Jeff Berlin - Bx3 Feature

Darrin: Good afternoon Jeff, how are you doing?

Jeff: How do ya do man? I went through Vancouver not too long ago.

Darrin: Well, I hope you missed the snow.

Jeff: Any time I can miss snow is a good day for me. I have lived in Florida now for about 15 years.  I have had to dig myself out way too many times on the past, when I lived in New York.  If I can avoid it, I definitely will. I am happy in Florida.  If Jimmy Buffett needs a bass player, I am available.

Darrin: Tell me about the Bx3 tour.  What is it like to play with these guys?

Jeff: It’s fabulous, and it is a bit of a surprise to me. What has turned out to be so comfortable, and cool, was originally conceived by me to be a problem. I had never believed that 3 basses could sound good together. There is something about the sonic level of a bass guitar with another bass guitar. When Stu started this whole project, I felt that is was, well… a good idea, but it couldn’t possibly work. We all have great techniques, and it would turn out to be a jumble of bass notes. And absolutely the opposite has become the fact. It is a stunning, unique one of a kind blending of 3 bass players, and an incredible drummer in John Mader and an equally amazing guitarist in Jude Gold. It is turning out to be one of the most fun musical experiences I have ever had.

Darrin: The Players School seems to be a great resource for the music community, but has your involvement in the school sparked you to write more music?

Jeff: Well, I have always written.  The Players School is a Guitar, Bass, Drums and Keyboard school. I think it may be the best small music school in all of North America. I honestly regard it as so capable at helping musicians.  We have about a 100% improvement rate, taking new players to very sophisticated players. In that environment, I practice all day long. Between classes, and if I am not on the road, I am there writing and practicing regularly. I am happy with my writing as of late, and at the end of this tour, my bass playing may be at it’s highest level than it has been in my entire career. So you combine the practice I do at the Player’s School, and all the performance, that it is shocking and a blessing to me.  So I am sure the Payers School had a lot to do with that.

Darrin: Tell me a bit about the writing and recording of Lumpy Jazz.

Jeff: The process really, was me at a piano, me on a bass guitar, and sitting and writing with Richard Drexler who is my musical partner and the band that I have, which is the Berlin Group. Lumpy Jazz came from me trying to write extremely interesting trio music. Each tune to me was special, because I wanted to write something of such a unique nature, to put so called virtuoso bass playing in it.  It is probably one of my favorite records. It is not the latest, but it is one of my favorites. It came from months of writing music that I hoped would come out as a great trio interpretation. It may be one of the best playing records that I have done.

Darrin: Going back, did you ever regret turning down Van Halen for the gig when they offered it to you?

Jeff: Years earlier I did, because I wanted to make all that money. The fact is, I turned them down, because, as a member of the band, you had to portray the image of the group. My vision was not like that. As a bass player, sure, I could have done the gig. It may surprise some people, but I am one of the strongest rock bass players you will hear anywhere, anytime. I can rock as hard or harder as many of the rock bass players today. I am an animal, and a beast on the bass.  But personality wise, I do not live in the party type atmosphere that accompanies a lot of rock bands. So, had I joined Van Halen, I probably would not have stayed long. It would have been a detriment to Eddie, because he deserved to have someone there dedicated and 100% committed to making the band work. It would have been dishonest to Eddie, and I just couldn’t do that. So it worked out that I did not join that band.

Darrin: What was it like playing with a great like Bill Bruford?

Jeff: Bill Bruford was the guy that exposed me to the whole audience of fans and musicians, I learned probably everything that I ever developed on my own..or it was originally seeded by Bill Bruford’s lessons in performance, studio savvy and general musicality. He is the most important figure in my musical life, in the ways of being a performer and a front man, and I owe him a great debt. And musically, we were great together. He was what I used to joke about being a quirky odd Englishman on drums, and I am an American guy, influenced by American and European rock, and lots of jazz and R&B. Our odd combination worked. It was a great pleasure for me to play with Bill Bruford.

Darrin: Tell me bout the opportunity you got to play with Yes

Jeff: I was asked to tour with them, Tony Levin was supposed to sub for Chris Squire, who couldn’t make it, Tony got ill, then I got a call on a Sunday night from Steve Howe, he told me the list of songs, I went and bought the records, and wrote out the charts, I learned the show on a Monday and a Tuesday, Wednesday we had a rehearsal, and Thursday we were on tour.

Darrin: Wow, that is no easy feat.  It is not simple rock songs.

Jeff: I am a quick study. I spent a lot of years learning interesting and difficult pieces of music. So, when they called me, it was like using a lesson from the past.  I am a quick transcriber. When I got the Yes call, I transcribed music, to have charts. It was something I have done since I was 18 anyway. It was not a complicated thing for me to do. I had a lot of preparation to do the Yes gig.

Darrin: What was the Bx3 swing like through Asia and India last year?

Jeff: I have toured through there with the Jeff Berlin Group.  What is fun about it, is that I am very comfortable in other cultures and other societies.  When I am in Rome, I really do what the Romans do. The people there are exceptionally giving and kind.  The Asians are such great music fans, and really love rock and western jazz, they turned out in huge numbers to hear us, not all bass players I must add, and we were honored and overwhelmed. We did a gig in Bangkok, and it was well over a couple of thousand people. To watch 3 bass players if you can imagine. We love it in Asia. We eat great food, we love being in the environment, and hanging out with people from there. It is a great place, and the Asians are great supporters of western music, and American music in particular.

Darrin: What are you using for gear on this tour?

Jeff: My favorite bass amp, and the best I have ever played, in my 35 years as a professional musician, the amp of my dreams… and it is MarkBass. It is an Italian company, and I was given the opportunity to try every brand of amplifier, every major bass amp company came and asked me to try their gear, and ALL of their gear was excellent, but I just could not get a sound out of it that suited me. MarkBass sent me an email and let me try one of their amps. It took a minute, and I exaggerate not, 60 seconds, and I put my guitar down, and asked them if I could endorse their product. The tone, for me is simply overwhelming. The sound out of the MarkBass combo that I play, kills me. There has never been a place where I have played, where I have plugged into those amps and been instantly grateful for the tone that I achieve.  You have to do nothing to get a sound out of them. They speak for me. Other people have tried them and loved them too.

I also use the Dean Jeff Berlin Bass, which is something they are re-releasing, they are a rock guitar company, they have Dimebag Darrell, and others…

Darrin: They just re-released a limited number of the Rik Emmett Dean Flying V also.  They unveiled it at Winter NAMM this year.

Jeff: So, they are clearly a rock guitar company, and I am their little jazz player. But Elliot, the owner, we have been friends for years. Frankly the bass I play is so fantastic for me, that when I was not affiliated with Dean for 4-5 years, I would not endorse any other bass guitars. It is simply the bass guitar that I always dreamed to have. Do you know how many bass guitars I own?

Darrin: How many?

Jeff: One. I know it sounds a bit dangerous, but I have never really had a lot of guitars. I finally weeded it down to one guitar. I do not have a store room full of guitars. I have one bass guitar. It is a Dean Jeff Berlin. That bass and the MarkBass amp were made for each other. When they came together, I was almost, almost emotionally overcome by the outcome.

Darrin: What has been your favorite part of this swing of the Bx3 tour?

Jeff: It is twofold.  One is sound check, and the other is my set with John Mader and Jude Gold, which is a jazz set. Sound check, because I have not played all day, because we are driving around, then I get a chance to pick up my guitar, and just practice quietly. And figure things out for 10-15 minutes.  My set is a personal favorite, because I get to chose the music that makes myself, as well as the audience I hope, the happiest. That set is explosive. Overwhelming. Jude Gold is coincidently an editor with Guitar Player magazine but he is a phenomenal guitarist, and John Mader plays for Sly and the Family Stone, and he can play jazz incredibly. We have a burning trio. Every night now for weeks, we have had an overwhelmingly amount of great gigs. That set totally achieves what I want to do.

When the three of us get up there, it is another incredible moment. I am then performing more in the Stu Hamm and Billy Sheehan view of things. We do Crossroads, and I sing it, and we are jamming the blues, we do Big Bottom, it is a fun and remarkable moment. We really love each other by the way, we share the stage, and we are up there together sharing our music. And we are up there touring as BASS players. That is so rare.

Darrin: Is there going to be a DVD or Live CD?

Jeff: We are looking at recording as a band right now, so we will be putting something together for sure.

Darrin: Jeff, I thank you for giving me so much time like this before a gig.

Jeff: It has been my pleasure.