April 4, 2000
Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment Association, (785) 832-7336.
LAWRENCE-The son of a music educator, University of Kansas theatre and film professor Charles "Chuck" Berg grew up listening to all types of music, but it was jazz that captured his curiosity and snared his young heart.
His desire to hear more of the burgeoning American art form led him to jazz clubs and record stores in New York, Chicago, Japan and even Lawrence, where he attended the University of Kansas. It was there that he met his wife, Beth, who also was a student.
The couple's passion for jazz continued over the years and grew into a collection of nearly 7,000 recordings, including artists like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Louis Armstrong and Stan Getz. Now, to share their love with their community, the Bergs have given their collection for KU. Valued at $164,600, the collection will be housed in the Archive of Recorded Sound.
"We are enormously grateful to Chuck and Beth Berg for this prestigious jazz record collection as well as their ongoing, strong support of all programs emphasizing the arts," said Carole Ross, interim dean of the School of Fine Arts. "This collection will greatly enhance and add further prominence to the jazz area as well as the Department of Music and Dance."
Chuck Berg was born in Aberdeen, Wash., and his family lived in several states before settling in Yonkers, N.Y. He studied music for one year at the State University of New York in Potsdam, but returned to Yonkers, where he took acting classes. He also worked as a page for NBC studios in New York City, where suggestions from members of "The Tonight Show" band, helped him expand his collection of jazz recordings.
"Being in New York was great," Berg said. "Every genre of jazz was available, and I trolled the record shops trying to keep up with the latest contemporary releases."
Berg continued collecting overseas when he joined the U.S. Army, where he served in the Army Security Agency in Japan. There he bought new releases and traded recordings with Japanese musicians. In 1964, he moved to Leawood, where his family had relocated.
Berg resumed his studies at KU and worked as an announcer at KANU radio. He met Beth Noe, a native of Holton, and the couple married in 1966. One year later, Chuck Berg received a bachelor's degree in journalism, and Beth Berg received a bachelor's degree in education. She taught school in Topeka until 1968, when the Bergs moved to Iowa City, Iowa. She worked as a laboratory research technician at the University of Iowa Hospitals, and he attended school. He received his doctorate degree in film and media studies from the University of Iowa.
The couple moved to New York City, where Chuck Berg taught at Queens College in the City University of New York system for five years. During that time, he wrote extensively for the well-established jazz magazines Down Beat and JazzTimes and hosted jazz shows on radio station WBAI-FM. In 1977, the Bergs returned to Lawrence, and Chuck Berg began teaching at KU.
"The collection is in large measure a biographical index of where I've been and what I've listened to for more than four decades," Berg said. "Beth and I gave our collection to KU because we're both alumni and we love the university.
"Coupled with our feelings about KU are equally strong feelings about the significance of jazz to the American experience. To see our collection housed at KU and made available for future generations of students and scholars pleases us immensely."
Berg has remained active in the local, regional and national music scene. In 1985, he won an Ozzi at the Kansas Film and Video festival for his music video "For Beth." Four years later, he was appointed to the film and video panel of the Kansas Arts Commission. That same year, he wrote the liner notes for and played tenor saxophone on the jazz album "Blame It on the Music," which he recorded with Kansas City, Mo., jazz artists Mike Ning and Sherry Jones. This year, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the association responsible for the Grammy Awards, invited Berg to become a voting member of NARAS based on his work writing the liner notes for more than 100 commercially released albums.
The Bergs have strong ties to KU. Beth Berg's father, Warden L. Noe, received bachelor's and law degrees from KU. The couple's son, Nathan, received a bachelor's degree in American studies from KU in 1996. A Self Fellow, Nathan Berg currently is working on a master's degree in math and a doctorate in economics at KU. Self Graduate Fellowships are awarded annually to incoming doctoral students who have outstanding academic and leadership records. Nathan Berg's wife, Yuki Watanabe, received a master's degree in American studies from KU in 1995, a master's degree in journalism from KU in 1998 and is working on a doctorate in education.
The couple has a long history of donating for KU, where they have provided support for many purposes, including the Department of Theatre and Film and the Lied Center. The Bergs are members of the KU Alumni Association and the Chancellors Club, KU Endowment's major-donor organization.
"We are proud of KU," Chuck Berg said. "We want our university to continue to grow, and we trust that, in some small way, our gift will help move KU to even greater heights."