klaus König / Jazz Live Trio — Jazz Live Trio With Slide Hampton, Karl Berger, Glenn Ferris : Jazz Live Trio With Guests". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
^"Slide Hampton 1972 / Karl Berger 1978 / Glenn Ferris 1981 Jazz Live Trio".
^"Theo Jörgensmann: Fellowship". All About Jazz. February 27, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
^"Penn State Library Catalogs: Theo Jorgensmann Fellowship".
^"CMS Releases its Second Set of Rare Archival Recordings". jazzpages.de. October 8, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
^"Hans Koller & Friends / Big Sound Koller". A Selection of Jazz on Sonorama. All About Jazz. March 18, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2023.