Home » Jazz Musicians » Tim Berne

Tim Berne

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. "There was just something about the sound of the saxophone that got to me," he says.

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. This passion for the soulful quality in music would follow him for the rest of his career, a career that he could not possibly foreseen at the time. "I hadn't listened to much jazz, but then I heard Julius Hemphill's album Dogon A.D., and that completely turned me around. It captured everything I liked in music. It had this Stax/R&B sensibility and it had this other wildness. It was incredible. That's when I started playing."

Berne moved to New York in 1974, sought Hemphill out, and entered into a sort-of apprenticeship with the elder musician. The "lessons" they had together lasted for hours and covered everything from composition to record promotion to recording to pasting up handbills to aspects of magic and spirituality and, sometimes, even playing the saxophone. "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. So it never occurred to me that most people don't play their own music or aren't bandleaders. I thought that was just part of it. 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. Following two recordings for the Italian Soul Note label, Berne recorded Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records. These recordings coincided with an increasingly active worldwide touring schedule.

Read more

Tags

7
Album Review

Sunny Five: Candid

Read "Candid" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


With the ever-evolving tapestry of experimental jazz, striking the perfect balance between familiar echoes and trailblazing sounds can be a delicate act. Intakt's latest release, Sunny Five, not only navigates this tightrope with finesse but also performs a dazzling dance across it. This album serves as a vibrant reminder of the joy and spontaneity that lie at the heart of jazz. Delivered by a collection of renowned New York-based musicians, each a master in their own right, the band offers ...

7
Album Review

Ivo Perelman: Reed Rapture in Brooklyn

Read "Reed Rapture in Brooklyn" reviewed by Jeff Schwartz


Is this album fundamentally unreviewable? Are there jazz fans who do not immediately know if they need an 11-hour collection of 103 improvised duets between Ivo Perelman and a dozen saxophonists and clarinetists? It is at least describable. Perelman is faithful to his tenor, while his partners bring examples of nearly every type of saxophone, from soprillo to contrabass, as well as most of the clarinet family. Although all tracks are free improvisations, the default mode is ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Tim Berne, Geri Allen, Dave Holland + Solo Works

Read "Tim Berne, Geri Allen, Dave Holland + Solo Works" reviewed by David Brown


This week, let's visit some Tim Berne works as interpreted by soloists, as well as some duets with the man himself. Then, one time Sun Ra bassist Tyler Mitchel presents his Octet featuring alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, followed by some other recordings by Sun Ra Arkestra alumni. The program will continue with a set of solo works from a variety of artists from cellist Okkyung Lee to bassist Luke Stewart to pianist Fats Waller, and much more. Playlist ...

3
Radio & Podcasts

More Reed Rapture WIth Tim Berne

Read "More Reed Rapture WIth Tim Berne" reviewed by Bob Osborne


On this show the third of twelve looks at Ivo Perelman's massive new set of saxophone duets, this time with Tim Berne. I am also featuring two recent albums from Tim with firstly Matt Mitchell and secondly Gregg Belisle-Chi. In addition I am playing tracks from three great new releases from Lauren Falls, Örjan Hulten Orion and Kerry Politzer.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Ivo Perelman and Tim Berne “Two" from Reed Rapture In Brooklyn (Mahalaka Music) 00:53 Tim Berne ...

8
Album Review

Ivo Perelman: Reed Rapture in Brooklyn

Read "Reed Rapture in Brooklyn" reviewed by Mark Corroto


"Let's play two," the famous line by the Cubs Hall-of-Fame baseball player Ernie Banks in 1969, uttered when the temperature in Chicago had reached 105 degrees (40.5 celsius) and his teammates were exhausted, might find its analogy with this massive undertaking from saxophonist Ivo Perelman. At eleven hours in length though, the two games Banks cited are not single games, but more like two double-headers here. Like the baseball infielder, Perelman has limitless energy and a never-ending appetite for creativity, ...

16
Album Review

Tim Berne & Matt Mitchell: One More Please

Read "One More Please" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


If the word accessible is even a thing in the vast musical vernacular of alto saxophonist Tim Berne and the ever willing collaborator pianist Matt Mitchell, they take full advantage of it on One More Please, their fourth duo date. Berne's music, more akin to an alien abduction than tangible through-lines, has its Gordian knots and philosophical upheavals, but Mitchell, as he has proven since his decade in Berne's slipped-disc ensemble Snakeoil, and on such well received outings ...

9
Liner Notes

Reed Rapture In Brooklyn: A Box Set Of Woodwind Duets With Ivo Perelman

Read "Reed Rapture In Brooklyn: A Box Set Of Woodwind Duets With Ivo Perelman" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


One of the 20th century's musical geniuses, saxophonist Charlie Parker said “Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you that music has boundaries. But, man, there's no boundary line to art." This statement on unbridled creativity applies perfectly to saxophonist Ivo Perelman's oeuvre. Perelman, however, is not just a saxophonist. Although the tenor is one of his favorite tools of expression, he is an ...

Read more articles
4

Recording

Four New Releases From ECM Records: Vijay Iyer Sextet, Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Gary Peacock Trio, and David Virelles

Four New Releases From ECM Records: Vijay Iyer Sextet, Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Gary Peacock Trio, and David Virelles

Source: Universal Music Group

August 25 Vijay Iyer Sextet Far From Over Vijay Iyer: piano, fender rhodes; Graham Haynes: cornet, flugelhorn, electronics Steve Lehman: alto saxophone; Mark Shim: tenor saxophone; Stephan Crump: double bass Tyshawn Sorey: drums Keyboardist-composer Vijay Iyer’s energized sequence of ECM releases has garnered copious international praise. Yet his fifth for the label since 2014—Far From Over, featuring his dynamically commanding sextet—finds Iyer reaching a new peak, furthering an artistry that led The Guardian to call him “one of ...

31

Festival

Beacon Jazz Festival To Feature World-Class Jazz, Hudson Valley Distilleries And More At Pete And Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park - Saturday, July 25, 12 To 6pm

Beacon Jazz Festival To Feature World-Class Jazz, Hudson Valley Distilleries And More At Pete And Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park - Saturday, July 25, 12 To 6pm

Source: James Keepnews

BEACON, NY — Celebrating the music, distilleries, artisan crafts, community and culture of the Hudson Valley, the inaugural Beacon Jazz Festival will take place on Saturday, July 25 from noon to 6 PM at The Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in Beacon, NY. Presented by Six String Productions, the festival will offer a wealth of musical talent, many with long associations with Beacon and the surrounding region. In addition to presenting great jazz, the first Beacon Jazz Festival will ...

1

Performance / Tour

The Lead Sheet: Twin Cities Live Jazz, May 8-14

The Lead Sheet: Twin Cities Live Jazz, May 8-14

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter

Some jazz giants visit this week (Tim Berne, Horacio “El Negro" Hernandez), and the weekend is filled with veterans and rising stars across the metro. Spring is here, and we're warming up for big sounds this summer. Big Gigs This Week Friday, May 8.  A Twin Cities favorite for the past decade, Red Planet plays less often these days but with no less intensity. Dean Magraw, Chris Bates and Jay Epstein invigorate Jazz Central Studios on the Bridge Series, now ...

1

Festival

Jazz this week: Pedrito Martinez, Tim Berne’s Snakeoil, East West Fusion Fest with Michael Manring, and more

Jazz this week: Pedrito Martinez, Tim Berne’s Snakeoil, East West Fusion Fest with Michael Manring, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

View more events at stlouis.jazznearyou.com. This weekend offers St. Louis fans of jazz and creative music a nice opportunity to see four different touring acts in four days at four different venues, plus a variety of performances from local players. Let's go to the highlights... Thursday, May 7 Percussionist Pedrito Martinez and his group will make their St. Louis debut with a one-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Martinez is a 41-year-old Cuban native who moved his homeland first ...

1

Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Buying in to Tim Berne's Snakeoil

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Buying in to Tim Berne's Snakeoil

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Today, let's have a look at some video clips featuring saxophonist Tim Berne and his band Snakeoil, who are coming to St. Louis to perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle next Friday, May 8 at the The Stage at KDHX. Snakeoil is the latest of several bands led by Berne, who's 60 years old and originally from Syracuse, NY. Something of a late bloomer musically, Berne didn't start playing saxophone until he was in college, focusing mostly ...

1

Performance / Tour

New Music Circle 2014-15 Season to Include Roscoe Mitchell and Craig Taborn, Tim Berne, Thumbscrew, and More

New Music Circle 2014-15 Season to Include Roscoe Mitchell and Craig Taborn, Tim Berne, Thumbscrew, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

New Music Circle has announced their 2014-15 season, with seven concerts featuring what looks to be an intriguing mix of edgy jazz and improvised music, electronics, and contemporary composition. The schedule kicks off with a concert by Thumbscrew, featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, on Friday, September 12 at Joe's Cafe, the “house concert" venue at 6014 Kingsbury Ave in the Central West End. All NYC-based, Thumbscrew's members first worked together as the rhythm section ...

104

Recording

Bruno Chevillon and Tim Berne, "Old and Unwise": Open Contrabass-Alto Sax Duets

Bruno Chevillon and Tim Berne, "Old and Unwise": Open Contrabass-Alto Sax Duets

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Freedom. Free-dom. What is it? And how do you get it? In music the word denotes something specific. At least in jazz. It means in part starting out a musical performance with the idea that what is going to happen will happen because the players spontaneously put their improvised parts together without a great deal of overt deliberation. They also, to whatever extent. play what they please, without someone dictating to them in some concrete sense. So it could be ...

162

Recording

BB and C - The Veil (Cryptogramophone, 2011)

BB and C - The Veil (Cryptogramophone, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

BB and C is a cooperative group consisting of alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Jim Black and guitarist Nels Cline. This music is taken from a from a live recording at made at The Stone in New York City. This was a very exciting and continuously engaging album to listen to, moving between avant-garde squalls of noise and abstract passages of sound sculpture. The trio is very well integrated, but Nels Cline sounds particularly inspired, on a busman's holiday from ...

226

Recording

Tim Berne, Jim Black, Nels Cline - The Veil (2011)

Tim Berne, Jim Black, Nels Cline - The Veil (2011)

Source: Something Else!

Three of the larger figures in the downtown New York avant jazz scene, Jim Black, Nels Cline and Tim Berne, joined forces a couple of years ago to form a trio that find the intersection where the three thrive in. That area of overlap falls in the hinterland where jazz dares not tread because it's too brutal, and rock won't go there either because it's too unpredictable and tortuous. This is one of those aberrant trios where the odd combination ...

49

Performance / Tour

Tim Berne June and July Concert Schedule in New York

Tim Berne June and July Concert Schedule in New York

Source: ECM records


Alberto Pinton
saxophone, baritone
Samo Salamon
guitar, electric
Piero Bittolo Bon
saxophone, alto
Mirco Ballabene
bass, acoustic

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Candid

Intakt Records
2024

buy

Sounds Of Love

Sunnyside Records
2022

buy

Pond Life

Dreck to Disk Records
2022

buy

One More Please

Intakt Records
2022

buy

Reed Rapture in...

Mahakala Music
2022

buy

Spiders

Out Of Your Head Records
2021

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.