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Biography
Borah Bergman (b. December 13, 1933, Brooklyn - d. October 18, 2012, New York) was an American pianist.
Early in his career, it was typical for jazz critics to compare the extraordinary free jazz pianist Borah Bergman to Cecil Taylor. Lately, however, critics now regularly point out the folly in such comparisons, perpetuating the very same juxtaposition, instead of listening to Bergman abstracted from such concerns. Though Bergman himself claims Tristano, Monk, and Powell as influences, he rates comparison with nobody, so singular is his ability as an improvising pianist. Bergman has perhaps the most comprehensive technique of any jazz musician on any instrument. His facility is nonpareil with both hands. Bergman can improvise spontaneous free counterpoint at unfathomable speeds and with remarkable precision. His utterly personal style is due in no small part to his own technical innovations; no pianist in the history of jazz has ever developed more speed and agility in his left hand. Additionally, Bergman has refined a technique of playing with crossed hands that augments his fluency to an even greater degree. Bergman's greatest attributes are, however, the staggering quality and quantity of his ideas, and the ineffable intensity with which he executes those ideas. Bergman is of a kind with the very greatest jazz musicians in terms of originality and inspiration. The only reason now to weigh him against Cecil Taylor is to place the two artists on the same level of creative accomplishment.
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