From Mingus to Berklee: The Musical Journey of Jazz Bassist Bruce Gertz

Bruce Gertz is a renowned double bassist and has been an influential professor at Berklee College of Music for 48 years. As part of the vibrant Boston jazz scene, he has shaped countless bassists through his personalized teaching methodology that emphasizes building on students' strengths while developing their individual musical voices. What drives a musician who has collaborated with jazz giants like Jerry Bergonzi, Gary Burton, and John Abercrombie? How did Charles Mingus' album "Blues & Roots" transform his musical direction, and why does he still take lessons from legendary bassist Ron Carter after five decades of playing? Gertz shared these insights during our conversation.

Beyond performing, Gertz has released over 15 albums as a leader and many more as a sideman, with his debut album "Blueprint" marking a significant career milestone. His instructional book "Let's Play Rhythm" has become essential reading for aspiring musicians across all instruments. Whether teaching advanced improvisation techniques or advocating for the balance between ensemble and solo bass playing through his work with The International Society of Bassists, Gertz continues to inspire the next generation of jazz musicians.

Musical Journey and Jazz Education Evolution

You began playing guitar at the age of ten and later switched to electric bass before turning to the double bass. What ultimately led you to specialize in the double bass?

After moving to electric bass from guitar in 1966-67 and playing in rock and blues bands for a couple of years we added a young saxophone player. He said I should listen to Ron Carter, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Charlie Mingus and other jazz bassists. I was given the album, Blues and Roots by the piano player in the group. Once I heard how Mingus played blues, I was blown away. I began figuring out the bass parts and some solo fills from the album and learned to play them on my Fender Precision bass. As I got more into it and listened I wanted to get the sound of the double bass like on the albums.

In 1972 I went to Berklee and was assigned a bass instructor named John Neves. He was a very respected jazz bassist who played with many well-known artists, In the 1950’s he was one of the house bassists at the Newport Jazz Festival. John was very passionate about teaching me and after one semester he sold me my first double bass. He reminded me later how excited I was and how he watched me from the window at school as I hurried down the street with the bass without a cover. It was a German 3/4 size and although it wasn’t an expensive old bass it turned out to be very playable and sounded good. He gave me long lessons on Saturday mornings, one to three hours. There I learned what and how to practice. His lessons inspired me to practice. I put in 6-8 hours a day for nearly 2 years mostly working on reading and playing with a bow. John and I became good friends when I started teaching in the studio next to his. He was a major force in my development. 

In the late 1970’s and into the 80’s he sent me on gigs with some major artists like George Shearing, Helen Humes, Ray Bryant, Alan Dawson and others. Electric bass was still a love of mine and I used it some ensembles and plenty of gigs. As people found out that I played double bass I began to get busy playing jazz gigs recording sessions and rehearsals. I still love both acoustic and electric bass and work with both but most of my work currently is on double bass. 

You have been a professor at Berklee College of Music since 1976. In your opinion, how has jazz education evolved over the decades?

That’s a great question that comes up often. My experience is that as styles become popular they infiltrate the music that was popular and add new elements. Since I began my career, music education has become a great deal more broad and diverse. Technology has changed everything. YouTube, Instagram and other online videos are influencing the approaches by which many young players learn. Many young students don’t have the experience of where the music came from. I ask my students where did your hero players learn and the players that came before them? They don’t often have the answer. All jazz is rooted in history. If a high school has a good jazz band, maybe an orchestra and good mentors they usually come to college with more roots in their training. Young players are often very taken by technical prowess. I also went through a period of that. Later they may develop more expressive approaches.

I remember as a student having to learn to listen and read music. Witnessing live performances of well known jazz artists was amazing. I met Charles Mingus at the Jazz Workshop in Boston and observed his amazing playing and leadership. I was also very taken by his compositions and that lead me to major in composition and arranging at Berklee. The best way to learn double bass technique was mostly through classical methods. We needed to study improvisation by playing along with the LP’s. There weren’t so many courses on improvisation at that time.

Berklee had a course called melody and improvisation taught by John LaPorta who actually had played with Mingus. John was very focussed on articulation having come from the swing period where players like Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and many other great players of that period were in most cases melodically talking on their instruments. It was pre bebop. These lessons were some of the most valuable in terms of musical expression. At the same time Miles Davis was coming out of Bop and Post Bop and getting more aligned with rock music with Bitches Brew. John Coltrane went a different direction and carved his own unique, spiritual path. Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman, Bill Evans, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Dave Holland and many other great artists were charting new territory from their roots. Berklee was referred to as the chord factory because it was dominated by guitar players for many years. Now with so much media and television showing vocalists becoming stars, It’s become dominated by vocalists. This is not to say that instrumental music isn’t popular. It shows how media influences so much of our interests. 

Musical Influences, Collaborations, and Career Milestones

Charles Mingus' album Blues & Roots had a formative influence on you. Can you describe what particularly inspired you about Mingus' playing and the album, and how this is reflected in your own style?

Charles Mingus’ album Blues and Roots was one of the first jazz albums I had. It may have been the reason that I decided to also be a composer and band leader. Another was Cannonball and Coltrane. What I got from listening to those albums repeatedly from start to finish was a firm musical memory like a fixed recording in my mind. Once I practiced the lines and such on my bass it became part of my vocabulary. Combined with all the music that I absorbed over the decades I have developed my own style.  At this point I have well exceeded the 10,000 hours that is said to be a landmark of experience. It’s now been over 50 years of playing. 

You’ve collaborated with many jazz greats such as Gary Burton, Jerry Bergonzi, and John Abercrombie. In our preliminary conversation, you mentioned recently taking a lesson with Ron Carter. Which of these encounters and collaborations has influenced you most musically and personally, and why?

Collaborations are major influences as they are real life experiences. Everything used to be live and in real time. Now many collaborations happen online sharing stems and tracks. Perhaps my encounter and collaboration with Jerry Bergonzi has had the most impact on my musical and personal growth. In many ways he and I are musical soulmates. We have played together for over 45 years. We rehearsed, recorded, toured and did regular local gigs for decades playing each other’s compositions as well as standards. Musical discussions and listening together to influential albums of our heroes as well as those of our own has been a blessing.  

Gary Burton was an early mentor of mine while I was studying at Berklee and that eventually led to us traveling, recording and working together playing and teaching. I met John Abercrombie through Mick Goodrick, another person I collaborated with on many gigs and when he replaced Mike Stern in our band with Jerry and drummer Bob Kaufman, Con Brio. From 1982 to 1988 I studied privately with jazz improv. guru, Charlie Banacos. That was eye and ear opening. My recent lessons with Ron Carter are still influencing my practice, causing me to play differently and continue to grow. Ron told me he was friends with Charlie and John LaPorta. 

Is there a particular concert or recording experience in your career that marked a turning point for you or opened up new musical horizons?

My first 1991 recording as a leader, Blueprint with John Abercrombie, Jerry Bergonzi, Joey Calderazzo and Adam Nussbaum was a big step for me. I licensed it to the French label, Freelance Jazz. I used it to submit in my application that led to a 1992 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Performance Grant/Award. It afforded me to rent a theatre and a Steinway piano. By some luck I was able to book a second gig the next night at University of New Hampshire. Also it afforded me to hire my friend and engineer, Peter Kontrimas to record both shows. Not long after that while in the studio recording Mick Goodrick’s album, Sunscreams (RAM Records) I handed a tape of my best concert tracks from the NEA shows to Raimondo Meli Lupi of RAM and he made me a great offer to buy the master and release my second album, “Third Eye”. This led to more gigs and recordings with this great band. RAM released my third album, "Discovery Zone” in 1994. In 1995 my first album no longer under license to Freelance and I was able to sell it to Evidence Music where it was re-released and again received great reviews. All three of these albums led to more opportunities for gigs and recordings. The band worked sporadically for 15 years until 2007. We performed at a number of I.A.J.E. conferences in New York where large crowds heard. I believe these were all building blocks for my continued success as a composer, bassist and band leader. I now have over 20 albums as a leader and somewhere around 50 as a sideman. 

Teaching Philosophy and Educational Contributions

In your many years of teaching at Berklee College of Music, you have trained countless bassists. What are the core principles of your teaching methodology, and how do you encourage your students to develop their individual musical voices?

In my 48 years of teaching at Berklee I have trained countless bassists. My core principles of teaching involve

a.) assessing where the student is in their development and determining where the gaps are. 

b.) Setting goals while playing to the student’s strengths and encouraging them to continue what they love to play. This is key in developing their musical voices and building self confidence.

c.) Teaching them what and how to practice so that they can reach the goals and become creative, working bassists.

You emphasize the importance of a strong self-image for musicians. What strategies do you use to help your students build a positive self-understanding and confidence?

The exercises are tuned to each individual student. At this point in my experience I have ways of recognizing where students have difficulties and tailoring specific exercises to overcome them. I do use my various books in the lessons for technique and ear training. I highly recommend that they write bass parts, fills, solos and, read them or play them and write them down. This helps with reading and creativity. I’m proud to say that some rather well known bassists were my students as well as many professors at Berklee and other schools. 

More on "Let's Play Rhythm"

Let's Play Rhythm Bruce Gertz Let’s Play Rhythm is one of the most versatile book/CD play-alongs available providing three CDs which offer a complete learning experience. You'll hear master musicians demonstrating the lessons in the context of tunes. Eliminating first the solos on one disc and finally the melodies on a third disc leaving only the rhythm tracks. Practice with or without the melodies or solos, write your own, transcribe for ear training. Learn bass lines, diatonic melodies, rhythmic melodies, pentatonic, blues scale, diminished, upper structures, intervallic melodies, reharmonization, pedal points, groove variations and more. Featured soloists and melody players include Jerry Bergonzi–tenor, Ken Cervenka–trumpet, Jeff Galindo–trombone and Matt Marvuglio–flute. Rhythm section: Bruce Gertz– bass, Bob Kaufman–drums, Russell Hoffman–piano.    View item in shop

As the author of several instructional books, you’ve shared your knowledge with a wider audience. How do you integrate the content of these works into your teaching, and what kind of feedback do you receive from your students?

My book, "Let’s Play Rhythm” is for all instruments. I have received amazing feedback from those who have used it. For many years I taught Advanced Improvisation for Bass, a course that I developed. Many of the concepts I was teaching ended up in this book. It became a required text for the course. 

In light of the constantly changing musical landscape: what skills and knowledge do you consider essential for aspiring jazz bassists today, and how do you prepare your students for that?

While the constantly changing musical landscape continues to evolve the basic, essential skills of jazz bassists are the same. Bass function is different in a group setting than in a solo setting. Today bass soloists are appearing more and more. As a longtime affiliate with The International Society of Bassists I’ve seen people play incredible solo bass performances. I recommend listening and watching (preferably live) performances of both group playing and solo performances.