Tim Berne’s avant-jazz – a sound like a roomful of simultaneous conversations – fuses a funky rootsiness, the speediness of postbop and intricate compositional designs that often have more in common with contemporary-classical music. The New York saxophonist/composer has wryly described his aesthetic as “crude elegance” – which is a pretty apt term for this limited-edition book. Between its frugal, brown-card covers, the book unites illustrator Steve Byram’s jagged drawings, Berne’s photography of hazy faces and lowering skies, and a live recording by the latter’s formidable Snakeoil group. The torrential, free-jazzy urgency of this recording presents a different Snakeoil from its more restrained sessions for ECM, with Berne on alto sax mixing gliding lyricism with raw-nerve howls and dry-hinge squeals, and pianist Matt Mitchell delivering some enthralling unaccompanied freebop. For the influential Berne’s many fans worldwide, this will be a real collector’s item.
