- Audio CD (13 Oct 2003)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Label: Thirsty Ear
- ASIN: B0000CG46K
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 70,065 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Review
Tim Berne belongs in a long line of alto saxophonists who've developed a highly indivdual approach to writng music; Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill and Steve Coleman are a few that come to mind. Like Threadgill and Coleman in particular, Berne's work is tough, knotty stuff.
On The Sublime And he's with a quartet comprised of long time guitarist Marc Ducret, drummer Tom Rainey and keyboardist Craig Taborn, caught live in Switzerland earlier this year. To be honest I've found some of Berne's previous records a bit hard going, but this one's different. Taborn's lush Fender Rhodes and cosmic electro blips give these complex, restless compositions a spacey lyricism that makes them easier to absorb.
There's still a lot going on though; the longest piece clocks in at over half an hour, and you have to wonder at both Berne's compositional ingenuity and the stamina of his bandmates. There's no fannying around; the music is constantly being examined, dissected and pushed by the quartet. Berne's hard nosed alto leads the way through clattering, assymetric funk, pointillistic improv and full on progjazz thrash.
Berne's solos are better than ever; like Braxton, he's probably as indebted to Alban Berg as Charlie Parker or Julius Hemphill, tempering a chessplayer's logic with sweetly passionate blasts. Ducret is fantastic; he does impressionistic washes, Derek Bailey-esque scrabbling and proggy skyscraping ecstacies by turn. His solo on "jalapeno diplomacy/traction" is seat of the pants stuff. Pushing and pulling at the fierce undertow of Rainey's percussive onslaught, he fires off volley after volley of dirty abstract fusion licks with a desperate energy.
Likewise, Rainey understands Berne's rhythmic conception intimately.He couples it with the technical ability of a drummer with more than two arms.You get the impression that this is a band at the top of its game. The audience seem to think so too, and David Torn's clear, powerful production puts you in the room with them. Which, judging by the evidence, was a very good place to be that night. --Peter Marsh
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6 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Sublime indeed
25 Oct 2003
Format:Audio CD
First off, this disc is a steal. About 110 minutes of music--two discs' worth--for the price of one. But this isn't mainly about bang for your buck; that's always nice, but if the music stinks, where's the deal? Not happenin', that's where.
Second, this is Tim Berne's masterpiece. The addition of Marc Ducret on guitar to his line-up from The Shell Game (Berne, alto sax; Tom Rainey, drums; and Craig Taborn, Rhodes, laptop, etc.), adds grit and texture. Ducret is at his skankiest, tossing off cutting, fuzzed out, yet incredibly clean lines as if they were the merest trifel. His solo on "The Shell Game" transforms an interesting but cerebral song into something that grabs the listener by the throat, a performance so mezmerzing, so compelling, that one is veritably plastered to his chair, as if assaulted by about 8 g's of sonic pressure. (By the way, this is NOT background music, and any dilletantes in the proximate sound cone will be majorly offended.)
After listening to this sonic mayhem, especially in relation to other outstanding live sessions such as Extended Play by the Dave Holland Quintet and Quickening by the Frank Kimbrough Trio, I'm going to have to seriously reconsider my prejudice against live recordings.
Finally, a note about Tim Berne's tone. Despite the free, freak out vibe, Berne produces a gloriously rich tone on his also sax. Listen, especially, to his remarkable solo intro to the zany highpoint of this disc, "Mrs. Sublime/Clownfinger," certainly one of the more astoundingly virtuoso yet beautiful alto saxophone performances in the history of jazz. And this tune just morphs into the most incredible sound canvas, beautifully rendered and realized in a stunning feat of collective improv.
By virtue of this disc, Tim Berne's Sciencefriction band becomes at once the standard-bearer for forward-thinking out-jazz and one of the most interesting avant-garde outfits ever to grace the jazz scene. Not for the timid, but will blow away anyone with ears to hear.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Berne's best live album (so far)
16 May 2004
Format:Audio CD
While this is Tim Berne's first live album by his Science Friction group, it is not his first live recording. There have been others, most on JMT and his own Screwgun label. Finally though, Berne's music has been captured the way it was meant to be, full of all the dynamics he and his band are capable of.
Tim's live JMT recordings were almost clinically crisp, so clear as to have almost no bite to them. His "bootleg" styled recordings on Screwgun on the other hand were so raw as to be almost unlistenable. This album is the perfect compromise between the two extremes. Live, Berne's music often builds slowly from serene and sublime while gradually shifting into overdrive, but it takes a delicate balance to capture it accurately.
Tim's live JMT recordings were almost clinically crisp, so clear as to have almost no bite to them. His "bootleg" styled recordings on Screwgun on the other hand were so raw as to be almost unlistenable. This album is the perfect compromise between the two extremes. Live, Berne's music often builds slowly from serene and sublime while gradually shifting into overdrive, but it takes a delicate balance to capture it accurately.
Electric guitar workouts drift from introspective solos to full on distorted rock riffing, while keyboard parts veer from groovy flourishes to textural sampling. The leaders' alto sax burns alongside tribal drumming while projecting whisper quiet in calmer moments.
For those unfamiliar with Berne's epic explorations, one need go no further than this double disc set. Science Friction is the perfect vehicle for his complex ensemble writing. Embodying both his love of electro-acoustic atmospheric improvisation with more rhythmically robust ensemble marathons, this unit capably delivers all of his stylistic left turns, from rocking out to ambient free jazz. There is a lot of music here, but it warrants repeated listening, just don't expect to absorb it all in one sitting.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great document of a fabulous band
8 Mar 2006
Format:Audio CD
One of the other reviewers felt it accurate to say that Berne only has occasional outbursts of talent. Not the case here. Here, Berne has great outbursts of talent all over the place. Same with the other three members individually, and even moreso when they interact with one another. Obviously, this is not the type of live album that will appeal to gearheads and technocrats who only like music that sticks to familiar harmonic and rhythm structures and formulaic standards. This live album documents an adventurous player, Berne, in a lineup of adventurous musicians who are all out to see what happens as they navigate from one composed Berne part to another. From seeing them play live myself, it is obvious that there is a superlative amount of mutual listening going on between the players, even when they have license to push and pull the rest of the group in their own direction. Nobody tries to steal the show and nobody reverts to banalistic musical dribble or gimmicks to wow the audience. It's a totally unpretentious affair which is probably not too far afield from what happens when they rehearse together (in fact, they may even stretch it further inward in the live setting).
I have a lot of respect for each of these players individually (especially when you hear them adapt to settings aside from this, which is arguably among the most extreme they all play in) and moreso a respect for the open-endedness and willing to regravitate that pervades the pieces on this album. It's good to hear players who obviously have serious chops using them in such a liberal setting rather than merely trying to wow people.
I have a lot of respect for each of these players individually (especially when you hear them adapt to settings aside from this, which is arguably among the most extreme they all play in) and moreso a respect for the open-endedness and willing to regravitate that pervades the pieces on this album. It's good to hear players who obviously have serious chops using them in such a liberal setting rather than merely trying to wow people.
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