A BASSIST’S EXTROVERTED VIEW OF JAZZ

“I’ll write something for a group and apply my bass to it after the fact,” explained jazz-rock bassist Jeff Berlin. “I like it that way because then I’m not just writing dumb bass music. How boring! How boring!”

Now wait a minute. That sounds more like a jazz-rock detractor than a musician who prides himself on his melodic solos, enjoys respect from his peers and consistently places high in music magazine polls. “Pump It,” Berlin’s second album on the Passport Jazz label, has been selling briskly since its release two months ago.

And Berlin, who appears with his Vox Humana quartet tonight at the Belly Up in Solana Beach and Thursday at the Palomino, has an equally unexpected attitude toward live performance.

“We’re not the introverted, huddled jazz musicians who play our solo, nod to the audience twice, turn our backs and let the next guy solo--the Miles Davis school of performance,” said Berlin, 34, during a recent interview at his Hollywood home. “It’s like a garage band. We’re almost like a jazz-rock version of Van Halen in the sense that we really like to party on stage.

“It’s my band because I’m sort of in charge but it’s our group when we’re on stage. If the audience doesn’t know you, get to the front of the stage and introduce yourself.”

It didn’t take long for the precocious baby Berlin to introduce himself to a Long Island audience of two--his parents. “My father was an opera singer and they used to catch me singing Italian arias in the crib when I was a year old,” Berlin recalled. “My parents would play records in the house and I would sing phonetic Italian lieder. They said, ‘Ahh, we think young Jeff has an ear for music.’ ”

That aptitude led to 10 years of violin lessons before the Beatles turned Berlin’s head toward the pop sphere at 14. Stymied by his parents’ refusal to buy him a set of drums, Berlin chose bass instead and fell under the spell of Cream’s Jack Bruce in the late ‘60s.

Berlin tempered that rock influence with three years of jazz-oriented studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. He became a fixture on the New York City session scene in the mid-’70s.

His desire to be a fluent bass soloist with a distinct voice on the instrument led him to jam sessions with jazz artists ranging from the late Bill Evans and George Benson to fusion pioneers Tony Williams and John McLaughlin.

“My whole bass background is horn-oriented,” said Berlin. “Once I got out of my Jack Bruce fetish, I decided I’d better get into a more lyrical form of music listening to get more lyrical on my instrument. As a bass player, my whole direction is to play stuff that’s not meant for bass. I began to transcribe saxophones just to practice the intricacies of great melodic solos. It’s not so much jazz that I like--it’s authentic music.”

That attitude dovetailed perfectly with that of ex-Yes drummer Bill Bruford, and Berlin joined his group in 1978. Three years with Bruford and one with cult guitar hero Allan Holdsworth established Berlin’s reputation with rock musicians ranging from Rush to Van Halen.

Berlin moved to Los Angeles in 1981 following a divorce. He soon established himself in the studio scene, working on film sound tracks, ad jingles and record dates before releasing his “Champion” album two years ago.

As if maintaining parallel careers as solo artist and studio musician didn’t put enough demands on his schedule, Berlin writes two monthly magazine columns and teaches two days a week at the Bass Institute of Technology in Hollywood.

He’s becoming resigned to the automatic dismissal of his music by fusion-haters, but he’s not frustrated by the slow, steady success of his career.

“I’ve been building on very firm foundations for many years so I’m not a guy who suddenly is here and just as suddenly is gone. I’ll never sell as many records as Tina Turner and it’s not that important. The truth is I am simply a bass player but, as a bass player, I’ve cut a big chunk of turf for myself.”