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Trumpet player, composer and educator Jason Waltony Berg had the fortune early on
to hear great jazz music both live and on record. His interest in music first
sparked when he picked up the trumpet in fourth grade and was set ablaze after
hearing a very young group of talented jazz musicians including the pianist Brad
Meldau (who was then in high school). He soon began to investigate his mother's
record collection that included recordings by Billie Holliday with Buck Clayton
and Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet. His desire to hear more great music led
him to the local library which was well stocked with recordings by great musicians
like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. This early love of the music,
coupled with the direction and guidance of his high school band director, Haig
Shahverdian, kindled in Berg the passionate flame for musical excellence and personal
integrity which has continued to burn within him until today.
Growing up in the Greater Hartford area gave Jason access to some very fine musicians
including the late great Jackie McClean. Berg was a student at McClean's Artists'
Collective for three years while in high school and while there he studied and
performed with many of the most exciting musicians on the jazz scene today including
trombonist Steve Davis and saxophonist Jimmy Greene. It was at the Collective where
Jason also met pianist Noah Baerman who was to become a good friend and musical collaborator.
Berg went to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where he studied classical
trumpet with Peter Bond of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, jazz theory with saxophonist
Ralph Bowen, improvisation with guitarist Ted Dunbar and composition with pianist Kenny
Barron. While there, Jason also assisted jazz organist and educator Radam Schwartz with
the Jazz Institute of New Brunswick and played with the cooperative jazz quartet, Positive
Rhythmic Force (PRF), which he co-founded and co-led. As the fruit of his labors, Berg
received a Bachelor's of Music degree from Rutgers in 1998 and a Master's of Music degree
in 2000. He also recorded two independent CD's with PRF (the eponymous PRF and The Question Is)
and wrote a large amount of original music including a piece based on choreography by Maia
Claire Garrison and another to accompany a Rutgers University production of Anna Devere
Smith's Fires in the Mirror.
After graduation, Jason freelanced around the New York Metropolitan area and taught jazz
improvisation, theory, and instrumental music at the William Brown Academy in Newark, NJ
and as part of the Montclair State University Preparatory Division. Looking for a change
of pace, he joined the U.S. Army Band and spent time playing music in Hampton Roads,
Virginia and eventually, Lawton, Oklahoma. While with the 77th Army Band based out of
Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, Berg played over four hundred services in various locations including
Arkansas, New Jersey, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.
Having served his time in the active duty military, Jason took the job as Director of
Bands at Oklahoma Panhandle State University where he taught from 2005 to 2007. At the
end of 2005, Berg went in to the studio and recorded his latest record, Letter Back Home.
The CD is a musical scrapbook bringing together tunes that were written over a fourteen-year
period. They reflect the different experiences that Jason has had as he continues to pursue
musical excellence and personal integrity.
Currently, Jason is working on his PhD in Fine Arts at Texas Tech University where he also
serves as an instructor in jazz history and jazz improvisation. He resides in Lubbock,
Texas with his wife Sandra Lee and their son Alex.
To contact Mr. Berg, email him at
jason.berg@ttu.edu.
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