Roll Over Beethoven : * Jeff Berlin leaves the violin and classical music behind to build a substantial reputation as a dynamic jazz/rock bassist.

In the beginning, when he was a preteen growing up in Great Neck, N.Y., Jeff Berlin had a secret life.

When his parents, brothers and sisters were out of the house, he used to stand on a chair in the dining room and conduct Beethoven music as it played on records on the stereo.

“Beethoven had an astonishing effect on me. I was so moved. That great music was so dramatic,” says Berlin, who has since carved out a substantial reputation as a dynamic jazz/rock bassist, playing with such notables as John McLaughlin, Yes and k.d. lang.

“Even now, remembering that music, it’s giving me a little lump,” says Berlin, touching his throat and looking emotional as he talks with a reporter in the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks, where he performs Sunday.

Later, though, Beethoven had to make way for Jack Bruce.

Berlin, son of opera singer Samuel Berlin, grew up playing music, starting violin at age 5. But at 12, he heard the group Cream, with whom Bruce played bass, and both his instruments, and his heroes, flip-flopped. Inspired by Bruce, he stopped playing violin--”I hated it as a teen-ager”--and used money he’d earned from a paper route to buy an electric bass. Within six months, he was playing in local rock bands.

“Rock was breathtaking,” says Berlin, 41. “I still enjoy, the feeling, its energy, power, rhythm. That’s what sent me through the roof. I thought, ‘How can I participate in this?’ I wanted to listen to Beethoven, but I wanted to play with Jack Bruce, with Jimi Hendrix, all those guys.”

Bruce, who with guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker formed Cream, stimulated Berlin to pursue the multifaceted direction on which he has built his career.

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“Jack created incredible bass events. He played both rhythmically and melodically,” says Berlin, who was born in Far Rockaway, N.Y., and who lives with his wife and child in North Hollywood. Bruce was also the first player Berlin heard who improvised, who made “something out of nothing. He was a soloist and bass player, and that’s what I like to consider myself.” Berlin’s musical sensibilities were fleshed out when he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1972 to 1975. There, studying arranging and composition, he was exposed to such jazz artists as saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, pianist Bill Evans and trumpeter Miles Davis.

At Berklee, Berlin played with many of the top jazz artists of today, among them guitarist John Scofield and vibist Gary Burton; when he resided in New York in the late ‘70s, he appeared with the Brecker Brothers, drummer Tony Williams and others. Later, he recorded with guitarist Alan Holdsworth, drummer Bill Bruford, and under his own name, though his three late-’80s Passport jazz albums are all out of print.

Berlin--who plays the Palladium electric bass by Peavey, an instrument he designed--has a warm sound he couples with a very fluid technique. “I feel fortunate that I’ve come to a place where I can play anything that I can think of,” Berlin says. Examples of his brilliance as a soloist are contained in “Great Moments in Jazz,” published by Sher Music, which also includes written snippets of such notables as Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and Scofield and saxophonist Michael Brecker.

Jazz and jazz/rock are the music Berlin plays when he leads his own ensembles. “At Le Cafe, we’re going to play bop all night, and I’m gonna play my heart out,” he says, adding that his quartet will offer originals and such standards as Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and Wayne Shorter’s “Pinocchio.”

“When I solo, and I play notes or ideas that I didn’t expect, I feel like I’m in a flow, like I’m connected to something,” he says.

Berlin puts on a solid show, says Dale Jaffe, owner of Le Cafe. “A lot of times a bass player either is a good soloist or fits in well into an ensemble, but Jeff seems to do both,” Jaffe says.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: Jeff Berlin’s quartet, with Ted Castelucci (guitar), Mitch Forman (keyboards) and Joel Taylor (drums).

Location: The Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Hours: 8:30 and 10 p.m. Sunday.

Price: $10 cover, two-drink minimum.

Call: (818) 986-2662.