Karl Berger

Around is a quartet album by vibraphonist Karl Berger, recorded at Tedesco Studios in Paramus, New Jersey, on May 9 and 10, 1990 and released by Black Saint in 1991. Born in Heidelberg in 1935, Berger had recorded and performed with Don Cherry and Lee Konitz, among many others, won six DownBeat critics polls as a jazz soloist and ran the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock. His arranging work reaches outside jazz, from Jeff Buckley's Grace to Natalie Merchant's Ophelia. This record has no horns. It is built on the pairing of the vibraphone with the fingerstyle guitar of Paul Shigihara.

Berger plays vibraphone and piano and produced the session, which Tom Mark recorded. Santi Debriano is on bass and Leroy Williams on drums. Discogs credits the album to Karl Berger & Friends. Of the nine pieces, the CAM Jazz notes give two to Shigihara, Travel South and Guitar Vibes, whose title names the two instruments at the centre of the record. The other seven are Berger's, from the opening Morning to the closing Funky Emperor. No track is much longer than seven and a half minutes. The title piece runs almost seven, It's Me is the longest, and Still, Permutations II and This Is It fill out the middle of the programme.

This is the Black Saint CD 120112-2, first released in 1991.