We both studied with Charlie Benacos back in our Berklee days though at different times, and yes Jeff was known around town and amongst most players at Berklee as a bit out of control ego-wise. That said, having seen him play many many times around
Boston, he was pretty amazing. I studied with Miroslav Vitous who's ego was every bit as big as Jeff's. If you can back it up then it's fine. From a musical standpoint no bass player was playing the stuff Jeff was. I agree he was a bit busy for my taste,
but you don't hear Jaco playing the complex lines Jeff played. I saw Jaco live and he pretty much sucked the night I saw him and he wasn't much more than the king of penotonics played badly in a stoned stuper and overrated in my book. Jeff never gave a
bad performance that I ever saw. He's definitely mellowed and I think he has a lot to say.

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On Thursday, August 3, 2017 at 9:32:45 PM UTC-4, bdon...@gmail.com wrote:

We both studied with Charlie Benacos back in our Berklee days though at different times, and yes Jeff was known around town and amongst most players at Berklee as a bit out of control ego-wise. That said, having seen him play many many times around

Boston, he was pretty amazing. I studied with Miroslav Vitous who's ego was every bit as big as Jeff's. If you can back it up then it's fine. From a musical standpoint no bass player was playing the stuff Jeff was. I agree he was a bit busy for my taste,
but you don't hear Jaco playing the complex lines Jeff played. I saw Jaco live and he pretty much sucked the night I saw him and he wasn't much more than the king of penotonics played badly in a stoned stuper and overrated in my book. Jeff never gave a
bad performance that I ever saw. He's definitely mellowed and I think he has a lot to say.


I'm sorry I was at Berklee years ago and have some perspective.

There may well be some great players, but few have the historic significance of Jaco.

Like many, he had a substance abuse problem, but he was murdered, we have no idea what he could have achieved.

People like Jeff Berlin or such are great players, there is no doubt. He also has had a lot more years to develop and improve his bass playing, years stolen from Jaco's life. He was actively engaged in studying the greatest musical works in many genre'
s.

Jaco's influence on the bass will last a century, long after Jeff Berlin is buried and forgotten. He was the evolutionary force. He was the genius. You saw him on a bad night, that is not a reflection of his influence on music.

Bass players years after his life still talk about Jaco's vibes on their instruments, even upright players.

The other's a just great players.

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On Saturday, December 27, 1997 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Mikewyz wrote:

the following is a letter I sent to Bass Player magazine lately. it covers many points I'd like to raise about Jeff Berlin and I feel it's worth discussion in a forum such as this. I look forward to responses.

-----------------------
Dear Editor,
My 7+ year subscription to Bass Player is hanging by a thread. Your Jeff Berlin interview was pretty disgraceful, considering that you teased us with the question "Motormouth of Musical Genius?" on the cover. The story inside was nothing more than a puff piece that made this controversial bassist look like the next Mingus.

While I would agree that Berlin is amusing to read, I do feel the value of his musical ability is quite arguable. No doubt he is technically gifted and quite outspoken, and even the star of a terribly funny instructional video. However, as one who has read nearly every article he has written for Bass Player and Guitar Player many years ago, I find that he has very little to say.
Over and over Berlin says the same things and while they are valuable and things I agree with (get a teacher, learn to read, transcribe Sonny Stitt, etc)
he's not saying much.

Beyond that are his questionable musical qualifications. Berlin LOVES to name-drop about all the folks he has jammed with. However, a look at his discography shows just how few of those people want to _continue_ working with
Berlin. You may notice, in the Feb. 98 issue that has Berlin's discography, it
is much shorter than Christian McBride's, and he has been in the biz for MUCH less time than Berlin. Beyond that, how easy is it to find some of Berlin's work in a music store (and not a "out-of-print" only store)? I would even venture to say that Berlin is the least recorded member of your Advisory Board.
No, this isn't the best qualification for taking one's advice, but it makes one ask Why this is.

While Jeff has been gone from the LA music scene for a while, there are stories that remain about him. The jist of such stories is that he does NOT listen, he just solos and plays way too many notes. This is said to be the reason why Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp, and Eddie Van Halen never recorded with him and why Bill Bruford and Allan Holdsworth are Former bandmates. I think Berlin made a very telling remark in his interview. He talks about how he admires Sting and Paul McCartney. While most musicians would be proud to write songs as good as they have, Berlin says, "I would love
to be able to put down eight bars of bass solo on any one of their songs."

On top of this, his writing skills are suspect. His compositions are little
more than faceless pop-jazz and forced attempts to "rock out" by turning up the
drums. On top of this, his use of musical terminology (what "tonalities" did the Beatles introduce to pop?) is highly uninformed. And I'm not even going to
get into his laughable singing on the Bruford album.

I think it's high time this question was asked about Jeff Berlin: Why don't people want to play with him? Why does he make his living educating and writing columns? Why is it that people want to play and record with Victor Wooten, Christian McBride, Marcus Miller, etc., but not Jeff? Why were his didn't-sell-so-great solo albums out of print for so long? "Motormouth or musical genius?" indeed!

yours,
Mike Wyzard

Anyone who believes Jaco is overrated is completely ignorant in my opinion. He developed the modern jazz fretless style of bass playing and is more emulated than any other bassist in history. How famous and emulated are you?

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