Tim Berne

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Tim Berne
File:Tim Berne.jpg
Photo by Matt Brown
Background information
Born (1954-10-16) October 16, 1954 (age 69)
Genres Avant-garde jazz
Instruments Saxophone
Years active 1979-present
Labels Empire, Soul Note, Columbia, JMT, Screwgun, Thirsty Ear, Clean Feed, ECM
Associated acts BB&C, Big Satan, Bloodcount, Miniature, Paraphrase
Website www.ScrewgunRecords.com

Tim Berne (born 1954) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist",[1] Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s. His mainstream success has been limited – Berne recorded two albums for Columbia Records – but he has released a significant body of work over the decades spanning dozens of critically acclaimed recordings.[2]

Biography

Though Berne was a music fan, he had no interest in playing a musical instrument until he was in college, when he purchased an alto saxophone. He was more interested in rhythm and blues music – Stax records releases and Aretha Franklin, especially – until he heard Julius Hemphill's 1972 recording Dogon A.D. [3]

Hemphill was known for his integration of soul music and funk with free jazz. Berne moved to New York City in 1974. There Berne took lessons from Hemphill, and later recorded with him.[3]

In 1979, Berne founded Empire Records to release his own recordings. He recorded Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records, which generated some discussion and controversy, due in part to the fact that Berne's music had little in common with the neo-tradionalist hard bop performers prominent in the mid-1980s. Some regarded Berne's music as uncommercial. In the late 1990s Berne founded Screwgun Records, which has released his own recordings, as well as others' music.

Beyond his recordings as a bandleader, Berne has recorded and/or performed with guitarist Bill Frisell, avant-garde composer/sax player John Zorn, violinist Mat Maneri, guitarist David Torn, cellist Hank Roberts, trumpet player Herb Robertson, the ARTE Quartett and as a member of the cooperative trio Miniature.

Recent years have found Berne performing in several different groups with drummers Tom Rainey and Gerald Cleaver, keyboardist Craig Taborn, bassists Michael Formanek and Drew Gress, guitarists Marc Ducret and David Torn, and reeds player Chris Speed.

He is one-third of the group BBC (Berne/Black/Cline) along with drummer Jim Black and Nels Cline of Wilco. The group released a critically acclaimed album called The Veil in 2011.[4]

Berne's complex, multi-section compositions are often quite lengthy; twenty- to thirty-minute pieces are not unusual. One critic wrote that Berne's long songs "don't grow tiresome. The musicians are brilliantly creative and experienced enough not to get lost in all the room provided by these large time frames."[5]


Groups

File:Tim-berne03.jpg
Tim Berne.
Photo Hreinn Gudlaugsson

Discography

As leader/co-leader

As sideman

With Ray Anderson

  • Big Band Record (Gramavision, 1994)

With Nels Cline

  • Angelica (Enja, 1988)

With Marc Ducret

  • Tower Vol. 2 (Ayler, 2011)

With Simon Fell

  • Positions & Descriptions (Clean Feed, 2011)

With Figure 8

  • Pipe Dreams (Black Saint, 1994)

With Michael Formanek

  • Extended Animation (Enja, 1992)
  • Loose Cannon (Soul Note, 1993) with Jeff Hirshfield
  • Low Profile (Enja, 1994)
  • Nature of the Beast (Enja, 1997)
  • The Rub and Spare Change (ECM, 2010)
  • Small Places (ECM, 2012)

With Vinny Golia

  • Compositions for Large Ensemble (Nine Winds, 1984)
  • Facts of Their Own Lives (Nine Winds, 1986)

With Drew Gress

  • Spin & Drift (Premonition, 2001)
  • 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005)
  • The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007)
  • The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)

With Mark Helias

  • Split Image (Enja, 1985)
  • The Current Set (Enja, 1986)

With Julius Hemphill

With Peter Herborn

  • Something Personal (JMT, 1993)

With Lindsey Horner

  • Never No More (Open Minds, 1991)

With Hilmar Jensson

  • Dofinn (Jazzis, 1995)

With 9Volt

  • Open Circuit (OutNow, 2012)

With Omonimo

  • The Bang (Nueva, 1991)

With Jon Raskin

  • The Bass & the Bird Pond (New World, 2000)

With Hank Roberts

With Herb Robertson

With Samo Salomon

  • Duality (Samo, 2013)

With George Schuller

  • Hellbent (Playscape, 2002)

With Ches Smith

  • Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013)

With Spring Heel Jack

  • Masses (Thirsty Ear, 2001)

With David Torn

With Stefan Winter

  • The Little Trumpet (JMT, 1986)

With Yōsuke Yamashita

  • Ways of Time (Verve, 1995)

With John Zorn

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ [1] Archived April 6, 2006 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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