Dick Berk

Since the early 1980s Dick Berk served as the guiding force behind the Jazz Adoption Agency, earning recognition equally for his invigorating work behind the drums and for his keen eye in discovering new players. He first studied at the Berklee College of Music, performed with Boston ensembles during the early 1960s, and then headed to New York, appearing there in a quintet alongside Ted Curson and Bill Barron from 1962 to 1964 as well as in settings with Charles Mingus, Mose Allison, Freddie Hubbard, and Walter Bishop, Jr., among many others. In the late 1960s he shifted his base to Los Angeles, where he collaborated and recorded with an array of leading figures that included Milt Jackson, George Duke, Cal Tjader, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Blue Mitchell. Eventually settling in the Pacific Northwest, Berk issued recordings on the Discovery, Trend, 9 Winds, and Reservoir labels; the musicians he employed with the Jazz Adoption Agency encompassed trombonists Andy Martin and Mike Fahn, baritonist Nick Brignola, vibraphonist Jon Nagorney, pianists Keith Saunders and Tad Weed, and bassist John Patitucci.