Dick Berk

Dick Berk (actually Richard Alan Berk , * 22. May 1939 in San Francisco , † 8. February 2014 ) was an American jazz - drummer and bandleader of the hard bop .

Live and act

Dick Berk played in backing bands for Billie Holiday and Anita O'Day as a teenager , studied at Berklee College of Music, and played in the Boston area in the early 1960s . In 1962 he moved to New York City and worked there from 1962 to 1964 in a quintet with Ted Curson and Bill Barron ( The New Thing & the Blue Thing ). Then he worked a. a. with Charles Mingus , Mose Allison , Freddie Hubbard and Walter Bishop junior . In 1964 he was a member of a Don Friedman quartet with Attila Zoller .

In 1968 he moved to Los Angeles , where he worked with Charlie Byrd , Milt Jackson , George Duke , Cal Tjader , Jean-Luc Ponty and Blue Mitchell . In the early 1980s he founded the formation Jazz Adoption Agency and recorded several albums for Nine Winds, Reservoir and Discovery Records in changing line-ups . a. with John Hicks and Ken Filiano . Berk remained active until the 2000s, playing a. a. with Nick Brignola , Mike Fahn , Dick Sudhalter , Jessica Williams and John Patitucci .

In addition to his work as a musician, Berk has appeared in various films such as Like a Wild Bull (1980), New York, New York (1977) by Martin Scorsese and The Tic Code (1999, directed by Gary Winick ). He has also had roles on the television shows and sitcoms A Cage Full of Heroes , It Takes a Thief, and Emergency California . Berk also appeared in the documentary film The Legend of Bop City (1998) directed by Carol P. Chamberland.