As American immigration authorities clamp down on touring artists—most recently detaining three members of the punk rock band UK Subs, according to The Guardian—one form of expression continues to elude surveillance: improvisational jazz. Perhaps because it cannot be contained. Perhaps because it cannot be understood by those who fear it. In any case, the Creative Improvisers Orchestra continues to play.
On Sunday, March 30, that orchestra—rooted in Woodstock, Big Indian, Phoenicia, Mt. Tremper, West Hurley, and Manhattan—will gather in Kingston to honor what would have been the 90th birthday of its founder, Karl Berger, the German-born pianist, vibraphonist, composer and educator who died in 2023 at the age of 88. A disciple of free jazz and a champion of improvisation as a life practice, Berger spent decades nurturing what he called “music mind”—an attentive, collaborative approach to sound that shaped generations of musicians at the Creative Music Studio (CMS), which he co-founded with his life partner, vocalist and poet Ingrid Sertso, and saxophonist Ornette Coleman near Woodstock.
Together, they helped pioneer what would become known as “world music”—not as a genre, but as a practice of listening across boundaries. “Karl’s work was not about teaching—it was about empowering and supporting, to bring out what is in you already,” Sertso said.
Berger began as a classical pianist on track to become a philosophy professor in Germany but chose instead to explore the transformative power of improvisation. After performing with Don Cherry in Paris and Ornette Coleman in New York, Berger and Sertso were preparing to return to Europe when a friend suggested they visit Woodstock in 1971.
What they found invited them in, and they never left. In 1972, with Coleman, they founded CMS, a sanctuary for musicians escaping the constraints of the jazz industry. Their peers included Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, Cecil Taylor, Jack DeJohnette, Carla Bley, Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Chick Corea, and Steve Swallow, among many others.
Creative Music Studio is well documented in books and films, which also capture Karl and Ingrid’s hope that it would endure—not as a commune from the ’70s and ’80s, nor confined to any single building, but as a living, breathing ensemble. What followed was Berger’s creation of a constantly evolving laboratory of sound—the Creative Improvisers Orchestra.
William Horberg, a Kingston-based film producer and CMS board member, remembers being struck by Berger’s openness. “Karl was welcoming and inviting to all,” he said. “Why be obsessed with Western ideas of harmony? You can never play the same note twice. What was important to Karl was how you said it.” A flute player who studied performance and composition at Berklee College of Music, Horberg sees Berger’s legacy as one that continues to stretch musical boundaries. “He made space for mystery. For risk. For things that couldn’t be written down.”
Today, the Creative Improvisers Orchestra is led by multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum, who first studied with Berger at 16 and became artistic director in 2016 as Berger began thinking about his legacy. “Karl had a vision,” Apfelbaum said. “He created a structure for collective expression that could live beyond him. In the years ahead, we plan to invite more guest conductors, and we’re committed to archiving Karl’s work.”
The March 30 performance will include several rare and historic pieces. “The Light House,” a newly unearthed vibraphone solo by Ornette Coleman—believed to have been given only to Berger and never performed publicly—will be interpreted by Brittany Anjou. “Lines and Spaces,” a Berger favorite, features Ingrid Sertso’s lyric “On & On.” “7 in C,” a dramatic, fully composed work last performed in 1980, returns to the stage. A surprise piece will also be introduced, followed by “Open Time,” a fan favorite which Apfelbaum first played under Berger’s direction in 1979, to close the concert.
Berger developed his own conducting language—part sign language, part semaphore—for musicians of all backgrounds. A hand to the top of the head signaled “return to top.” A pointed finger cued the next solo. Phrases could be memorized, looped, echoed or fractured. The resulting interplay—between sections, between silence and eruption—yielded a performance that could never be repeated, only witnessed.
“The ability to give your own original sound is and was the beating heart of CMS and the Improvisers Orchestra and music,” Sertso said.
Berger’s genius wasn’t just in what he played, but in what he opened up—for others, for sound itself, for the moment. On Sunday, the Creative Improvisers Orchestra won’t simply remember him. They’ll summon the spirit he cultivated: a fearless, communal freedom that refuses to be silenced, and can only be heard by those willing to listen.
The public is invited to attend a special tribute performance honoring the late Karl Berger on Sunday, March 30, at the Handbell Studio in the Shirt Factory, 77 Cornell Street, #118, Kingston. An open rehearsal will take place from 3 to 3:45 p.m., followed by the full performance from 4 to 5:30. Suggested donation is $30, or pay what you can
Tad Wise is a contributing reporter. Send correspondence to reporting@theoverlooknews.com.