One of the greatest bands formed in Canada, Rush wouldn’t have achieved success without the classic power trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Their musicianship was fundamental to the band's songwriting and live performances, helping to make them one of the best-selling Progressive Rock bands in music history. Although bassist, singer, and keyboardist Geddy Lee is well known among Prog Rock fans, he is still considered an underrated bass player. But one of his all-time favorite musicians is someone he called "under-the-radar," because he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. The under-the-radar bassist Geddy Lee said is incredible The under-the-radar bassist praised by Geddy Lee is Jeff Berlin, who first achieved fame as a member of Bill Bruford's band. The Rush frontman listed him several times as one of his favorite bass players of all time. "Well, I was a Yes fan — that’s well documented. And Bill Bruford started doing some solo work. On a couple of his solo records, he had a bass player named Jeff Berlin. I didn’t know who this guy was, but his playing was incredible." "We happened to be in the UK, and they were doing a gig at a club. I think Neil and I went down to see the show. And as much as I loved Jeff Berlin on record, when I saw them live, he just knocked me out. He was a rock player, jazz player, with incredible range. He used all his fingers, and he could play like a Spanish guitarist on a flamenco guitar. (Berlin) could turn that bass into so many different things. His playing really affected me." He continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAlFwrkZQS8&list=RDjAlFwrkZQS8&start_radio=1&pp=ygULamVmZiBiZXJsaW6gBwHSBwkJwwkBhyohjO8%3D "Fortunately, we became pals and have stayed friends over these years. He ended up being more aligned in a sort of jazz-rock area, so he started playing more with jazz-rock players. And then he opened a school for bass players. He’s just a very under-the-radar, but incredible talented and influential bass player, I think. Other bass players know who Jeff is, and how great he is. Not a mainstream name, but no less a great player. Like Percy Jones of Brand X, who’s another guy I could’ve put in the same category with Jeff. … Percy Jones was a phenomenal bass player. It’s almost like you expect jazz bass players to be great, but they’re not all memorable. So those two guys certainly were," Geddy Lee told Rolling Stone in 2020 As Geddy said, Berlin is known for mixing Jazz and Rock when playing the bass. Bruford was a Jazz-Fusion band, although Bill has most of his career been part of Progressive Rock groups. Jeff started his musical career in 1970 and gained notoriety as a session musician before joining Bruford. What makes Jeff Berlin special to Geddy Lee But why Jeff Berlin is such a unique player? According to Geddy, musicians like him can switch styles when playing or even mix them, which adds a totally different perspective to the songs. "(...) In the early days I would just take a lick by a bass player I admired and play it to death, and then as I got older I would write a part. I would write a part that was really complicated and really used a different part of the neck. For example, I would listen to something that Jeff Berlin would play, and it would be very obviously jazz-influenced, but it was also modal. When you learn by playing only rock or blues, you stay in a particular mode." "(So) when you start listening to other guys, some of the jazz guys, they slide from one mode into another, and suddenly the character or the flavour of the bass part is changed. When you twig on that, it opens up a whole other level of play for you. Suddenly you're able to take your rock chops and slide out of them into a whole different flavour. That comes in time," Geddy Lee told Canadian Musician magazine in 1999. After describing players like Jeff Berlin during that conversation, Geddy noted that this is what he would recommend musicians to do. To him, it's important to listen to other players who don't share your style. By doing so, a musician can still play Rock and Roll, for example, but add something extra and new to the music that makes it sound fresher and more unusual. Lee said Jeff Berlin is "just off the planet" Geddy is really a big fan of Berlin's playing and he also told Music Radar in 2013 that he was one of his favorite ones. ”He’s more of a Jazz bass player now but he used to play kind of fusion, Rock and Jazz with Bill Bruford on Bill’s solo records. Bruford was a fantastic band and Jeff is still among the top bass players out there. Different calibre, he’s just off the planet,” Geddy Lee said. Interestingly, in the early days, bass guitar was not Jeff Berlin's first choice. Born in New York in 1953, he studied violin from the age of 5 until he was 15. It was after hearing The Beatles for the first time that he decided to attend Berklee College of Music to learn bass guitar. Besides having an extensive solo career, Jeff also collaborated with many other famous artists over the years. Some of them are Herbie Mann, Allan Holdsworth and Richie Kotzen.The post The under-the-radar bassist Geddy Lee said is incredible appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.