Borah Bergman (December 13, 1926 – October 18, 2012) was an American free jazz pianist.
Training and influences Bergman was born in Brooklyn to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents.Obituary in WireKelsey, Chris (December 2004) Chris Kelsey Borah Bergman: His Fatha's Son. JazzTimes. His grandfather Meir Pergamenick was a cantor.Borah Bergman: Meditations for Piano Accounts of when he began to learn the piano vary: some assert that he learned clarinet as a child and did not commence his piano studies until adulthood;Kelsey, Chris Artist Biography. AllMusic. Retrieved September 22, 2013. others, that he had piano lessons from a young age; one of his own accounts is that he took piano lessons as a child, then changed to clarinet, before returning to piano after being discharged from the army.Borah Bergman: You Must Judge a Man by the Work of His Hands (November 4, 2005) All About Jazz. As an adult, he developed his left hand playing to the point where he became essentially ambidextrous as a pianist, and could play equally fast in both hands, and they could act completely independently of each other;Polillo, Arrigo. In A New Frontier [CD liner notes]. Soul Note. Bergman himself preferred the term "ambi-ideation" to "ambidextrous", as it conveyed the added ability to express ideas achieved when both hands were equal. Bergman cited Earl Hines, Bud Powell, and Lennie Tristano as formative influences, although his own style was based on free improvisation rather than song form. Commenting on his other influences, Bergman said that "I was influenced strongly by Ornette Coleman... I was also very influenced by chamber music and Bach and Dixieland or New Orleans, where all of the instruments were playing contrapuntally and polyphonically. So I figured I'd like to do it myself". He died in New York in 2012.Obituary by Christoph Wagner (German)
Performance and recordings Until the 1970s he played little in public, concentrating on private practice and his work as a school teacher. He recorded four albums as a soloist, most notably on the European label Soul Note, before embarking on duo and trio albums from the 1990s. A small number of solo and quartet albums were also released from the mid-1990s. The style for which he is best known is described in The Penguin guide to jazz recordings: "His astonishing solo performances recall the 'two pianists' illusion associated with Art Tatum, though in a more fragmentary and disorderly sound-world".Cook, Richard & Morton, Brian (2008) The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.), p. 116. Penguin.
Discography
As leader/co-leader Year recordedTitleLabelPersonnel/Notes1975?DiscoveryChiaroscuroSolo piano1976?Bursts of JoyChiaroscuroSolo piano1983A New FrontierSoul NoteSolo piano1984Upside Down VisionsSoul NoteSolo piano1990The Fire TaleSoul NoteDuo, with Evan Parker (soprano sax)1992InversionsMuworksDuo, with Thomas Chapin (alto sax, saxello)1992The Human FactorSoul NoteDuo, with Andrew Cyrille (drums)1994First MeetingKnitting FactoryMost tracks duo, with Roscoe Mitchell (alto sax, soprano sax); some tracks trio, with Thomas Buckner (vocals) added1994The October RevolutionEvidenceQuartet, with Joe McPhee (tenor saxophone, flugelhorn), Wilber Morris (bass), Rashied Ali (drums); in concert1994–95The Italian ConcertSoul NoteDuo, with Roscoe Mitchell (alto sax, soprano sax)1995Reflections on Ornette Coleman and the Stone HouseSoul NoteDuo, with Hamid Drake (drums)1996Eight By ThreeMixtery Trio, with Anthony Braxton and Peter Brötzmann (reeds)1996Monkssome real music Trio, with Wilber Morris and Sunny Murray1996Geometry LeoDuo, with Ivo Perelman (tenor sax)1996Blue ZooKonnex Trio, with Thomas Borgmann (tenor sax), Peter Brötzmann (alto sax, tarogato)1996Ride into the BlueKonnex Trio, with Thomas Borgmann (tenor sax), Peter Brötzmann (alto sax, tarogato)1996LeftNot TwoTrio, with Peter Brötzmann (tenor sax, clarinet, tarogato), Frode Gjerstad (alto sax)1996–97ExhilarationSoul NoteTrio, with Peter Brötzmann (alto sax), Andrew Cyrille (drums)1997?Ikosa MuraCadencewith Frode Gjerstad, Bobby Bradford and Pheeroan akLaff1997A New OrganizationSoul NoteDuo, with Oliver Lake (alto sax); in concert1997Toronto 1997Boxholder Duo, with Thomas Chapin (sax, flute)2000The River of SoundsBoxholder Trio, with Conny Bauer (trombone), Mat Maneri (violin)2001Meditations for PianoTzadikSolo piano2002The Double IdeaBoxholder Solo piano2003The MahoutSlamTrio, with George Haslam (baritone sax, tarogato), Paul Hession (drums)2002Rivers in TimeFMRMost tracks duo, with Frode Gjerstad (sax, clarinet); some tracks solo piano; one track Gjerstad solo2003Acts of LoveMutable MusicTrio, with Lol Coxhill (soprano sax), Paul Hession (drums)2007One More TimeSilta Duo, with Giorgio Dini (bass)2007Live at TortonaMutable MusicDuo, with Stefano Pastor (violin); in concert2008LuminescenceTzadikMost tracks trio, with Greg Cohen (bass), Kenny Wollesen (drums); one track quartet, with John Zorn (alto sax) added
References
External links Borah Bergman: The Long Look