Acclaimed jazz drummer, bandleader and talent scout Dick Berk, who played professionally for sixty years, has died. He passed away at St. Vincent's hospital in Portland, Oregon on February 8 around 8pm. Dick was 74.
The drummer had been in bad health for the last couple of years, including dialysis four times a week and suffering from arthritis and fibromyalgia. Two of his fingers were paralyzed, causing him to have to learn a different way to hold the sticks.
But his spirit was unbroken. "I'll keep playing until physically I can't keep time and support the musicians", Dick said last year.
Dick Berk's long, illustrious career began around the age of 14, playing for real when he was too young to get into the clubs. He'd sleep between school and showtime.
Dick went on to study for a year at Berklee College of Music with Alan Dawson, another respected jazz drummer.
At the age of seventeen, he was recommended to Billie Holiday when Papa Jo Jones left the band. Dick got the job and played in Holiday's band, including at the first Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958, until her death in 1959.
Dick went on to back up many other jazz artists, including Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Milt Jackson, George Duke, Cal Tjader, Jean-Luc Ponty and Blue Mitchell.
In the early 1980s, Dick wanted to transfer his knowledge andexperience to younger generations of players. So he started his band Jazz Adoption Agency to accomplish this.
He organized concerts were young players could be sitting in with older players who learned bop and swing from the original icons.
There will be a special Jam Tribute to Dick Berk on Tuesday, February 18 at Coyote's Bar and Grill in Hillsboro. Dick was the house drummer for the first two years of this jam.
