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Chuck Bergeron

As bassist and composer, Chuck Bergeron is one of the most active and innovative musicians working in the field of jazz. Equally versatile on the acoustic and electric bass, his unique compositional style and approach to improvisation reflect a wide variety of musical influences and confirm a deep commitment to the rich polyrhythmic characteristics of his musical and cultural heritage.

Chuck’s newest CD, My Take - A collection of Friends and Standards, is his fifth as a leader. This recording is a collection of standards plus one Mingus composition produced in conjunction with his good friend and teaching colleague, Dr. Phil Strange. The arrangements, crafted to feature the melodic possibilities of the bass, showcase Phil’s unique approach to improvisation and feature guest appearances by New York jazz luminary Charles Pillow and vocalist Kevin Mahogany.

For the last five years Chuck has been bassist and co-arranger for Kevin Mahogany, Downbeat's male vocalist of the year. This work, together with long affiliation with the Woody Herman Big Band, keeps Chuck busy traveling and performing throughout the year.

As a faculty member of the University of Miami and member of the International Association of Jazz Educators, Chuck also teaches jazz history, conducts big bands and small jazz ensembles, performs frequently at yearly conventions, and is an active clinician at schools throughout the country. He has also released several educational videos and play-along CDs through DCI and RhythmTech Inc.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Chuck began studying music at the age of 8. After switching from drums to bass at 17, he began working professionally around town. Chuck continued his education by earning a Bachelors Degree in Music from Loyola University and a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Miami. Upon completion of this work, Chuck moved to New York, where he resided for 12 years while touring, performing, and recording with a wide range of jazz luminaries including Joe Williams, Stan Getz, Randy Brecker, Ronnie Cuber, Steve Gadd, Carl Allen, Larry Coryell, John Fedchock, Dave Grusin, Dave Weckl, Art Lande, Joey Calderazzo, Dave Stryker, Steve Slagel, Tierney Sutton, Adam Nussbaum, Bob Moses... and the big bands of Woody Herman and Buddy Rich.

Chuck's wealth of performing experience and compositional skills led to the formation of The Chuck Bergeron Quartet and his 1996 debut release Loyalties. This ASCAP award-winning CD features great performances by Randy Brecker, Charles Pillow, and Adam Nussbaum with special guests John Hart and Johnny Vidacovich in a series of Chuck's original compositions.

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Album Review

South Florida Jazz Orchestra: Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza

Read "Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza" reviewed by Jack Bowers


In 2019, the acclaimed Michigan-bred, Paris-based tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza thought he was being asked to contribute a couple of charts to the University of South Florida Jazz Orchestra's fifth recording in its fifteen-year history as a working ensemble. But when SFJO founder and leader Chuck Bergeron looked at the charts he had an even better idea, and asked Margitza to write and / or arrange everything on the album, which thus became Cheap Thrills: The Music of Rick Margitza. ...

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Album Review

South Florida Jazz Orchestra: Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza

Read "Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


The concept of a large, tightly-knit big band in a recording studio, on a concert or jazz club stage may just be a plug-in memory in today's environment. Fortunately there is the fifteenth anniversary recording of The South Florida Jazz Orchestra directed by bassist/bandleader Chuck Bergeron, entitled Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza, to remind us what a disciplined inventive big band sounds like. With the exception of George and Ira Gershwin's “Embraceable You," all the other ...

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Album Review

The South Florida Jazz Orchestra: The Music of Gary Lindsay / Are We Still Dreaming

Read "The Music of Gary Lindsay / Are We Still Dreaming" reviewed by Jack Bowers


When a big band devotes an entire album to the compositions and arrangements of one musician, the obvious opening question is: why? In other words, who is Gary Lindsay and why is the South Florida Jazz Orchestra performing his music? In brief, the answer is that Lindsay, an alto saxophonist and well-respected educator, has written and arranged music for Maynard Ferguson, the U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note and Florida Philharmonic, among others, and was nominated for a Grammy Award ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris Sextet: Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery

Read "Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Roberto Magris is an Italian pianist who has an eclectic range of interests but is heavily in thrall to the masters of American bebop. On this particular live recording he leads a sextet that gives that language a pronounced Latin twist leading to a set of fiery performances. Magris uses two horn players, trumpeter Brian Lynch and tenor saxophonist Jonathan Gomez, who are explosive throughout, especially on the tunes that have an underlying Latin flavor such as “African ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris Sextet: Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery

Read "Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Since recording his first album as a leader in 1982, Italian-born pianist Roberto Magris has added thirty more to his impressive resume, the most recent of which is this high-powered sextet date, Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery. The session is somewhat of a departure in that most of Magris' earlier albums have been set down in a studio, either in the U.S. or abroad. And while he has recorded in more than forty countries, this was Magris' ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Roberto Magris Sextet Live In Miami @ The WDNA Jazz Gallery

Read "Roberto Magris Sextet Live In Miami @ The WDNA Jazz Gallery" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Italian pianist and composer Roberto Magris is restless in his stylistic approach. With more than two-dozen recordings as a leader/co-leader he has covered numerous sub-genres in a variety of group formats. Magris' career is steeped in bebop but with Enigmatix (JMood Records, 2015), with his American trio, he takes a modern European jazz approach with an underlying global flavor. As co-leader of the MUH Trio on Prague After Dark (JMood, 2017), Magris and his Czech Republic partners opted for a ...

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Recording

Debut Disc from Bassist Chuck Bergeron's South Florida Jazz Orchestra Released November 1

Debut Disc from Bassist Chuck Bergeron's South Florida Jazz Orchestra Released November 1

Source: All About Jazz

When jazz fans think of Miami, Miami Beach or the greater South Florida area, it is most probably during the planning of a vacation destination and not necessarily as a place to hear jazz. Why? Because it's obvious that South Florida cannot quite compare to LA, the San Francisco Bay Area or the general West Coast jazz scene nor can it compete with New York's vibrant jazz spots with respect to jazz music. When you further narrow down the type ...

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