Berkman has taken a while to emerge as a leader; it’s only with his recent string of discs for Palmetto, beginning with Handmade (1998), that he’s had a chance to put together a substantial discography. Start Here, Finish There, his fourth disc, features his current working quartet. Dick Oatts’ alto sounds strikingly different from track to track: there’s a frail, weightless purity to his sound on “Cells,” on which he keeps to the highest registers of the horn; elsewhere, on tracks like the blues “Triceratops” and the Ornettish “Old Forks,” his tone becomes more pointed, his lines much twistier. He also plays soprano on occasion: the results are a bit bland on “Stone’s Throw,” but he’s much more striking on “Iraq.” Berkman plays thoughtful, economical mainstream piano; it could perhaps use a little more oomph and vividness, but there are hints of a more idiosyncratic approach in his two short solo pieces: “English as a Second Language” is a dissonant little miniature, and there’s also an enjoyable and unexpected reading of Woody Guthrie’s “Mean Things Happening in This World,” though it sits oddly with the rest of the disc.

Berkman’s compositions are a varied lot. “Iraq” is the longest and best piece, a dignified, haunting response to the American invasion. The other tracks lack that piece’s urgency, and some are a tad too wistful and pretty for my taste (“Cells,” “Stone’s Throw,” “Quilt”), but there’s no mistaking Berkman’s ability to sketch out challenging and distinctive spaces for the improvisor, rather than just offering a set of changes to blow on. He rarely asks the rhythm section to play in conventionally swinging fashion; Nasheet Waits in particular is given the chance to roam very freely.

Start Here, Finish There is solid, intelligent jazz. It’s not essential listening – there’s something slightly too smoothed-over about the disc – but it’s well worth hearing nonetheless.

Nate Dorward

Cadence, June 2004