Tim Berne

For the Canadian academic, see Tim Byrne.
Tim Berne
Background information
Born (1954-10-16) October 16, 1954
Syracuse, New York, U.S.
GenresAvant-garde jazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSaxophone
Years active1979–present
LabelsEmpire, Soul Note, Columbia, JMT, Screwgun, Thirsty Ear, ECM, Intakt
Websitescrewgunrecords.com

Tim Berne (born October 16, 1954)[1] is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.

Biography

Berne was born in Syracuse, New York, United States.[1] He has said that he had no interest in playing an instrument until he attended Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. Hearing the album Dogon A.D. (1972) by Julius Hemphill turned his attention toward jazz.[2] He was a fan of rhythm and blues, and it seemed to him that Hemphill was playing jazz with the soulfulness of R&B.[3] In 1974, he went to New York to find Hemphill, who gave him saxophone lessons and advice on how to manage his career.[1] Berne started the record label Empire Productions in 1979.[4][5]

For Empire, he recorded four albums with avant-garde jazz musicians such as John Carter, Alex Cline, Nels Cline, Olu Dara, Vinny Golia, Paul Motian, and Ed Schuller.[1] His next two albums appeared on Soul Note in the early 1980s.[1] In these sessions he worked with Motian, Schuller, Ray Anderson, Herb Robertson and others. He then got a contract with Columbia and recorded with Robertson, Hank Roberts, Bill Frisell and others.[1] During this time he also recorded a duo album with Frisell and two albums with John Zorn.[6][7] After two albums with Columbia, he signed with JMT, a label known for avant-garde jazz.[8]

In the 1990s, he recorded in the trio, Miniature, with Roberts and Joey Baron,[1] and in the band Caos Totale with Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Steve Swell, and Bobby Previte.[9] He led a trio with Michael Formanek and Jim Black, then added Chris Speed to form the quartet Bloodcount (which was occasionally a quintet with the addition of Ducret).[10] PolyGram bought JMT and closed it. This motivated Berne to start Screwgun Records as the outlet for his albums.[5]

Screwgun's first release was a 3-disc set by Bloodcount called Unwound, the music of which exemplified Berne's characteristic style of "explod[ing] the walls of traditional compositional form: instead of adhering to anything remotely resembling theme and variations, he intersperses thematic material–sometimes repeated, elongated, or truncated–with the careening pleasures of free improvisation."[11] During the late 1990s he continued to perform with Bloodcount, formed Paraphrase, a trio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey [12], and Big Satan, a trio with Ducret and Rainey.[13]

In the early 2000s, Berne formed several groups, including the trio Hard Cell with Rainey and Craig Taborn[14] and the quartet Science Friction (Berne, Ducret, Rainey, and Taborn).[15] He also collaborated with members of The Bad Plus for the project Buffalo Collision [16], with Nels Cline of Wilco for the critically acclaimed album The Veil in 2011,[17] and with David Torn on several projects and recordings.

Berne formed the band Snakeoil with Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, and Ches Smith, which released a self-titled album in 2012 [18], and six more recordings, with slight personnel changes, over the next decade. During this time, he has also recorded with members of The Bad Plus as Broken Shadows [19], and in duos with several musicians. In 2023 he released Oceans And with Hank Roberts and Aurora Nealand.[20]

In the late 2010s albums by other musicians interpreting Berne's music have begun to appear. These include Førage by Matt Mitchell [21], Koi by Gregg Belisle-Chi [22], Palm Sweat by Marc Ducret [23], and Oddly Enough by Gordon Grdina.[24]

Groups

  • BBC Trio (Jim Black, Nels Cline)
  • Big Satan (Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey)
  • Bloodcount (Jim Black, Michael Formanek, Chris Speed, and sometimes Marc Ducret)
  • Broken Shadows (Reid Anderson, David King, Chris Speed)
  • Buffalo Collision (Ethan Iverson, David King, Hank Roberts)
  • Caos Totale (Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Bobby Previte, Herb Robertson, Steve Swell)
  • Capotosta (Gregg Belisle-Chi, Tom Rainey)
  • Hard Cell (Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)
  • Miniature (Joey Baron, Hank Roberts)
  • Paraphrase (Drew Gress, Tom Rainey)
  • Science Friction (Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)
  • Snakeoil (Marc Ducret, Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, Ches Smith, formerly Ryan Ferreira)

Discography

As leader/co-leader

With ARTE Quartet

With BB&C

With Gregg Belisle-Chi

  • 2022 Mars (Intakt)
  • 2022 Zone One (Screwgun)

With Gregg Belisle-Chi and Tom Rainey

  • 2025 Yikes Too (Out Of Your Head/Screwgun)

With Big Satan

With Bloodcount

With Broken Shadows

  • 2019 Broken Shadows (Newvelle)
  • 2020 Broken Shadows Live (Screwgun)

With Buffalo Collision

  • 2008 Duck (Screwgun)

With Caos Totale

With Bruno Chevillon

  • 2011 Old and Unwise (Clean Feed)

With Marilyn Crispell

With Michael Formanek

  • 1993 Loose Cannon (Soul Note)
  • 1998 Ornery People (Little Brother)
  • 2024 Parlour Games (Relative Pitch)

With Bill Frisell

  • 1984 Theoretically (Empire)
  • 2024 Live In Someplace Nice (Screwgun)

With Hardcell

With Mark Helias

  • 2020 Blood From A Stone (Radio Legs)
  • 2025 Medium Cool (Radio Legs)

With Masayo Koketsu and Nava Dunkelman

  • 2025 Poiēsis (Relative Pitch)

With Miniature

With Matt Mitchell

  • 2018 Angel Dusk (Screwgun)
  • 2020 1 (Screwgun)
  • 2020 Spiders (Out of Your Head)
  • 2022 One More, Please (Intakt)

With Aurora Nealand and Hank Roberts

  • 2023 Oceans And (Intakt)
  • 2024 Lucid/Still (Screwgun)

With Aurora Nealand and Mark Helias

  • 2024 Live At The 188 Club (Screwgun)

With Paraphrase

With Hank Roberts

  • 1998 Cause & Reflect (Level Green)

With Herb Robertson, Marc Ducret and the Copenhagen Art Ensemble

With Science Friction

  • 2002 Science Friction (Screwgun)
  • 2003 The Sublime And (Thirsty Ear)
  • 2007 Mind Over Friction (Screwgun)
  • 2020 Science Friction +size (Screwgun)
  • 2024 No Tamales On Wednesday (Screwgun)

With Snakeoil

With David Torn, Trevor Dunn, and Tom Rainey as Disco Tent

  • 2024 Ravens Low & Ready 2 (Screwgun)

With David Torn and Ches Smith as Sun of Goldfinger

  • 2019 Sun of Goldfinger (ECM)
  • 2020 Congratulations To You (Screwgun)
  • 2022 Ozmir (Screwgun)
  • 2023 Mystic (Screwgun) with Aurora Nealand as The Sunny Four
  • 2024 Candid (Intakt) with Devin Hoff and Marc Ducret as Sunny Five

With Nasheet Waits

  • 2020 The Coandă Effect (Relative Pitch)
  • 2022 Tangled (Screwgun)

Albums Featuring Music by Tim Berne

  • Matt Mitchell - Førage (Screwgun, 2017)
  • Gregg Belisle-Chi - Koi (Relative Pitch, 2021)
  • Gordon Grdina - Oddly Enough (Attaboygirl, 2022)
  • Marc Ducret - Palm Sweat (Out Of Your Head/Screwgun, 2023)
  • Gregg Belisle-Chi - Slow Crawl (Intakt, 2025)

As sideman

With Ray Anderson

With Nels Cline

With Marc Ducret

  • Tower Vol. 2 (Ayler, 2011)
  • Tower Bridge (Ayler, 2014)

With Enten Eller

  • Melquiades (Splasc(H), 1999)
  • Auto da Fe (Splasc(H), 2001)

With Umberto Petrin

  • Ellessi (Splasc(H), 1999)

With Jazzophone Compagnie

  • Mosaiques (Yolk, 2000)

With Simon Fell

  • Positions & Descriptions (Clean Feed, 2011)

With Figure 8

With Michael Formanek

  • Extended Animation (Enja, 1992)
  • Low Profile (Enja, 1994)
  • Nature of the Beast (Enja, 1997)
  • The Rub and Spare Change (ECM, 2010)
  • Small Places (ECM, 2012)
  • The Distance (ECM, 2016)
  • Even Better (Intakt, 2019)
  • Pre-Apocalyptic (Out Of Your Head, 2020)

With Vinny Golia

  • Compositions for Large Ensemble (Nine Winds, 1984)
  • Facts of Their Own Lives (Nine Winds, 1986)

With Drew Gress

  • Spin & Drift (Premonition, 2001)
  • 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005)
  • The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007)
  • The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)

With Mark Helias

  • Split Image (Enja, 1985)
  • The Current Set (Enja, 1986)

With Julius Hemphill

With Ingrid Laubrock

With Mr. Rencore

  • Intollerant (Auand, 2011)

With Ivo Perelman

  • (D)ivo (2022)

With Hank Roberts

With Herb Robertson

With Samo Salamon & Tom Rainey

  • Duality (Samo, 2012)

With George Schuller

  • Hellbent (Playscape, 2002)

With Ches Smith

  • Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013)
  • International Hoohah (For Tune, 2014)

With Spring Heel Jack

  • Masses (Thirsty Ear, 2001)

With Chloe Sobek

  • Burning Up (Relative Pitch, 2024)

With David Torn, Craig Taborn, and Tom Rainey

  • Prezens (ECM, 2005)
  • Slipped on a Bar (Screwgun, 2009)
  • xFORM (Screwgun, 2020)

With Stefan Winter

  • The Little Trumpet (JMT, 1986)

With Yōsuke Yamashita

  • Ways of Time (Verve, 1995)

With John Zorn

With GingerBlackGinger

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
  2. ^ "Interview with Tim Berne (Part 1)". DO THE M@TH. 2016-03-30. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  3. ^ "Interview with Tim Berne (Part 2)". DO THE M@TH. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  4. ^ "Tim Berne Discography - Download Albums in Hi-Res". Qobuz. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  5. ^ a b Lynch, Dave. "Tim Berne". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  6. ^ John Zorn Plays The Music Of Ennio Morricone - The Big Gundown, 1986, retrieved 2026-03-14
  7. ^ John Zorn - Spillane, 1987, retrieved 2026-03-14
  8. ^ "Tim Berne". JazzTimes. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  9. ^ Tim Berne's Caos Totale - Nice View, 1994, retrieved 2026-03-14
  10. ^ Astarita, Glenn (1997-07-01). "Tim Berne: Bloodcount Unwound". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2026-03-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Tesser, Neil (March 6, 1997). "Tim Berne's Bloodcount". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  12. ^ "Please Advise, by Paraphrase & Tim Berne". Paraphrase & Tim Berne. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  13. ^ "BIG SATAN". JazzMusicArchives.com. Archived from the original on 2025-02-06. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  14. ^ Fordham, John (2005-10-07). "Tim Berne, Hardcell". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  15. ^ Tim Berne, Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn - The Sublime And. Science Friction Live, 2003-10-07, retrieved 2026-03-14
  16. ^ Fordham, John (2009-02-03). "Buffalo Collision". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  17. ^ Fordham, John (28 July 2011). "Berne/Black/Cline/BB & C: The Veil". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Snakeoil". ECM Records. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  19. ^ Caropepe, Karen (2018-06-01). "Broken Shadows: Chris Speed, Tim Berne, Dave King & Reid Anderson". Earshot Jazz. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  20. ^ "Tim Berne/Hank Roberts/Aurora Nealand - Oceans And (Intakt, 2023)". The Free Jazz Collective. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  21. ^ Chinen, Nate (2017-03-30). "Pianist Matt Mitchell Goes Deep Into the Musical Psyche of Tim Berne on 'førage'". WBGO Jazz. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  22. ^ "DownBeat Reviews". downbeat.com. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  23. ^ "Palm Sweat: Marc Ducret Plays the Music of Tim Berne, by Marc Ducret". Tim Berne. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  24. ^ "Oddly Enough, by Gordon Grdina : The Music of Tim Berne". Gordon Grdina. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  25. ^ Gobbers, Bram (2021-06-18). "GINGERBLACKGINGER FT. TIM BERNE". Inside Jazz. Retrieved 2026-03-13.
  26. ^ "Smalltalk Code, by GingerBlackGinger". GingerBlackGinger. Retrieved 2026-03-13.
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