Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Jeff Berlin (born January 17, 1953) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and progressive rock electric bass player.
Jeff Berlin's bass playing is somewhat similar to that of Jaco Pastorius, though Berlin plays a fretted bass and has stated his distaste for Jaco imitators.
Early life
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.
As a musician
Since 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. He played for some years with Bill Bruford and turned down an offer to join Van Halen.
As an educator
Berlin is well known as a particularly 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. Among his notable pupils are bass guitarists David Hughes and Christopher Maloney. Additionally, he regularly writes articles and columns for Bass Player Magazine.
Equipment
Berlin had Dean Guitars produce a Jeff Berlin signature model electric bass. Previously, Peavey made a Jeff Berlin signature bass dubbed the "Palaedium". Berlin's current gigging bass is the Dean Jeff Berlin Signature Model.
He also has a signature amplifier combo made by MarkBass, the CMD 151P. This consists of one 15" speaker powered by an integrated solid state head (with power output of 300 watts @ 8 ohm or 500 watts @ 4 ohm). This combo lacks a tweeter, which Berlin prefers not to use. Berlin is also involved with the development of MarkBass equipment (manufactured in Italy).
