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Tim Berne: alto saxophone

Oscar Noriega: clarinet, bass clarinet

Matt Mitchell: piano

Ches Smith: drums, percussion

Tickets: $15

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http://snakeoil.eventbrite.com/Saxophonist Tim Berne introduces a new quartet and a program of powerful new music on his first studio album in eight years. Snakeoil is Berne’s third ECM appearance – he previously contributed to David Torn’s Prezens and Michael Formanek’s The Rub and Spare Change - and his leader debut for the label. It is also an exemplary manifestation of his compositional directions. Berne’s exacting pieces propel the players down maze-like corridors, with new challenges looming around every corner: startling textural shifts, serpentine melodies, sudden rhythmic displacements, modular grooves that gradually attain an unstoppable momentum. Written and improvised sequences blur into each other, overlap, run parallel. Throughout, Berne’s tough alto tone, honed decades ago under the mentorship of Julius Hemphill, is set off against the earthy lyricism of Oscar Noriega’s clarinets, Matt Mitchell’s compendious piano and Ches Smith’s buoyant net of drums, gongs and cymbals. It’s an arresting collective sound, from a disciplined crew: two years of workshopping and woodshedding preceded the recording to reach what Berne calls “the necessary ‘looseness’ essential for a group identity”, and to realize “the dynamics that would enable the sonic details of this chamber-like band to emerge clearly.” He describes the processes of preparing the project as “similar to how one would approach a classical recording”, yet the outcome is as far outside the genres as any of his work. Obvious stylistic reference is avoided.