The link on these two albums lies in both alto saxophonist Tim Berne and pianist Matt Mitchell. The release of Berne's first album (The Five Year Plan, 1979) promised great things, something he has consistently delivered for the past 40 years, in composition, improvisation and through a series of well-conceived bands. Perhaps the most successful has been the quartet Snakeoil, which, since 2013, has released five albums on ECM and Intakt. Initially a quartet of Berne, Mitchell, clarinetist Oscar Noriega and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith, it expanded to a five-piece with the addition of guitarist Ryan Ferreira.

For The Deceptive 4 - Live, they've reverted back to the original lineup and that's not a bad thing. Snakeoil is known for its high-energy performances of complex compositions. While there's a lot to absorb throughout this double-disc set of music taken from shows at Firehouse 12, Ibeam Brooklyn and Roulette, it's the atypical moments that stand out. "Spare/Citta" begins in a misterioso quiet mood, gradually accruing momentum and energy, yet the initial impression lurks in the background throughout. The brief (only six minutes) "Scanners" has a jaunty, playful quality right up to its abrupt conclusion. "Deception" contains an unusual duet between Mitchell and Smith. Noriega is an excellent foil for Berne and Smith drives the ensemble with complex rhythms built into the compositions. The lack of bass has never hampered the group and actually gives it a lighter, more nimble sound, making the complexity seem natural, less obtrusive. The Deceptive 4 - Live is a strong release and bodes well for the band's continued future.

Over the past decade, Mitchell has been one of Berne's most frequent collaborators. They've produced a series of duet albums demonstrative of their bond. The pianist seems to relish his parts in Snakeoil, but operates with a little more freedom in the duo. On Spiders he breezes through the themes yet it's during Berne's solos where Mitchell clearly shines. Harmonically he anticipates where Berne is heading. "Julius" is rife with surprising detours but when they arrive at the final theme, stated in unison, it's an arresting moment. Spiders shows they still clearly still have plenty to say to and with each other.

Le double-album suivant nous emmène à des hauteurs assez exceptionnelles de la création musicale contemporaine, tout en s’inscrivant sans équivoque dans la grande histoire du jazz. Regroupées sous le titre de The Deceptive 4, il se compose de deux fois quatre pièces enregistrées en concert en 2017 pour le premier CD, en 2010 pour le second, par le Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (dont nous avions recensé l’an passé The Fantastic Mrs. 10 réalisé en 2019 par le même quartette augmenté du guitariste Marc Ducret). Une décennie plus tôt, le saxophoniste-alto était déjà entouré d’Oscar Noriega (clarinette en Sib et clarinette-basse), en totale symbiose avec Berne, de Matt Mitchell (piano) et de Ches Smith (batterie et percussions), musiciens impliqués et de premier ordre. Huit compositions de Berne occupent donc chacun des deux disques, la dernière (seule datant de 2009), Hemphill, étant basée sur une pièce de celui qui fut son mentor.
L’écriture est complexe et les compositions sont d’une rare envergure. Les développements thématiques qui s’appuient souvent sur le rythme et la cohérence des structures très ouvertes offrent beaucoup de liberté à chacun. L’équilibre entre organisation et improvisation met les musiciens sous tension, et cela réagit sur l’auditeur à qui on demande une grande attention, mais à qui on promet aussi de grands moments de bonheur à l’écoute de cette musique difficile mais d’une richesse inouïe.

https://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article3689

Improvisatory notes

TIM BERNE talks to Chris Searle about the free-jazz impetus of his new album

AS A teenager, free-improvising US saxophonist Tim Berne was keenest on Soul music but after he began to learn saxophone, inspired by the masters like Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Anthony Braxton and Julius Hemphill, he turned towards jazz and free improvising.

This ardour for free music became even more passionate when he moved to New York City —“there was tons of live music there” — and he sought out Hemphill who gave him saxophone lessons and career advice. He began his own label, Empire, and cut his first album, The Five Year Plan, in 1979.

The instrumentation of his Snakeoil Quartet, with Matt Mitchell on piano, drummer Ches Smith and Oscar Noriega playing Bb and bass clarinets is somewhat unusual in not including a bass. It’s not something he misses: “I like the combination of clarinet and piano.”

The quartet, recorded live at two New York venues, are featured on the double album The Deceptive Four Live. It’s a sizzling record, full of fire, life and verve and Berne loves playing with them: “They are full of creativity, independence and a sense of humour.”
The track Perception has a magical percussive opening by Smith, followed by earnest conversational interplay between Mitchell’s serpentine piano and Noriega’s birdlike clarinet before Berne’s alto flows with riverine notes and Smith’s pounding drums rise up. It is the sound of an extraordinary quartet creating the impression of a much larger band.
Berne’s favourite track is Hemphill, the album’s 21-minute finale, a remembrance of his mentor and by the impassioned way Snakeoil play it, a tribute too.
Berne’s rhapsodic opening flourishes radiate deep human feeling grounded by Mitchell’s hard-struck piano and Noriega’s clarinet flies above them, calling them with his aerial notes. There is a profound sense of unity in Snakeoil’s sound, with ensemble passages and other long moments where one member leads and provokes his confreres into fresh sonic reaches and concord, then falls back and another bandmate sparks other new directions.
Moornoats begins fast, an amalgam of torrid sounds, with Smith’s drums artistry in prime fettle. There is a beautifully lyrical bass clarinet passage by Noriega, while Mitchell earths his piano chimes stridently beneath his notes.
Great stuff.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/improvisatory-notes

Mai come quest'anno si erano viste così tante pubblicazioni a nome Berne. Dieci in tutto, disponibili «in forma «liquida>>>> per citare Sandro Cerini su 9Donkeys, una derivata della Screwgun, etichetta nata più per divertimento che altro. Gli estremi di questo «lavoro in archivio», accessibile via screwgunrecords.com, e condotto da Berne, sono però due dischi pubblicati dalla svizzera Intakt: <

An unabashed admirer of the inimitable modernist-melodist, Julius Hemphill, the alto saxophonist appears to also hold the melodic lineage of Mr Hemphill, exerting his strong and singular lyrical voice on the melodic conception that the celebrated ancestor left behind. Mr Berne’s alto saxophone sings in seemingly interminable whorls of musicality as one melodic variation inexorably melts into the other. He builds his musical edifices from this – tall, elegant structures wrought from the glimmering lines of his instrument, sculpted as if by French curves. Through Snakeoil, his longstanding ensemble, he invites clarinetist Oscar Noreiga, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer [and percussion colourist] Ches Smith to pick up the melodic threads like the shuttle in a musical loom that races forth to produce the diaphanous fabric of the group’s music.

The music comes ideas born inside Mr Berne’s brain and they emerge from sketches that he, perhaps shares with his cohort before the performance – in the studio or on stage – begins. These “compositions” are far from what directs the pen on paper; rather Mr Berne seems to write with the nerve endings of his fingers. This, in turn, triggers and propels the music like unending synapses that – in turn – activate the keys of his alto horn. However, far from being involuntary actions, his playing is sublimely [and sometimes even “slyly”] crafted so that the not infrequent surprises inform his music that seems to go on forever – the ideas connected like gentle arguments which he bounces off his teammates. The result is music that is always fresh, unexpected, quite memorable, and delightfully whimsical.

Tim Berne’s Snakeoil: The Fantastic Mrs 10 There is an almost interminable melodic and playful invention on this album – right from its title [album and song] through to the manner in which the most serious cognition of the music is both approached and expressed. The opening song is premonitory of a wonderfully characterful performance to follow. Mr Berne, Marc Ducret and Matt Mitchell’s, scrunching out the music’s dissonance, Oscar Noreiga, and Ches Smith’s eking out an etched detail from the rest of the melodic and rhythmic accompaniment propels this music to another dimension of nervous energy.

Songs such as “Surface Noise”, “Rolo” and the mysterious “Rose Coloured Assive” make for music that fizzes with dynamism and a swirling energy, piano and guitar locked hand-in-glove in a dramatic collaboration with the horns and percussion. Mr Berne and Mr Noreiga field delicious registrations on their respective instruments, their notes fulsomely captured by David Torn’s engineering. Mr Berne further conjures a fabulous melodic swell in the run-up to the album’s giddy dénouement, which is tangibly percussive and edged by the kind of nerviness evoked by Mr Berne’s music throughout this repertoire. This is a classic performance that deserves – nay, demands – a place in every music-lover’s library.

Track list – 1: The Fantastic Mrs 10; 2: Surface Noise; 3: Rolo; 4: Dear Friend; 5: The Amazing Mrs 7; 6: Third Option; 7: Rose Coloured Assive.

Personnel – Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Marc Ducret: guitars; Matt Mitchell: piano, tack piano and modular synths; Oscar Noriega: bass clarinet and b♭ clarinet; Ches Smith: drums, vibraphone, glockenspiel, Haitian tanbou and gongs.

Released – 2020
Label – Intakt Records [Intakt CD 340]
Runtime – 1:07:37

Tim Berne’s Snakeoil: The Deceptive 4 Live Buoyed, no doubt by appreciative audiences immersed in their music, Tim Berne’s Snakeoil is apt to dig deeper, to dwell a little bit longer on musical ideas, and to explore melodic and rhythmic extensions with greater depth. This is evident on this live double-disc featuring the group’s excursions at venues in New York during 2019, 2010 and 2017. The music bristles with invention and gathering intensity from disc to disc, and end to end. It is as well-engineered acoustic as the one reviewed above, with telling interleaving of woodwinds, piano, and punchy percussion.

The acoustic of the venues is astutely harnessed both by musicians and engineering, with the pleasing elements of clarity and focus, enhanced by the intensity that the musicians bring to each performance. Each one plays with fire in the belly. Songs such as “Moornoats” and “Hemphill” [in particular] are performed with the kind of wild elegance that has forever marked the music of Tim Berne’s Snakeoil. There is often melancholy introspection delivered in seemingly unending monologue followed by dialogues with others in the group, separately and together. The effect is often manic – always in keeping with the high watermark set by Mr Berne, whenever he puts horn to lips, egged on by musicians who seem to always think [and therefore play] likewise.

Track list – Disc One 1: Perception; 2: Moornoats; 3: Seven; 4: Deception. Track list – Disc Two 1: OCDC; 2: Spare/Cittá; 3: Scanners; 4: Hemphill.

Personnel – Tim Berne: alto saxophone; Matt Mit...

Dopo le puntate che abbiamo dedicato a novità dell'etichetta svizzera in agosto-settembre, torniamo sulla Intakt con uscite degli ultimi mesi dello scorso anno. Tra i musicisti che nella Intakt hanno trovato un interlocutore che li ha valorizzati in maniera sistematica c'è la sassofonista tedesca e newyorkese di adozione Ingrid Laubrock (a sue uscite con la Intakt avevamo dedicato anche tutta una puntata di Jazz Anthology del dicembre 2019): della Laubrock la Intakt ha adesso pubblicato il doppio cd Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt, il cui gli stessi brani sono interpretati sia da un piccolo gruppo che da una orchestra da camera più alcuni soliti. Con registrazionei dal vivo fra il 2009 e il 2017, The Deceptive 4 è il sesto album del gruppo Snakeoil del sassofonista Tim Berne, da una decina d'anni a questa parte una delle proposte più consistenti e coerenti del jazz più avanzato. In It's About Time, rivive Om, quartetto svizzero formato da nomi ben noti dell'avanguardia svizzera (Urs Leimgruber, Christy Doran, Bobby Burri, Fredy Studer), che con una musica sospesa fra jazz e rock ebbe un bel momento fra anni settanta e primi ottanta. Registrato dal vivo al festival Unerhoert nel 2019, Zurich Concert è un avvincente live che ci fa apprezzare la brillante intesa - malgrado si trattasse di una prima volta - del trio del chitarrista svizzero Dave Gisler con la trombettista americana Jaimie Branch, una delle figure di punta dell'avanguardia di oggi.

https://www.radiopopolare.it/podcast/jazz-anthology-di-lun-01-03-21/

Het voorbije decennium groeide Snakeoil uit tot het vlaggenschip van Tim Berne's praktijk. Met deze dubbelaar valt de ontwikkeling goed te volgen, omdat het een concert uit 2017 combineert met stukken uit de vroegste concerten van het kwartet, uit 2009 en 2010. Eigenlijk moet je vaststellen dat de band vanaf dag 1 een buitenbeentje was, al is de recente muziek tegelijkertijd soberder en (nog wat) cerebraler, en vertoont ze een iets bredere klankkleur (vooral door Smiths uitgezette instrumentarium). Hier en daar is het fascinerend om enkele uitvoeringen te vergelijken met hoe ze uiteindelijk op de studioalbums zouden belanden. Bijzonderst van al: Hemphill uit 2009, een ode aan Berne's vroege mentor Julius Hemphill, die wat naar de AACM-school neigt. Intensief materiaal voor open oren.

2管変則カルテットが時期の離れた音源をパッケージして，バンドの成長と発展を表明する2CDライヴ作
ECMの3枚を通じ、バーン率いる2010年代の最重要ユニットに位置づけたスネークオイル。今年発表のスイス Intakt第1弾に続いて早くも本作が登場。アルトとクラリネット／バスクラの2管がユニークさばかりでなく、ピアノの存在によって親和性が生まれており、ベースレスによるアンサンブルの空間性のアドバンテージを全編で発揮。恩師に捧げた21分超のDisc 2④は予断を許さずスリリング。ユニゾンが奏でるバンドの一体感を重視するバーンの作曲手法が見事だ。（杉田）
Disc 1: Perception @Moornoats Seven Deception
Disc 2: DOCDC Spare/Citta @Scanners ©Hemphill Tim Berne (as) Oscar Noriega (cl,bcl) Matt Mitchell (p) Ches Smith (ds,vib,timpani,per) 2009.11.21, 2010.6.15, 2017.12.1,NY
_Intakt Records INTAKT CD 358

Bruce Lee Gallanter's Recommended/Best Of Lists for the Year of the Plague - 2020:

2020 was a year of extremes, a year that none of us who lived through it will ever forget. Starting at the end of March, practically all of us have had to stay alone or with our family or friends or roommates. On one side it was a year of fear, frustration, loneliness, confusion, anger, misinformation and Fake News. On the other hand it was also a time when time slowed down and we actually had the time to look at our lives, contact old friends, family members and relatives to see how they were doing, dealing with life and death magnified. I have been living in the same apartment in NJ since 1982 and for the first time ever, I had the time to go through practically my entire collection of record albums, compact discs, cassettes, music magazines, books and DVDs. From March through June, since I was at home most of the time, I listened to more than 300 records that I owned but never heard! After that, I went through a hundred crates of CD's, shelves of 7" singles, 3,000 cassettes of live recordings I made (currently being transferred/downloaded for a future streaming site) and watched DVD's & online live gigs. I ended up finding more than a hundred doubles and rarities which DMG has been selling on Discogs and E-bay. During the Spring, Summer and Fall, I took walks in my suburban neighborhood, often watched the sunset from the Rahway train platform and learned how to cook for myself. I also reached out and got to know my neighbors and made some new friends. From March through June, I went to the store for just one day a week and Frank would pick me up in his car to keep me safe. This was a difficult adjustment for me, since I have been working at DMG for 6 and then 5 days a week for the past 30 years. I actually kept my old schedule of working on the newsletter on Wednesdays & Thursdays while DMG was closed for weekends throughout this hibernation. Although everyone I spoke with was freaked out about Covid and the Fake News BS, I did find some peace of mind and got to discover quite a bit of music that I had forgotten about.

So now it is 2021, we have a new administration and many of us are hopeful for the future. I have been working on my Best Of/Recommendation Lists for the past month. I went through all 52 weekly DMG newsletters and made a master list of all the releases that were mentioned: CD's, LP's, cassettes and box sets, nearly 1,000 in total. I have also done some re-listening as well as reading many of my reviews, the other DMG staff members and borrowed reviews as well. I realized that no matter how difficult things can get, serious artists/musicians will continue to create what they do best since we will always need some inspiration to help get through our lives. One of the biggest changes for me was not being able to go to live concerts, something that I have been doing non-stop since 1969. This is something that I miss the most, especially sharing the music listening experience with other audience members. I've been to just 2 concerts since last March and both were outdoors, the audience placed safely. This May will be the 30th anniversary of Downtown Music Gallery so we are planning something special but who knows how we will be able to pull it off. But we will, I promise.

I asked a dozen Music Journalists, whose writing and opinions I admire to contribute their own Best Of/Recommendation lists. We will transmit the results next week. I want to give thanks to several labels who have done a fabulous job of releasing the music they & we care about, which helps us all to stay inspired: Relative Pitch, FMR, Discus, Clean Feed, Astral Spirits, Aum Fidelity, Pi Records, New World, Cuneiform, Tzadik, Corbettvs Dempsy, Not Two, Intakt, Listen! Foundation, NoBusiness, Not Two, Blank Forms and International Anthem. Sorry if I forgot anyone else. A toast to all Serious Listeners and Creative Musicians everywhere.

Bruce Lee Gallanter's Favorite Records of 2020:

INGRID LAUBROCK with ZEENA PARKINS / CORY SMYTHE / SAM PLUTA /JOSH MODNEY / ROBERT LANFERMANN / EOS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (Intakt 355; Switzerland) - 2 CD Set

JAMES BRANDON LEWIS QUARTET with ARUAN ORTIZ / BRAD JONES /CHAD TAYLOR - Molecular (Intakt 350; Switzerland) CD

TIM BERNE'S SNAKEOIL with OSCAR NOREIGA / MATT MITCHELL / CHES SMITH - The Deceptive 4 Live (Intakt 358; Switzerland) - 2 CD Set

A questo giro la rubrica a cadenza eventuale “Notizie dal diluvio” si concentra su cinque uscite del 2020 di una etichetta che mantiene sempre uno standard alto: Intakt, da Zurigo.

Ennesimo disco di Berne, stavolta dal vivo, con quella macchina da guerra che risponde al nome di Snakeoil. Oscar Noriega al clarinetto, Matt Mitchell al pianoforte, Ches Smith a batteria e percussioni, il leader come sempre al sax alto. Solito quartetto stellare e solita musica austera, ripida e feroce: capace, nel suo farsi furente e controllatissima, di portarti totalmente dentro di sé, di zittire qualsiasi altro pensiero, distrazione o affanno, per lasciare spazio a un silenzio della mente che sa di zen, come quando assistiamo all’indecifrabile prendere forma di una nuvola o spiamo da vicino un animale selvatico che non sa di essere visto. Super-intellettuale ma non algida, rapace e matematica ma non pesante, bianca, di un biancore abbacinante (non così lontana da certo avant-rock, laddove nel jazz i punti di riferimento potrebbero essere le poliritmie vertiginose di Steve Coleman o le orchestrazioni beffarde di Henry Threadgill) eppure strabordante groove implicito, la musica di Tim Berne con questo quartetto è una sfinge di rara bellezza. Che si erge in tutta la sua potenza in questo doppio live, che cattura nel primo cd un concerto del 2017 presso gli studi della Firehouse 12 in Connecticut, mentre il secondo testimonia il secondo e terzo live della band in assoluto, ancora prima che il progetto avesse un nome, e rende omaggio, nella quarta fluviale traccia (21 minuti), al mentore di Berne, il grande Julius Hemphill. Ascoltiamo le consuete sfuriate limpide e arcigne al tempo stesso, labirinti escheriani miracolosamente equilibrati in ogni componente: il pianismo obliquo e inesorabilmente imprendibile di Mitchell svolge le funzioni del basso, sciorinando moduli e strutture a spirali che si avvitano poi in rincorse e nevrosi esatte, che quando esplodono (raramente) lasciano senza fiato. Tim Berne erige le sue torri di rabbia, spingendo sempre come un ossesso, pur restando costantemente in controllo pieno e perlustrando ogni spigolo armonico, degnamente spalleggiato dall’ottimo Noriega al clarinetto; a cucire insieme tutto questo, il batterismo meno didascalico che si possa immaginare, quello lunare e sospeso di Ches Smith (uno capace di passare dagli Xiu Xiu a Mary Halvorson senza fare una piega, swingando come un dannato senza swingare mai). È un’epica asciutta, vibrante, quella del quartetto, che quando serra le fila non fa prigionieri, e quando apre le maglie sa spalancare sipari. Che ha l’unica colpa di non destare più la stessa meraviglia solo perché la conosciamo già (e con Berne, ad essere onesti, il sentore o il rischio che si resti ingabbiati dentro un meccanismo calibratissimo e diabolico a volte fa capolino). Ma invidiamo molto chi avesse la fortuna di non averli mai ascoltati e restiamo con la speranza di tornare il prima possibile a vederli dal vivo, dove fanno davvero scintille, come questo doppio dimostra: semplicemente uno dei migliori gruppi jazz, oggi.

https://www.thenewnoise.it/notizie-dal-diluvio-6/?fbclid=IwAR2oSZU2uoUaXRWHD9dJ8MG7NWawWvz97Q4BSkcSG-Si51kPsiCDNZRtFjo