Dick Berk

Richard Alan Berk was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.

Career

A native of San Francisco, California, he studied at the Berklee College of Music and played in the Boston area early in the 1960s. In 1962 he moved to New York City and played with Ted Curson and Bill Barron in a quintet from 1962 to 1964. Following this he played with Charles Mingus, Mose Allison, Freddie Hubbard, and Walter Bishop, Jr., among others. He moved to Los Angeles late in the 1960s, where he played with Milt Jackson, Frank Rosolino, George Duke, Cal Tjader, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Blue Mitchell. He founded the Jazz Adoption Agency in the early 1980s, playing into the 2000s; the group included Andy Martin, Mike Fahn, Nick Brignola, Jon Nagorney, Keith Saunders, Tad Weed, and John Patitucci.
He died in 2014 at the age of 74.

Discography

As leader

Rare One
Big Jake
More Birds Less Feathers
Music of Rodgers & Hart
Let's Cool One
Bouncin' With Berk
East Coast Stroll
''One by One''
As sideman

With Walter Bishop, Jr.

Bish Bash

With Ted Curson

Tears for Dolphy,
Flip Top
The New Thing & the Blue Thing

With Don Friedman

Flashback
Dreams and Explorations

With Milt Jackson

That's the Way It Is
Just the Way It Had to Be

With Jean Luc Ponty-George Duke

The Jean Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio

With Blue Mitchell

Stablemates

With Cal Tjader

Tjader
Agua Dulce
Live at The Funky Quarters
Puttin It Together
Last Bolero in Berkeley
Tambu
''Last Night When We Were Young''