Tim Berne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born (1954-10-16) October 16, 1954 (age 71)
Syracuse, New York, U.S.
GenresAvant-garde jazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSaxophone
Tim Berne
Background information
Born (1954-10-16) October 16, 1954 (age 71)
Syracuse, New York, U.S.
GenresAvant-garde jazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSaxophone
Years active1979–present
LabelsEmpire, Soul Note, Columbia, JMT, Screwgun, Thirsty Ear, ECM, Intakt
Websitescrewgunrecords.com

Tim Berne (born October 16, 1954)[1] is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.

Tim Berne

Berne was born in Syracuse, New York, United States.[1] He has said that he had no interest in playing an instrument until he attended Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. Hearing the album Dogon A.D. (1972) by Julius Hemphill turned his attention toward jazz.[2] He was a fan of rhythm and blues, and it seemed to him that Hemphill was playing jazz with the soulfulness of R&B.[3] In 1974, he went to New York to find Hemphill, who gave him saxophone lessons and advice on how to manage his career.[1] Berne started the record label Empire Productions in 1979.[4][5]

For Empire, he recorded four albums with avant-garde jazz musicians such as John Carter, Alex Cline, Nels Cline, Olu Dara, Vinny Golia, Paul Motian, and Ed Schuller.[1] His next two albums appeared on Soul Note in the early 1980s.[1] In these sessions he worked with Motian, Schuller, Ray Anderson, Herb Robertson and others. He then got a contract with Columbia and recorded with Robertson, Hank Roberts, Bill Frisell and others.[1] During this time he also recorded a duo album with Frisell and two albums with John Zorn.[6][7] After two albums with Columbia, he signed with JMT, a label known for avant-garde jazz.[8]

In the 1990s, he recorded in the trio, Miniature, with Roberts and Joey Baron,[1] and in the band Caos Totale with Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Steve Swell, and Bobby Previte.[9] He led a trio with Michael Formanek and Jim Black, then added Chris Speed to form the quartet Bloodcount (which was occasionally a quintet with the addition of Ducret).[10] PolyGram bought JMT and closed it. This motivated Berne to start Screwgun Records as the outlet for his albums.[5]

Screwgun's first release was a 3-disc set by Bloodcount called Unwound, the music of which exemplified Berne's characteristic style of "explod[ing] the walls of traditional compositional form: instead of adhering to anything remotely resembling theme and variations, he intersperses thematic material–sometimes repeated, elongated, or truncated–with the careening pleasures of free improvisation."[11] During the late 1990s he continued to perform with Bloodcount, formed Paraphrase, a trio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey [12], and Big Satan, a trio with Ducret and Rainey.[13]

In the early 2000s, Berne formed several groups, including the trio Hard Cell with Rainey and Craig Taborn[14] and the quartet Science Friction (Berne, Ducret, Rainey, and Taborn).[15] He also collaborated with members of The Bad Plus for the project Buffalo Collision [16], with Nels Cline of Wilco for the critically acclaimed album The Veil in 2011,[17] and with David Torn on several projects and recordings.

Berne formed the band Snakeoil with Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, and Ches Smith, which released a self-titled album in 2012 [18], and six more recordings, with slight personnel changes, over the next decade. During this time, he has also recorded with members of The Bad Plus as Broken Shadows [19], and in duos with several musicians. In 2023 he released Oceans And with Hank Roberts and Aurora Nealand.[20]

In the late 2010s albums by other musicians interpreting Berne's music have begun to appear. These include Førage by Matt Mitchell [21], Koi by Gregg Belisle-Chi [22], Palm Sweat by Marc Ducret [23], and Oddly Enough by Gordon Grdina.[24]

Groups

In approximate order of initial activity

Discography

References

External links

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