January 24, 2017
ALL THAT JAZZ #46
I found out last night that Ed Berger died over the weekend. Although not a musician, Ed was one of the great guys of jazz...historian, discographer, biographer, lecturer, record producer, photographer and true mensch. This New York Times article is from 2000, but gives you a sense of the scope of Ed's activities and accomplishments.
Ed started his career as a jazz historian as a college student, compiling the massive discography (it fills an entire volume) for the biography of Benny Carter written by Ed's father, the late Princeton sociology Professor Morroe Berger. Ed wrote the biography of trumpeter Joe Wilder and read the publisher's proof to Joe at his bedside in the days before Joe died. Ed also wrote a biography of bassist George Duvivier. Although he was a white, Jewish guy a generation (or more) younger than his subjects, I think Ed was attracted to Benny, Joe and George because, like them, he was scholarly, had a wry sense of humor, was genuinely humble and had an incredible generosity of spirit.
This past Thursday evening, I saw a Facebook post from Wynton Marsalis in which he explained why, if he had been asked, he would have played at the Trump inauguration.
I wrote to Ed and asked him how he thought Benny (who was known and respected in the music world for his principles, whether it was dealing with record executives or club owners trying to take advantage of musicians or challenging discriminatory hiring or housing practices) would have handled the situation, and he replied almost immediately that, in fact, Benny was faced with a similar dilemma: he was asked to assemble a big band to perform at Reagan's second inaugural in January 1985. Although Benny disagreed with Reagan's politics, he performed out of respect for the office and respect for the transition process. Ed continued saying that he didn't know if Benny would have done the same for Trump, given that his rhetoric and actions were far beyond anything Reagan had ever said or done. But, Ed said he was seeing Benny's widow on Saturday, so was going to ask her what she thought Benny would have done and that he would let me know. I was surprised when I hadn't heard back from him....now I know why.
Ed's photos of Benny and other musicians have been featured in museums and galleries. Here are two favorite of Benny that he sent me over the years...
Posted by Foos at January 24, 2017 2:18 PM