| New York City and begun lessons with his great mentor Julius Hemphill by the time he was 20, in 1974.Berne spent some time recording for Columbia Records and a longer time at JMT (for which he recorded the classic Fractured Fairy Tales in 1989 as well as seminal albums by his revered groups Miniature and bloodcount).This decade has seen Berne run his own record label Screwgun while performing and recording prolifically with groups like Hard Cell, Science Friction and Paraphrase.You currently have several working bands.You currently record for your own record label, Screwgun, and also for Thirsty Ear.Tim Berne: Well, I was.Science Friction was on Screwgun.AAJ: Is there any decision behind what you put out on your own label versus what comes out on, say, Thirsty Ear?Borders for fifteen years.Or at least considers that a priority.Everybody does, I think.You put the record out and everyone thinks autumn is the best time to do it because of Christmas.Maybe they give it six months.And at least it should be available easily.But I think a lot of people buy shit online.AAJ: Which usually happens around the same time.The two of you have a special communicative thing going on.The momentum just picked him up, and that was it.AAJ: Tell me about keyboardist Craig Taborn, who plays with you in Hard Cell and Science Friction.But it can be pretty interesting, sort of a relative nothing.You know, your personality just comes out.Emptive Denial, which is a live set from May 2005 at The Stone.TB: When we started Paraphrase, I think I was doing Bloodcount a lot and I think I just wanted to have some group to play with those guys, basically.AAJ: Maybe right around then?We used to get together and have sessions, which meant just get together and play.AAJ: The new record is just fifty minutes of what you did on one night.That can be really interesting.It's almost like cheating when you find something that works and then just keep doing it and it's successful.AAJ: That brings me, I think, to Hard Cell, which is a band that demonstrates some of those inclinations of yours.On the previous Hard Cell album, Electric and Acoustic Hard Cell Live (2004, Screwgun Records), he plays a mixture of piano and, I think, Rhodes?Rhodes, a computer, a mixer and some other things.Rhodes, just because it gives Craig the most bass option and the most range.Rhodes or the amp sucks.Now, on that live one, the piano stuff was kind of an accident.AAJ: So now the group is playing acoustically pretty much all the time.TB: Except when we play with Torn.He has a little studio in his house.He gets into these levels of detail.Taborn, the two of you playing simultaneous melodies.It starts with a sort of paranoid piano ostinato with your alto on top of that, then goes through a variety of sections and sort of builds tension.You and Taborn do a fair bit of unison stuff in Hard Cell.It was really one of my favorite improvs and I think it just came out of this exhaustion and not knowing what to play and so you can hear us not trying too hard.Because we did so many gigs that month, we got to a point where we could do that and not think we were just playing anything.So: David and Hector spent like four or five hours with us playing until they figured it out.So it felt really good because we were facing each other and not using headphones.But a lot of it has a real rubato quality, and those sections really contrast with the parts where time gets more definite.Okay, this was floaty and weird so now this should be be in strict or more definite time.AAJ: How to suggest something without having as much stated?The minute I lock into an idea it seem like I go another way and contradict it.AAJ: That can be your sequel!TB: That sounds accurate.Science Friction as well.TB: All the ones on Feign were written for that record.That stuff I wrote for piano, definitely.Hey, you might want to ask about Ducret, since I still do a lot with him.Big Satan, which is your group with guitarist Marc Ducret and Tom Rainey.The newest one is Souls Saved Hear, from last year.Rainey contributes one on this record, too.Big Satan: Marc Ducret, Tim Berne, Tom Rainey
TB: On that record, anyway.Is there a different philosophy with this band?He was in Science Friction, he was in Bloodcount.And he and Tom have an amazing hookup.TB: It definitely makes me play a certain way.TB: Yeah, you just show up and play.Marc was trying to figure out what I wanted him to do.He was just himself and I surrounded him with what I thought would make it work.But there was something I saw in him that really appealed to me.Is the reason just economics?If that was a live concert, those tunes would have been twice as long.Science Friction, same deal when you compare that to the live one.The tunes are much shorter.For the Science Friction one, I just happened to get a tape from Swiss Radio.If we we had been trying to make a live record, it would have been a lot tougher.But yeah, I like live records.AAJ: Especially with music that features improvisation and people listening.They just all walked out.Most of the clubs I play, people come to listen.If it was just some jewel box with a cheap cover, I think a lot of people would prefer to get the downloads for cheaper.Do you have anything new recorded?AAJ: Not Tim Berne with strings?Screwgun of just live stuff and cool weird stuff.White Photos: Robert Lewis
Visit Tim Berne on the web.Tim Berne at All About Jazz.More Articles by Paul Olson
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Tim Berne was born in Syracuse, New York in 1954, and was subjected to a perfectly normal childhood.But he didn't decide to take up music until nearly twenty years later when he was attending Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, putting most of his energy into intramural basketball.It captured everything I liked in music.Julius always encouraged me to write my own music as well.So it never occurred to me that most people don't play their own music or aren't bandleaders.You learn how to play music, you start a band, and that's it.Julius didn't offer me one system, but a lot of possibilities, with the emphasis always on ideas and sound.Berne began issuing his own albums on his own Empire label in 1979.Over the next five years he would record and distribute five albums under his own name which included such musicians as Ed Schuller, Olu Dara, Paul Motian, John Carter, Glenn Ferris and Bill Frisell.In 1989 Berne's JMT release Fractured Fairy Tales was hailed as a masterpiece by the New York Times.Berne's JMT legacy climaxed with the historic Paris Concerts given by his quartet bloodcount, released in three volumes (Lowlife, Poisoned Minds and Memory Select).In 1996 Berne once again founded his own record label, Screwgun, and released a three CD set of live recordings by bloodcount, Unwound.Europe with bloodcount, writing music for large ensemble on commission, and preparing the next three Screwgun releases by his bands bloodcount and Paraphrase.In addition, a recording of The Visible Man, a piece commissioned in 1992 for the Rova Saxophone Quartet, has just been issued on a disc called The Works, Volume 2 on the Black Saint label.Emptive Denial
Hardcell Live
A Fireside Chat With Tim Berne
The Sublime and...Google
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MetaCrawler for Tim Berne.Tim Berne (born 1954) is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.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.Hemphill was known for his integration of soul music and funk with free jazz.Berne moved to New York City in 1974.In 1979, Berne founded Empire Records to release his own recordings.In the late 1990s Berne founded Screwgun Records, which has released his own recordings, as well as others' music.Recent years have found Berne performing in several different groups with drummer Tom Rainey, keyboardist Craig Taborn, bassists Michael Formanek and Drew Gress, guitarists Marc Ducret and David Torn, and reeds player Chris Speed.One critic has written 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."Reflect
2001 The Shell Game
2001 Open, Coma
2002 The Sevens
2002 Science Friction
2003 The Sublime And
2004 Souls.This page was last modified 18:20, 31 October 2007.Bandleader, composer and saxophonist Tim Berne has created a body of work
that is distinguished by its breadth and imagination.When people wonder at the state of jazz, the problem may be that
there are not more Tim Berne's.From his first records Berne's compositions showed a
confidence that was far beyond his years.From record to record,
Berne's compositions have expanded or contracted, but the confidence and
assurance that fills them has never seemed to waver.The Empire Box, recently issued on Berne's
own Screwgun label represents all of his self released records from his
Empire Label.Winter) and Paraphrase (on Screwgun) are both as
interesting as they are different from each other."Writhing Love Lines" to Berne's own "The Maze," 21 minutes of tangling and
untangling structure.Not just a great Tim Berne album, but one of the
finest jazz albums ever made.Thanks to Tim for thoughtfully answering these questions and to Steve Smith for making this happen.Who were your initial inspirations?When I was growing up, I was really into soul music.McCoy Tyner at the Vanguard when I was 16.Then I saw Sun Ra in New York quite a bit and Sam Rivers at Studio RivBea.PSF: What was it about that music that struck you?Well, one of the biggest inspirations to me was a Julius Hemphill record called Dogon A.PSF: When you started recording as a leader, were you accepted right away or
did you have to work hard to convince people to play your music?New York's a tough place.It was WAY beneath the surface but it was there somewhere, otherwise I wouldn't have had the balls to do what I was doing so early.I'm sure there were guys who were just looking at me out of the side but who cares?PSF: Early on, you used to go out to the West Coast to record?Did being out there help you with your work?Alex Cline, a drummer who had been playing with Julius.There were just guys that were really supportive and I enjoyed playing with them at the time.PSF: Did those records get attention right away?The stuff would sell enough to warrant doing it.PSF: Did you manage to
keep a working band together at that time?Well, I was doing about a five gigs a year at that time, between '78 and '82.Everybody was doing it, just playing for the door.When I met him, he was doing two gigs a year and he was already established.The really established guys were struggling for those gigs.PSF: How do you feel about those records and compositions now?The stuff that makes me cring the most is my playing, just because in twenty years, I've hopefully developed a lot more, rhythmically and what not.In terms of organizing ideas and writing them down and the band that I had (which was great), I think it's OK.This guy, Gary Lucas, who I knew growing up was working there doing ad copy.He was trying to find shit to produce.He started coming into Tower (Records) and started harassing me.It surprised me that he got it together.That's when I did my first record for them, Fulton Street Maul.I'd make a good record and just see what happened.They were trying to figure out how they got into this mess and no one wanted to go near it.Ironically, when it came out, it got unbelivable press.Of course, it got great reviews and then they phased me out.There was a transition for me.Fractured Fairy Tales, which was probably one of my favorite ones.That's when I started to get really dense, really crazy.Lotta writing, lotta background, overlapping things.From there, I set off, gradually getting into longer pieces and suites and things that just built on each other, rather than just theme and variation and ending.PSF: What led you to this change in your composing style?PSF: Did Stefan Winter (at JMT) allow you more freedom?And he was into the music and liked being a part of it.In terms of making the records and packaging them, it was an ideal situation.After that, it got a little weird, maybe due to some of his inexperience.When JMT ended and he sold the label without my knowledge, I just figured 'fuck, if that can happen with a friend of mine...Also, just the experience of the distribution thing with Polygram.By the end of the day, I wasn't getting any reviews.They weren't sending out press copies.They basically didn't want it to do well.After being with all these different labels and watching all this different stuff go out of print and seeing the scenario repeat itself, I was thinking 'I'm never going to have any music out.So, I just figured, fuck it.Then we kind of stumbled into this packaging thing.It was just the right timing and with that band working all the time, that was so successful.So I just said 'well, I'll start a label and do it.No one was going to do that.And it's been a gas, other than being time consuming.We have Steve Byram doing all the art and my wife is in the record business and she's done tons of work.PSF: And you're helping other artists too with your company.It's great to do a solo bass record (for Michael Formanek) and these other records that would have never happened.PSF: How did the Julius Hemphill tribute happen?That's one of my favorite record and just the fact that Julius liked it meant a lot to me.That was just an amazing experience for me.So, I had known Jim (Black) and Mike (Formanek) and I heard of Chris (Speed) and I just decided to check it out.Chris played clarinet, which interested me.The newer
recordings seem more raw and improvised, is that purely a product of the
on the fly recording or is it a philosophical shift in your composing?When you're in a studio, you have headphones and you're not hearing things the same way.It's just a more natural way to record because that's how we play.There were certain areas that you knew you would get to.No matter how many times we've played a tune, I have NO IDEA where we're going once the written music's over.Even with the written music, everyone fucks around with it and that's nice.It's risky but it's nice when it pays off.PSF: What got you interested in trio playing?And then I found out that I really like it.With Paraphrase, it's ALL improvised.Basically, I did that just to see if I could sustain something just with my playing and force myself to grow as a player and put myself in a situation like that, where I was uncomfortable and had absolutely no control.You don't have the weight of the other horn.PSF: How does your approach vary from trio to trio?Julius, the few times I've worked with him.Lately, I've been more involved with melody and less with textured kind of playing.Every time I go out on tour, I react to what I've done before and try to change it a little bit.Everybody wants to change a little or doesn't want to keep playing the same way.Being able to play a lot, I have the chance to kind of try different things.PSF: Did picking up the baritone help you with your alto playing?PSF: Who are some of your current favorite musicians?What are you listening to?Marc) Ducret is doing something really special with his trio.There's a million guys but I hardly every go out.Science Friction band, which is Craig Taborn, Tom
Rainey, and Marc Ducret, plus David Torn.What is the current status of Screwgun?It takes up a lot of
time.Maybe that sounds like a terribly loaded question, but I think just
that phrasing is important.Craig Taborn, the people at the label themselves,
Matthew Shipp; and kind of how that all came together.Craig lives about a block away from me, and I used to run into him a
lot on the street.Oh, you want to be in this band?And I started writing music and that was it.Matt did introduce me to Peter.Did you feel like you learned anything in particular from that
experience?Anything really memorable, positive or negative?And so I learned a lot about that.They just asked me to come and play.How was that
all put together?Wow, that is
great.British Arts Council decided to fund the tour and
then the BBC commissioned the piece.THE SEVENS, then I do some stuff with the Science
Friction band with Torn and then this commissioned piece with everybody.Or does that just come about?You mean just the bigness of it?But it always takes a few gigs to really see the light.You know what I
mean?Yeah, whether its written music or improvised, you try to give it the same
vibe, which is the feeling of discovering something for the first time.As opposed to writing out a blues or writing chord changes or
whatever.Well, an atmosphere for improvising.Does it really matter whether people know what you were intending
when you sat down to tell a story?Oh yeah, I wrote it in three days.Was any of that
written?What an interesting response.Are you going to
play those pieces?This guy was so bummed out.Well, I was totally into Julius.And then just in terms of playing, you know, a million other guys.Well those people you mentioned definitely have a vision.Which leads me to another question, which is...He just did what he did the way he wanted to do it.That is definitely
true.He was a really tall
guy.He really inspired
me to be myself and not worry about what others were doing.Again, I think he
had the right attitude about roots.Or that the only thing he ever learned from playing the blues was
that you got blues gigs.Texas blues Southwest thing.Everybody who plays the saxophone has played the blues at some point.He wrote about a thousand records worth of music.Is that coming out soon?And he used to play with them.And Julius really dug Sanborn, knew he was a good musician,
and I think he really liked the idea.Sanborn it was a chance to get out and just play music and not worry about
any kind of pressure.In fact he just
played in this Django Bates record.And he did, and it was unbelievable what he did.Did you particularly enjoy that?Someone will have
to get you a copy of that.Speaking of which, how is the gig situation in New York?And we had a lot of people over four days.And I think people
really bounce back unless of course you were living down there.States than I do in Europe.Europe is just smaller, France and all these little countries.Or that they find European audiences more receptive.They come into it with some baggage.Oh, you did that interview?And I just recognized
that this is a guy I want to play with.And we did a bunch of stuff in Denmark last summer.Also we did something in Austria in August, I did a sextet thing
with Herb.His approach to his own music strikes me as being quite different from
the approach that you take.You put enough pressure on yourself and then to have that and then
every record has to be better and different.Though you can write for those instruments.You mean about having it reissued?That was a
big period.That was like 10
records.Yea, sure, that was a hell of a period.Wow, I wish
I could do that again.Just tried a little harder.Making the records was great, packaging, the whole thing.Whereas if you go on tour with us or you look around at gigs you
see a whole different vibe.But I love doing that, recording other musicians.Most people just give up.DISCOGRAPHY OF TIM BERNE
This is the fourth version of the discography of Tim Berne.It includes
many corrections and a few additions.Following items are:
discography,
records (co)produced by by Tim Berne.Records and tapes have been listed by chronological order for edition (and
not recording).Screwgun (USA), SCR 70009 (5xCD)
Note: the 5xCD resissue on Screwgun is called THE EMPIRE BOX.Screwgun (USA), SCR 70009 (5xCD)
Note: the 5xCD resissue on Screwgun is called THE EMPIRE BOX.Screwgun (USA), SCR 70009 (5xCD)
Note: the 5xCD resissue on Screwgun is called THE EMPIRE BOX.Paul Motian: drums, percussion.Produced by Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Jon Rosenberg
Tim Berne: alto; Bill Frisell: electric and acoustic guitars.Joey Baron: drums, percussion.Note: this record was supposed to be called A FIST FULL OF JOHN ZORN.JMT, 514 027 2 (CD)
Note: contains a booklet which tells the story of the little trumpet.Hank Roberts: cello, voice, electronically processed cello and voice.See SPY VS SPY (1989) for further references.Enemy (Germany), EMCD 118 (CD)
1991 (?Note: the 4xCD box contains the first four volumes LIVE AT THE KNITTING
FACTORY.Robin Eubanks, Steve Turre, John McLaughlin, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Greg
Osby, Hank Roberts, Gary Thomas, Cassandra Wilson.Dazed And Confused (J.Percy Jones: electric
bass; Bobby Previte: drums; Herb Robertson: trumpet, flugelhorn.All Along The Watchtower (Dylan, arr.Robertson (7): trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn; Mark Dresser (7): bass.Joe Williams (9), Tim Berne (10,11), Joey Baron (12,13).Recorded in August 1993 at Power Station, NY
Produced by Stefan F.Monte Young And The Forever Bad Blues Band, Bob Moses, Ray Anderson, Bernie
Worrell, Anthony Davis.Gramavision, R2 79496 (CD)
See BIG BAND RECORD (1994) for further references.Spiritual Chairs "For Bill T.Tim Berne: baritone, alto.Joe Lovano (1,5,6): tenor; Tim Berne (2,5,8): alto, baritone saxophone.Recorded live on June 25, 1992 at the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival
Marilyn Crispell: piano; Tim Berne: alto.December 18, 1994
Tim Berne: baritone saxophone; Tim Smith: bass clarinet.Recorded live in Berlin and Ann Arbor
Tim Berne; Chris Speed; Michael Formanek; Jim Black.Screwgun (USA), 70001 (3xCD)
Note: limited edition set of 2000 copies.YEARS: George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band
Tim Berne; etc.Recorded in Paris (Instants Chavires?Recorded live in Berlin in 1996
Tim Berne: baritone saxophone, alto; Drew Gress: bass; Tom Rainey: drums.Produced by Fred Springg
Tim Berne: baritone saxophone, alto; Michael Formanek: bass.Recorded live in Germany in November 1998
Tim Berne: alto, baritone saxophone; Drew Gress: bass; Tom Rainey: drums.ELLISSI: Umberto Petrin, Tim Berne
Umberto Petrin: piano; Tim Berne; etc.Tim Berne's Open Coma
????Down Beat, September 1988, vol.Apr 1989: interview by Steve Hahn (pp.Down Beat, January 1996: "Liberal Expressionists," an interview of Marty
Ehrlich and Tim Berne by Jim Macnie (pp."Are you sure you want to block this user?Band MembersTim Berne, Alto SaxophoneInfluencesSam and Dave and Johnnie Taylor, Martha and the Vandellas and Gladys Knight, Julius Hemphill.Here they play a Tim Berne tune called "SEP" transcribed by Dunn.Tim Berne was born in Syracuse, New York in 1954, and was subjected to a perfectly normal childhood.But he didn't decide to take up music until nearly twenty years later when he was attending Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, putting most of his energy into intramural basketball.At this point, while resting a sore ankle in his dormitory, Berne encountered a saxophonist who was selling his alto, and bought it on impulse.Musically, up to that point, Berne had always been motivated by all types of music, but especially by the great Stax artists like Sam and Dave and Johnnie Taylor, as well as Motown artists like Martha and the Vandellas and Gladys Knight.It captured everything I liked in music."From the beginning," Berne says, "even while I was still learning to play the saxophone, Julius always encouraged me to write my own music as well.You learn how to play music, you start a band, and that's it.Following two recordings for the Italian Soul Note label, Berne recorded Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records.These recordings have received unanimous praise.He also had a new string quartet, dry ink, silence, premiered by the Kronos Quartet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.Europe with bloodcount, writing music for large ensemble on commission, and preparing the next three Screwgun releases by his bands bloodcount and Paraphrase.FULTON STREET MAUL, 1986.Lowlife: The Paris Concert, Vol.PEACE and LOVE wishings in 2008!Ciao Tim, warmest greetings from Enzo, Centro d'Arte in Padua...Sweet dreams both when awake and asleep, as ever!Christian Munthe on this compilation on Mandorla (click to listen).Watch out for full length album on Tyyfus in 2008.Beside your famous music and friends.ONE BIG CYBER HALLOO FROM PER L.Curtis Haywood's talents have been called "A gift from God".If you would like to find out for yourself, simply click here!Hello TimMany thanks for the 'addition' to your space.Hope you might get a moment to check out my experimental projects.Hey Tim, many thanks for the add.Tim, thx for add, you are simply great musician, thx very muchfor all.You're music is GREAT !!!"Urban Jungle" Original Reggae, Funk, Afrobeat, Calypso, Samba, Second Line compositions.Bi System) Thanks so much for the support!Rollins College in Winter Park FL many years ago.Grazie amico for the add!Recently I've being listening a lot to 'Nice view' with your Caos Totale...Grazie, thanks for the hospitality.Tim Berne, fans, friends, who is who.Big Satan to Orlando, FL for a residency....Vincent Bergeron is one of those few, a unique composer who is at the forefront of musical thinking(...Tim, now I only wait that you come to Berlin, soon as possible.This is not a MySpace login page, please do not enter your MySpace login information (email address or password).Id + " Text: " + targetLink.Biography: Alto and baritone saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Tim Berne was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1954, and purchased his first ...Lowlife: The Paris Concert, Vol.Want More Tim Berne?Highlights: A smokin version of her hit single Tambourine and a killer verse from Party Like a Rockstar.Saxophonist Tim Berne perforrming live in concert with Faux Faux at The Cinema in West Philly on 30 July 2006.Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).Taken with a Nikon D70s. |
