Tim Berne - Matt Mitchell: One More Please

Saxophonist Tim Berne has gained most of his notoriety via small group recordings, with ensembles such as Big Satan, Hard Cell, Snakeoil and Science Friction. His partnership with ECM Records, beginning with 2012's Snakeoil—after a few sideman contributions on the label—lifted his profile, deservedly. His approach to making music might be called "out there in deep space," or "haphazard mini riots featuring eye-of-the-storm intervals that slip into placid melodic and rhythmic complexities." Bracing stuff, and thought- provoking at the same time, intertwinings of the beautiful with "not for the faint of heart." But, in his duo recordings, the interplay with his various partners does not nearly as often display his customary small group fractiousness. In fact, paired with pianist Matt Mitchell on Angel Dust (Screwgun, 2018), and now the album at hand, One More Please, the sounds are often quite lovely—oddly ruminative searching dances which certainly contain a high percentage of improvisation, a low percentage of pre-set choreography. Cerebral sounds in their own pleasingly scrambled way.

The sound: let freedom ring, in a fluid style, in measured tones as the players explore, in intricate detail, the art of the duo. For a touchstone, look back to saxophonist Ornette Coleman's Colors: Live At Leipzig (Harmolodic/Verve, 1997), with pianist Joachim Kühn, one of the free jazz saxophonist's prettiest, most accessible recordings.

"Soothing" is not a word normally used to describe Berne's music, but that is what comes across on the opener, "Purdy," with the saxophonist sounding a bit rough around the edges (as usual), in a restrained (but not tentative) way, while Mitchell comes from an approach of delicacy and refinement, much in the manner of Gregg Belisle-Chi's way of working on Mars (Intakt, 2022), the guitarist's duo outing with Berne.

Tim Berne fits well into the avant-garde end of the musical spectrum. But his duo outings may require a revaluation of that label. They will not—on the afternoon listening sessions on the patio, or wherever those take place—scare the doves away from the bird feeder. In fact, One More Please might see those feathered friends finishing their meals then whooshing up to the fence top, to listen.