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Tim Berne: The Deceptive 4—Live
by Mark Corroto
The difference between disc one and disc two of Tim Berne's Snakeoil release The Deceptive 4, two live recordings made eight years apart, might be the same difference between Miles Davis' first and second great quintets. Where Davis' The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions (Prestige, 2006) with John Coltrane from 1955-56 are stellar, they lack the complex riskiness of his 1965 date, The Complete Live At The Plugged Nickel 1965 (Columbia, 1995) with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony ...
Continue ReadingTim Berne's Snakeoil: The Deceptive 4—Live
by Dan McClenaghan
Alto saxophonist Tim Berne has given his various ensembles some cool names over the years. There was Big Satan, Bloodcount, Science Friction, Hard Cell. Then, in 2012, on his first recording for ECM Records, he introduced his group (and the album) Snakeoil. The band has become, since then, his main--though certainly not his only--means of artistic expression, with recordings like Shadow Man (ECM, 2013), You've Been Watching Me (ECM, 2015), The Incidentals (ECM, 2017) and The Fantastic Mrs. 10 (Intakt ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney: Pure Heart
by Peter J. Hoetjes
When a large ensemble like the one heard on Pure Heart contains such dynamic personalities as Ravi Coltrane, Oscar Noreiga and Dezron Douglas, it's a sure bet that a bandleader is going to have their hands full directing them through his compositions. However, with just five songs to the album, pianist James Carney is able to allow these musicians room to maneuver. What's more, he does so without falling prey to the corrosive lethargy of routine formula. Coltrane ...
Continue ReadingTim Berne's Snakeoil: The Fantastic Mrs. 10
by Vincenzo Roggero
Ci sono due novità nella sesta uscita discografica a nome Snakeoil. La prima è il debutto su Intakt, etichetta svizzera indipendente dedicata all'improvvisazione spesso radicale e all'avanguardia, apparentemente assai distante dall'estetica ECM, label presso la quale gli Snakeoil di Tim Berne debuttarono nell'ormai lontano 2012. La seconda riguarda la formazione che partita come quartetto, con la registrazione di You've Been Watching Me vede aggiungersi la chitarra di Ryan Ferreira confermata anche nel successivo Incidentals, ma qui sostituita da quella di ...
Continue ReadingTim Berne's Snakeoil: The Fantastic Mrs. 10
by Mike Jurkovic
Alto saxophonist Tim Berne has never met anything or anyone he doesn't instantly want to re-invent, invert, dismantle and polish into his own image. And no, it's not any kind of savior thing, messianic impulse or Dr. Stranglove fixation. He simply hears and sees things more offbeat, peculiar, and colorful, thank you very much. So too does any configuration of Snakeoil, Berne's wiry, spidery and like-minded core of engineers. As a league onto themselves, bass clarinetist Oscar Noriega, ...
Continue ReadingTim Berne's Snakeoil: The Fantastic Mrs. 10
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Tim Berne figured out what he wanted to do early on, with albums like Ancestors (Soul Note, 1983), Nice Winter ( Winter & Winter, 1993), Science Friction (Screwgun, 2002) and Snake Oil (ECM Records, 2012)—to pick one representative recording per decade from a jam-packed discography. “I'm doing the same thing I've been doing from the start," he says. That thing is making madcap tapestries with various ensemble configurations, forming a collective voice full of piss and vinegar.
Continue ReadingTim Berne's Snakeoil: The Fantastic Mrs. 10
by Mark Corroto
Imagine Tim Berne as the lead in the 1980's' American television series The A-Team, declaring: “I love it when a plan comes together!" He must return to that catchphrase every time his ensemble Snakeoil finishes a recording. After four outings on Manfred Eicher's ECM Records, the previous being Incidentals (2017), he moves his A-Team to Intakt Records. The Fantastic Mrs. 10 confirms this ensemble is on par with the saxophonist's other great band, Bloodcount, with Chris Speed, Jim Black, Michael ...
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