Tim Berne

Tim Berne ( born October 16, 1954 in Syracuse, New York) is alto saxophonist and protagonist of improvised music. His energetic game is mainly influenced by soul and blues of the 1960s, especially by musicians such as Sam & Dave, Johnnie Taylor, Martha & the Vandellas and Gladys Knight. However, his own music moves especially in the field of avant-garde jazz.

Life and work

Berne bought his first alto saxophone when he visited the Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. He was initially a fan of rhythm and blues and soul music, and scarcely heard jazz. " But then I heard Julius Hemphill. He had this Stax and rhythm & blues sensibility, and he had somehow these other wildness. It was incredible. That's when I started to play. "

Berne moved in 1974 to New York City to play with Hemphill and learn until 1978 when he and Anthony Braxton. Since 1979, he released on his own label Empire Records first own albums. In the next few years he took five plates on under his own name, including with Ed Schuller, Olu Dara, Paul Motian, John Carter, Glenn Ferris and Bill Frisell. Two shots for the Italian label Soul Note and the two albums Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records followed. 1988 began a multi-year partnership with the German label JMT. The highlight of this period were the legendary Paris concerts with Bernes quartet Blood Count (published on Lowlife, Poisoned Minds and Memory Select ). Since 1994 Blood Count has played over 250 concerts worldwide.

In 1996, Tim Berne with screwgun again his own record label, on which he previously released several albums (including 2003 Science Friction ). He calls himself " ... a control freak, confirming a set of Marc Ribot, after which it need a great deal of control in order to create music that sounds as if it is uncontrolled. "

In 2012, he presented with his quartet Snake Oil first, self-titled album on ECM: On this album, the band played " one sounded technically complex quartet music that builds on the achievements of post-modern jazz and second Viennese school, " says Karl Lippegaus in the Süddeutsche newspaper. The " four musicians - instead of a bass clarinetist Oscar Noriega follow the leader like a shadow - play very often at the same time. A large dark shimmering sound power - four of the six pieces exceed twelve minutes - show meanders so in long turns. Sometimes you wonder what movie you're there well advised, but after a quarter of an hour has something noticeably rotated in their own brain - and you are no longer the same. A real experience. "This album was among the top ten of the year 2012 at the Kritikerpoll the downbeat. 2013 followed with Shadow Man another album of Snake Oil.