Un panorama vasto e cangiante, d’ardita astrattezza, caratterizza la progettualità di un trio acustico che sembra suggellare ulteriormente un già nutrito filone (fra i vari non-dichiarati) della label Intakt in tema di combinazioni strumentali a tre (che può vantare partecipanti d’assodato carattere); la maggior esposizione del nome di Tim Berne non sembra però farne un ‘suo’ trio bensì una paritaria associazione, che si disvela abile nel condividere suggestioni peculiari quanto inattesa abilità rappresentativa.
Ritenendo che le pulsioni eversive e la mordente linea creativa di quest’ultimo meglio s’acconci alla formazione jazz più pugnacemente intesa, non si immagini a priori che gli riesca costrittiva una dimensione, per così dire, più cameristica: fresco dalla prova in duo in associazione al pianista Matt Mitchell (One More, Please, 2022) il sassofonista e creativo riformula certe vedute d’ensemble con una peculiare formazione a due fiati e uno strumento ad arco di tenorile timbrica, inclusiva di ulteriori ingredienti, quali il mantice e la voce.

Nello specifico trattiamo di rodate frequentazioni, assai longeva con il violoncellista Hank Roberts e comunque non nuova con la clarinettista, accordionista e vocalist Aurora Nealand, già rilevati a svariato titolo nelle orbite berneiane ma titolari di distinti e corposi curricula, e quanto agli esiti si direbbe che Oceans And configuri un’opera a progetto, investita su sensibile intercambio e geometrie ardite.
Tale si palesa l’apertura, composta e misterica in The Latter; soffuso il duplice gioco di ancia e mantice, che con quieto sviluppo si dipanano sulle vibranti linee del violoncello, lungo una progressione che esalta gli schemi ordinati della scrittura; più frementi le coralità nella successiva Framed, giocata sulle forze degli elementi d’aria, in cui l’ancia contralto di Berne non manca di svettare con autocontrollo su un clima increspato.
Destrutturato ed idiosincratico lo sfuggente impianto di Eez, intimismo e contemplazioni di spirito notturno nella dimessa Low Strung, cui s’avvicenda l’iniziale spirito espressionista, poi francamente neo-free della successiva Clustard.
Spirito interrogativo, se non provocatorio nelle quadrature apparenti di Mortal and Pestered, evocazioni di spirito febbrile nell’instabile Frosted, che a dispetto del titolo risuona pervasa da un tappeto di brace; in Fess vaghezze sciamaniche fungono da legante per le acri ma flebili esternazioni dei solisti.
Fantasmatico ed ebbro il tono generale della sfuggente 10tious, di più spiccata estensione rispetto al rimanente programma, in cui i tre attori non mancano d’interloquire a mutevole soggetto, preludente alla più tonica Sutile, in cui riescono più nette le linee solistiche, seppur in astrattezza.
Vaghe suggestioni gershwiniane nell’intro di Partial 2, che apre nello spirito dell’alba un passaggio di meditativo spleen; emotività criptica nel tono generale della conclusiva Peeled, in cui più nettamente risalta l’apporto vocale di Nealand, avvalorando le qualità dell’amalgama, investito in un epilogo sensibile e catartico.
Palesi le energie creative e le propensioni visionarie dei singoli, sperimentati solisti, nel presente caso poste piuttosto al servizio di un canone neo-cameristico di straniante visionarietà, connotato in più parti da un privato clima cospirativo, e non privo di inattese suggestioni di sacralità, e s’apprezza anche un ricorrente intercambio identitario tra gli strumenti (diremmo che tendano a confondersi, ad esempio, la timbrica lignea del clarinetto e quella metallescente del sax, ma non sarebbe l’unico esempio).
Di radicale, ma a suo modo manierato spirito meditativo, la sequenza di Oceans And esita quale appagante prova di funzionali sintonie, e di abilità rappresentative giocate su arguzia istantanea e composizione esplorativa.
https://offtopicmagazine.net/2023/11/07/tim-berne-hank-roberts-aurora-nealand-oceans-and/

„Oceans And ..." beamt Aurora Nealand nicht zum ersten Mal hoch in den Orbit des begnadeten Jazz-Saxophonisten Tim Berne. Aber dieses Mal ist es ein Coup. Aurora Nealand spielt ein spektakuläres Akkordeon, eine virtuose Bassklarinette und singt. Und sie ist darin seit Jahren eine Meisterin. In Kombination mit Hank Roberts am Cello entsteht hier ein neues Habitat. Die Soundfarben aus Bernes Altsaxophon, Roberts' Cello und Nealands Akkordeon verschmelzen symbiotisch. Ohne Bass und Schlagzeug dominieren Architektur, Farbgebung und Licht. Darin sind intime Zwiegespräche ebenso zu Hause wie ungestümer Streit. Nealands Beitrag zu dem Palaver ist feministisch und fast gruselig schön.

Alla perenne ricerca di nuove strade, Tim Berne ha nel tempo collezionato presenze in una dozzina di gruppi disparati, spesso avviatisi grazie al suo determinante con-
tributo, ed è stato implicato in un numero infinito di album a due e a tre. Un cumulo di incisioni, tra loro talvolta distanti sul piano stilistico, a disegnare traiettorie non lineari dove le svolte, i cambi di pas-so, gli arresti improvvisi e le ripartenze hanno costituito la norma di un percorso artistico del tutto a sé stante. Appena avvistato in un luogo, l'altosassofonista di Syracuse era già pronto a volare altrove, quasi a farsi beffe di chi tentava di ingabbiarlo in una categoria definita.
"Oceans And", certo tra le sue creature più inafferrabili, pare essere stato costruito sulle sabbie mobili di una cripticità delibe-rata, fatta apposta per disorientare e sorprendere chi ascolta. In tal senso la compagnia di Aurora Nealand ha giovato non poco, grazie al suo dividersi tra fisarmonica e clarinetto e alla proposta di sonorità distese, ostinate, talvolta prossime alla ambient. In "Mortal And Pestered" e in
"Peeled" si è prodotta anche alla voce, a ribadire una versatilità assai utile alla causa del trio. Lo stesso cello di Hank Roberts è stato costretto a riposizionarsi al di fuori della propria comfort zone, sia esibendo ancoraggi classico-cameristici, sia attuando modalità aleatorie. Berne ha vergato temi quanto mai sguscianti, diafani, non collocabili in un genere preciso, agendo sullo strumento con la consueta e imprevedibile disinvoltura. Nelle note di copertina, Baikida Carroll la definisce musica adatta a stimolare il cervello, animare l'immaginazione e incantare il cuore: sottoscriviamo.

„Oceans And
." beamt Aurora Nea-
land nicht zum ersten Mal hoch in den Orbit des begnadeten Jazz-Saxopho-nisten Tim Berne. Aber dieses Mal ist es ein Coup. Aurora Nealand spielt ein spektakuläres Akkordeon, eine virtuose Bassklarinette und singt. Und sie ist darin seit Jahren eine Meisterin. In Kombination mit Hank Roberts am Cello entsteht hier ein neues Habitat. Die Soundfarben aus Bernes Altsaxophon, Roberts' Cello und Nealands Akkordeon verschmelzen symbiotisch. Ohne Bass und Schlagzeug dominieren Architek-tur, Farbgebung und Licht. Darin sind intime Zwiegespräche ebenso zu Hause wie ungestümer Streit. Nealands Beitrag zu dem Palaver ist feministisch und fast gruselig schön.

It’s refreshing to hear an artist tweak their established approach; when it happens, all sorts of micro revelations tend to appear, broadening an audience’s view on the subject at hand. Might be best to use a cap-lock on the word “established” when referencing saxophonist Tim Berne; after several decades of work and well over 50 albums released, his position as a shrewd improviser, daring composer, and recombinant bandleader couldn’t be more solid. The language he’s fashioned during all these achievements is instantly recognizable, a clever take on thematic development that usually snoops around a tune’s most intriguing corners before delivering an intricate fanfare that often seems to be at its boiling point. When his music is truly successful, a performance can be as exhaustive as it is exciting.

Oceans And (Intakt) is novel entry into the Berne canon, where momentum is stretched out, and drones, not jitters, are the most valuable currency. Some of these changes are due to esthetic choice (these pieces are fully improvised), and some are ushered along by the instrumentation. Hank Roberts’ cello and Aurora Nealand’s accordion are ideal for protraction, with bows and bellows able to float notes for extended periods. The saxophonist has been honing his use of long tones during the past two years as well. Recent shows have revealed him masterfully keening on one note for moments at a time, effecting a siren of sorts. That happens here, though the maneuver is more languid than ever before. “The Latter” opens the program with a harmonized murmur that conjures a tug boat inching through the fog (the group recorded the session mere yards from the NYC harbor). Each musician shapes the whole towards a steady denouement that feels like a spectral exhale. The work Berne and Roberts did with the group Miniature hinted at this, and Berne and Nealand’s newfound mojo helps secure it as a brilliant anomaly – an ethereal exercise that fashions a dream world where walking in slippers winds up delivering a wealth of atmospheric impact.

https://lamentforastraightline.wordpress.com/2023/08/07/tim-berne-hank-roberts-aurora-nealand-oceans-and-intakt/

Ce nouveau trio dans lequel officie Tim Berne surprendra certainement les amateurs du saxophoniste par son originalité. Sans déroger à un parcours exigeant de recherche sonore, l’Américain, volontiers amateur de compositions complexes et nerveuses aux phrasés sinueux, développe ici avec ses partenaires un projet entièrement improvisé, à la fois linéaire et d’une humeur crépusculaire.
En compagnie de son vieux camarade Hank Roberts au violoncelle, avec qui il collabore inlassablement (c’était encore le cas au Petit Faucheux en ce début d’année), il s’associe cette fois à Aurora Nealand que les curieux auront déjà pu entendre à ses côtés dans le quartet Mystic (avec David Torn et Chez Smith, et accessible sur bandcamp). Cette poly-instrumentiste, outre sa capacité à jouer de l’accordéon ou de la clarinette (elle joue également du saxophone dans d’autres contextes) comme de donner de la voix, pratique sa musique dans des environnements variés puisqu’on peut également l’entendre dans un style New-Orleans bien éloigné de ce qu’elle propose dans ce trio plus radical.
Dans une succession de pistes homogènes aux climats doux, les trois musiciens jouent en effet de la superposition ou la juxtaposition des voix avec un art subtil du mimétisme qui laisse à certains moments entendre un saxophone là où on pensait écouter un violoncelle, une voix là où semblait pointer le souffle d’un accordéon. Avec beaucoup de minutie et un travail notable sur l’équilibre, les trois angles de ce triangle pointent vers un discours ténu et délicat, parfois étourdissant, qui évoque par certains côtés, et sans la grammaire, l’esprit de la musique baroque la plus chambriste.
Nous sommes évidemment dans une proposition ancrée dans notre vingt-et-unième siècle inventif et quelques dissonances discrètes, quelques tournures évoquant irrémédiablement le langage de Berne, nous rappellent à la modernité incarnée par ces musiciens. Mais le jeu en retrait, notamment de Roberts qui s’efface entièrement derrière son archet pour produire de magnifiques linéaments sonores, est un hymne subtil à une forme de méditation mélancolique - et, sans que cela soit contradictoire, lumineuse - qui saisit l’attention et conduit l’auditeur à la rêverie.
https://www.citizenjazz.com/Tim-Berne-Hank-Roberts-Aurora-Nealand.html

Tim Berne / Hank Roberts / Aurora Nealand — Oceans And (Intakt)
Forty-four years separate the release of Tim Berne’s first LP, The Five Year Plan, and this uncategorizable trio recording. The alto saxophonist has never been shy about mixing classical sounds and shapes into elbows-out jazz pieces of often-epic link, but he’s never done anything quite like Oceans And. One distinguishing factor is the ensemble’s line-up, which includes Hank Roberts on cello and Aurora Nealand on clarinet, accordion and generally wordless voice. These are players who can both inhabit genres and shuttle between them; they also do honor to the specifically scripted progress and illusorily orchestral arrangements of Berne’s elongated, reflective compositions. In particular, Nealand’s squeezebox delivers both the immensity and complexity of a full string section.

https://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/721564204362039296/dust-volume-9-number-6

Et voici un énième nouveau projet pour le saxophoniste alto américain Tim Berne (en réalité, il s’agit d’un album en trio où chaque composition est cosignée par les trois musiciens). Nouveau ? Tout est relatif : s’il est vrai que c’est la première fois que Berne est associé au violoncelliste Hank Roberts et à la multi-instrumentiste Aurora Nealand (ici à l’accordéon, à la clarinette basse et auteure de quelques vocalises) sur un enregistrement en trio, les affinités entre tous ces musiciens sont bien réelles. Berne et Roberts collaborent régulièrement depuis quasi 40 ans et Nealand, beaucoup plus jeune, a déjà enregistré avec Berne (l’album « Trapper Keaper » de 2019). Voilà pour les présentations. Musicalement, l’association saxophone-violoncelle-accordéon ou clarinette basse peut laisser présager une musique plutôt douce. S’il est vrai que l’approche est moins rugueuse que sur de nombreux albums signés Tim Berne, ne vous attendez surtout pas à de belles mélodies bien définies : la musique, souvent très lente avec des ambiances plutôt sombres, est assez abstraite, mystérieuse, intrigante, aventureuse. Le trio propose 12 compositions-improvisations aux textures audacieuses et écorchées, avec une volonté d’exploration qui rend cette œuvre passionnante. Les sonorités sont riches et novatrices, et une alchimie particulière, pas évidente à la première écoute, se crée. Voici un disque certainement pas facile d’accès, mais tellement créatif et inspirant que l’on n’a qu’une seule envie dès que sa lecture se termine : l’écouter et le réécouter et toujours le redécouvrir.

https://jazzmania.be/tim-berne-hank-roberts-aurora-nealand-oceans-and/

For the prolific,
singular alt.iazz
saxophonist-
composer Tim
Berne, trying
something new is nothing new.
The chamber trio assembled here,
which finds the Brooklyn-based
musician alongside a
contemporary of his, the veteran
downtown-scene ex-Bill Frisell
cellist Hank Roberts, and the
maverick accordionist/multi-
reedist Aurora Nealand, offers a
kind of sonic experimentation that,
for the most part, is closer to
European avant-chamber music
than it is jazz.
Opener The Latter is not really
drone music as such, but
sustained tones anchor an eerie
exchange between cello, sax and
accordion with the blend subtly
marking the instruments textural
similarities as much as their
variances. On Framed' Nealand's
Brecht-ish, gothic accordion sets
up a vamp for Berne's
characteristic sax vocalisation and
some steadily seesawing and
revolving note patterns. On
'Clustard' Berne and Nealand (on
clarinet this time) contrast
caterwauling counterpoint with
warm, delicately dissonant tones
The second half of Oceons And
might appeal more to listeners
who dig the saxophonist-
composer in a warmer setting
closer to jazz with more biting
rhythmic content. 10tious is a
sensitive dialoque between Berne's
concise, spacious phrasing and
Roberts' barbed pizzicato. 'Mortal
and Pestered' and Frosted' are
more lyrical originals in a
conventional sense, with the
insistent Berne and Roberts
alongside Nealand, this time in a
nonverbal semi-operatic
ensemble-sensitive vocal role.
Those Berne fans enjoying the
Snakeoil project and his recent
duos with quitarist Gregg
Belisle-Chi and pianist Matt
Mitchell for example, should
find it an intriguing diversion.

Wegen Leuten wie Tim Berne wird der Jazz immer das bleiben, was ihn von anderen Genres grundlegend unterscheidet: eine Musik voll rauer Schönheit, radikal, roh, unpo-pulär, kompliziert, tiefgründig, klar, mutig, geheimnisvoll, nachdenklich und faszinie-rend. Zum Glück! Mit dem neuen Trio des amerikanischen Saxofonisten mit der Akkordeonistin und Multiinstrumentalistin Aurora Nealand und dem Cellisten Hank Roberts hat Berne die perfekte Crew um sich ge-schart, um einfach in See zu stechen und voll gespannter Erwartung der Dinge zu harren, die da passieren können. Deshalb steht „Oceans And" auch für ein klangliches Abenteuer erster Güte in zwölf Titeln, eine gezielte Manipulation von Klang und Raum, für herzliche, vertraute Kommunikation, reine Improvisation, Nervenkitzel und tiefgründige Vorstellungskraft. 69 wird Tim Berne im Oktober, aber noch nie war er seinem künstlerischen Ideal von der absoluten Freiheit so nah wie hier. Denn Musik wie diese regt das Gehirn an, belebt die Fantasie und verzaubert das Herz.

Tim Bernes Kreativität scheint
unerschöpflich. Seit rund vierzig
Jahren gründet er immer wieder
neue Bands, initiiert Projekte
und Kooperationen, und mit
Intakt scheint er nun endlich ein
Label gefunden zu haben, das
mit seiner Produktivität Schritt
zu halten gewillt und in der
Lage ist. »Oceans And« ist
bereits das sechste Album. das
seit Anfang 2020 unter Bernes
Namen oder mit ihm als Co-
Leader auf dem Zürcher Label
erschienen ist. Diesmal trifft
sich der Veteran der New Yorker
Downtown-Avantgarde im Trio
einmal mehr mit einem alten
Weggefährten, dem Cellisten
Hank Roberts, während es seine
erste Begegnung mit der Multi-
instrumentalistin Aurora Nea
land ist. So spröde, so ver-
grübelt in eine hermetische
Soundwelt hat man Berne aller-
dings kaum je zuvor erlebt wie
auf dieser Aufnahme, die auch
den Untertitel »Zustandsberich-
te aus dem Klangforschungsla-
bor« tragen könnte. Die zwölf
Tracks werden allen drei Musi-
kern zugeschrieben, was ver-
muten lässt, dass sie ohne
notierte Vorgaben spontan
entstanden sind. Nealand ist
überwiegend am Akkordeon zu
hören, abwechseln lang ange-
haltene Töne, kurze repetitive
Figure oder dunkel dräuende
Drones produzierend. Lebhafter,
animierter als in den meist mys-
teriös bis statisch wirkenden.
seltener auch mal schrillen
Klangballungen wird es, wenn
sie zur Klarinette greift, auch
ire Stimme setzt sie gelegent-
lich instrumental ein. Berne
selbst findet nur selten zu ienen
intensiv singenden asymmetri-
schen Altlinien, die sonst auch
bei hohem Abstraktionsgrad
eine gewisse Sinnlichkeit besit-
zen. Einzelne Stücke wie das
mit gut zwölf Minuten längste,
»10tious«, können durchaus
fesseln, aber insgesamt ist die
Länge der CD auch ihr Problem:
Ein strenger »Lektor« hätte
die von Berne selbst produzierte
CD möglichweise deutlich ge-
kürzt und so dafür gesorgt, dass
man diese erratische Klangwelt
immer noch als unterkühlt emp-
funden, sich aber gelegentlich
doch eine Art befremdliche
Faszination eingestellt hätte
Beim Durchhören der vollen
72 Minuten sind gewisse Ermü-
dungserscheinungen dagegen
schwerlich zu vermeiden.

Nouveauté. Loin des
phrasés acrobatiques
exigés par les architectures
piégées auxquelles nous
a habitué Tim Berne, le
présent disque releve de
'improvisation collective et
privilégie la recherche de
couleurs. En overture, on
croirait le "chant" spectral
de verres de cristal frottés
du bout de doigts humides,
ou l'on met quelque temps
à identifier saxophone alto,
violoncelle et accordéon.
On retrouve ensuite, sur les
nappes grondantes de ces
deux deniers instruments,
l'acidité plaintive de l'alto
de Berne. Puis viendra
un grafouillis de pizzicati
et d'éclaboussures de
soufflet s'organisant
autour des interjections
du saxophone qui
s'étirent progressivement
. pour revenir à l'état de
nappes sonores. Les
quatre premières notes
de Low Strung affichent
une soudaine limpidité
mélodique prometteuse
de quelque standard
(How High The Moon?
Le verse de Lush Life ?)
mais ce ne sera qu'un
motif à variations pour une
douloureuse méditation.
De l'une à l'autre de ces
douze pièces, les trois
improvisateurs, quel
que soit celui qui prend
'initiative, ne se quittent
pas d'une semelle, comme
s'ils interprétaient chacun
sa partition d'une même
œuvre écrite pour le trio. Et
Aurora Eland, passant de
l'accordéon à la clarinette
puis au chant, est une vraie
révélation. Franck Bergerot
Tim Berne (as), Hank Roberts
(cello), Aurora Nealand (acc,
bcl, voc). Brooklyn Coffey Street
Studio, 9 août 2022.

Bei diesem mutigen Triounterfangen zwischen dem höchst produktiven New Yorker Avantgardisten Tim Ber-ne, Cellist Hank Roberts und der Mul-tiinstrumentalistin Aurora Nealand an Akkordeon, Klarinette und Stimme handelt es sich eher um zeitgenössische Musik als um Jazz. Eine Abgren-zung, die sicherlich keinen Aufschluss über Klang oder Form der Musik gibt, jedoch jegliche Hoffnung auf einen swingenden Takt dämpfen sollte. Viel eher möchte man mit Namen wie Egart Varèse, Luigi Nono oder gar Ligeti um sich werfen. Nein, Partituren hat es für den Großteil dieser Musik sicherlich nicht gegeben, Improvisation ist nach wie vor die Grundsubstanz von Bernes musikalischem Vokabular. Aber die Art und Weise wie die farblichen Abstufungen der Instrumententimbres hier ineinander übergreifend, einander abtas-ten, um schließlich miteinander sym-biotische Zustände oder kontrastierende Momente zu schaffen, hat einen quasi-wissenschaftlichen Effekt zur Folge. Als würde man verrückten Professoren beim Cocktailmixen zuschauen. Dabei entstehen sowohl hypnotisierende als auch explosive Elixiere. Irritation und Harmonie in spannender Gegenüberstellung.

For the past six decades Tim Berne has ranked as one of the most indefatigable, uncompromising figures in jazz and improvised music. Beneath his bitingly sarcastic persona and deservedly cynical view of the jazz industry, he literally bursts with creativity and fresh ideas, all while maintaining an instantly recognizable sound. Spending the last five years in Europe has driven home the point that he remains one of the most influential figures on this side of the Atlantic, particularly the music he made with his old quartet Bloodcount, with Chris Speed, Jim Black, and Michael Formanek. But he’s always looking forward, developing new artistic partnerships even as he maintains long-running connections with folks like guitarists Marc Ducret and David Torn and cellist Hank Roberts. He’s formed strong bonds with younger folks, such as drummer Ches Smith, pianist Matt Mitchell, and guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, but I don’t think there’s been a collaborator that’s offered as many possibilities as Aurora Nealand, a dynamo from New Orleans who should be much better known that she already is. Down in the Crescent City she has built a rigorous, multi-pronged artistic practice, playing traditional jazz with the Royal Roses, forging a musical theater project with Monocle (a solo endeavor that sometimes enlists additional musicians for live performances), participating in a slew of multi-media efforts, and flourishing in improvised music settings, where she plays reeds, accordion, and sings.
Nealand and Berne have been collaborating with increased frequency over the last few years, and they recently shared some of the fruits of their work with an incredible new album entitled Oceans and (Intakt), a trio recording with cellist Roberts—a musician who’s worked with Berne off-and-on since the early 80s. The music is all improvised, and it captures Berne’s always dense aesthetic in fresh ways. This is high caliber chamber music unmoored from any single stylistic foundation. Berne’s endlessly probing alto and Roberts’ grainy arco lines occupy a similar sonic range, a connection forged over many years. The latter tends to be a more measured, more lyric player than the former, but when they’re together it all balances out, with loads of yin-yang push-and-pull. As the relative newcomer Nealand seems to be the element that transforms the group, making it unlike much else out there today.

On the opening piece “The Latter” the harmonized long tones of Berne and Roberts carve out a thick, haunting atmosphere, with Berne’s sinewy alto slowly pulling apart, but it’s Nealand’s sparse accordion swells that quietly tangle up the proceedings, injecting sour harmonies while reinforcing the brooding vibe. Each musician seems to be floating, shifting their location within the mix, with lines that alternately blend and separate. Still, they are seriously locked into a common purpose. When things get more feverish and turbulent, as on “Eez,” where Roberts seems to wedge his bow within his strings to produce vibratory thwacks, Nealand pivots, unleashing harmonically tart accordion chords that appear closer to European new music more than jazz. There’s some wonderful interplay between Roberts and Nealand during the opening 90 seconds of “Low Strung” before Berne slides in, blowing arcing tones that caress and then split open the action, pushing into an upper register cry picked up by Nealand’s elastic singing. On the pensive “Clustard” she picks up her clarinet, braiding thrilling lines with Berne as the cellist holds bows a grainy low-end presence—check it out below.

I tend to be skeptical of singing in free improv situations, but here I relish the fleeting moments when Nealand applies her voice. She adds some lovely upper register singing on “Mortal and Pestered,” first threading the low-end patterns Roberts taps out before she begins to duet with her own accordion lines, as Berne works over a handful of phrases for every possible permutation. Even more powerful is her wordless singing on “Fess,” where she conjures some unholy castrati-Yma Sumac opera-folk hybrid, an ethereal invitation to a barren landscape constructed of high-pitched squiggles and low-end rumble. It’s totally captivating—I just wish there was more of it. Nealand seems to exist outside of any given aesthetic tradition, and that allows her to bring in unexpected ideas and directions, but her improvisational center is rock solid. Apparently she’s going to be decamping to Berlin for the month of August, and I can’t wait to see what contexts she arises within (already she’s been announced to play Cologne Jazz Week on August, playing with trombonist Shannon Barnett’s Quartet on the 12th and presenting a solo iteration of Monocle on the 13th).

https://petermargasak.substack.com/p/tim-berne-with-friends-old-and-new

So much new music to explore. The always interesting Sexmob debuts The Hard Way, Tim Berne hooks up with Hank Roberts and Aurora Nealand, saxophonist and composer and historian Allen Lowe has two new ones, there's a pair from Australia, a trio led by pianist Helen Svoboda and the group Tripataka, English pianist Alexander Hawkins' Carnival Celestial, plus the duo of saxophonist Stanley Jason Zappa and drummer Simo Laihonen return with Dance Of The Moving Goal Posts recorded live in Helsinki. Lots more good stuff for you. Enjoy!

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sexmob-alexander-hawkins-allen-lowe-and-tim-berne-sexmob

Oceans And offers another unique experience, as described in the introduction. Jazz? Yes, but only partially. Jazz is its foundation and its impulse, but it is expressed in a much broader sense of the word. Of course, what else can you expect from artists that have gathered a saxophone, an accordion, and a cello?

“The breathtaking music, created by Tim Berne, Aurora Nealand, and Hank Roberts can be deservedly and on all accounts deemed: profound, probing, intriguing, distinct, intricate, raw, courageous, mysterious, and thoughtful. The group’s concerted effort to achieve a cohesive blend is a refreshing relief. An honest crusade of in-depth imagination, this music is a beacon of light in an unsettling world. […] It stimulates the brain, animates the imagination, and charms the heart.”
–Baikida Carroll, liner notes

https://bestofjazz.org/best-of-jazz-year-2023/

Every time Tim Berne brings his work to a new timbre or ensemble, it makes you stop and examine. “Something is going on here. Something new.” This is literally true, of course, but really what’s going on is that the new timbral elements or ensemble configuration allows you to see a new angle of Berne’s work. Berne’s work contains Whitmanesque “multitudes,” and it’s a joy to still be discovering these.
Oceans And brings Aurora Nealand into Berne’s orbit, not for the first time, but this one feels like a big deal. Nealand plays accordion and bass clarinet, and vocalizes. And she, of course, is not at all new at this. She’s done amazing work. And I am unusually fascinated by the accordion, and its idiomatic deployment (bellows swells, preternatural legato, mechanistic fluidity) genuinely feels like SOMETHING NEW in this context.
And, with something new, something old—Berne’s nearly 40 year (yikes!) partnership with Hank Roberts. Always a reason to celebrate when these two play together. The voices of Berne’s alto, Roberts’ cello, and Nealand’s accordion blend almost alchemically. In the absence of rhythm instruments you have volumes and areas, not just points and lines. Nealand’s contributions on bass clarinet and voice are equally evocative.
Overlapping, shifting longtones feel like abstract Venn diagrams laid out in close harmony. These are doleful landscapes, disquieting and lacking urgency. It’s unlike any other EBV (extended Berne ‘verse) music I’ve heard, though if I were to reach back to an analog, it would be 2008’s (duck) by Buffalo Collision (Berne and Roberts, along with Dave King and Ethan Iverson). That one, also, is a fantastic, abstract, wonderfully bittersweet set of music.
What’s so striking about Oceans And is, I think, the humanness of it all. Roberts has long been a master at shaping the envelope of his sound to tell organic stories, as has Berne. There are sections where they “speak” to each other with tenderness. I don’t hear any wryness or irony here. Nealand’s contribution to the conversation is uncanny and beautiful.
Something new is happening here.
https://www.freejazzblog.org/2023/04/tim-bernehank-robertsaurora-nealand.html