Tomorrow ECM will release Snakeoil, featuring alto saxophonist Tim Berne leading a quartet whose other members are Oscar Noriega on both clarinet and bass clarinet, Matt Mitchell on piano, and Ches Smith on a diversity of percussion instruments beyond (but including) the usual drum set. This will be Berne’s first studio album in eight years and his leader debut on the ECM label. The advance material states that Berne put in two years of “wood-shedding” prior to his recording sessions, which took place on January 10 and 11 in 2011 at Avatar Studios in New York.
Those who have been following my examination of avant-garde approaches to jazz going back to the early efforts of Cecil Taylor in the mid-Fifties, continuing through the “free jazz” pursuits of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, and inspiring the creativity of Anthony Braxton and his Chicago colleagues will be happy to know that those adventures are continuing. Berne performs with an appreciation of past pursuits of such “freedom” but with the recognition that there are more such roads to travel. This makes for some challenging listening experiences, but those who rise to those challenges are likely to be highly satisfied.
Begin with the fact that four of the six tracks last longer than ten minutes. Although this may be modest by “Coltrane standards,” it reveals that, while much of free jazz has tried to walk the thin line between the planned and the spontaneous, Berne clearly takes the planned side of the border very seriously. Indeed, when one begins to apprehend his rhythmic subtleties and the length of phrases subjected to ostinato repetition, one suspects that his charts account for a healthy amount of detail. Yet, one has a sense that all of that “wood-shedding” had less to do with memorizing a basic vocabulary of patterns and more with preparing for the exercise of “serious spontaneity” while the recording equipment is running. Add to that what appears to be studied deliberation in the avoidance of a tonal center, and we are left with a command of atonality that may well owe more to Anton Webern and Karlheinz Stockhausen than it does to Taylor and Coltrane.
Of course the real test of Berne’s stance towards freedom will not be found in any recording, which will always sound the same each time it is played. More important is what those “wood-shedding” skills will amount to when he performs with his quartet before a live audience. It is thus to Berne’s credit that he has scheduled a United States tour, which will begin following the release of Snakeoil. Here are the dates and venues:
- February 16, Boston, Massachusetts: Regatta Bar
- February 17, New York, New York: Rubin Museum
- February 18, Baltimore, Maryland: An Die Musik Live!
- February 19, Washington, DC: Bohemian Caverns
- February 24, Austin, Texas: TBD
- February 25, Los Angeles, California: Blue Whale
- February 27, Santa Cruz, California: Kuumbwa
- February 28, Oakland, California: Yoshi’s
- February 29, Eugene, Oregon: The Shedd
- March 1, Seattle, Washington: Asian Art Museum
- March 2, Portland, Oregon: Alberta Rose Theater
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