Trinosophes is proud to present Tim Berne's Snakeoil, in his first Detroit appearance ever! Berne was recently named No. 7 of New York City’s top 25 essential jazz icons by Time Out New York, and he was declared “a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction” by The New York Times. Acclaim for the first, eponymous ECM album from his Snakeoil band came from far and wide, with The Guardian calling it “an object lesson in balancing composition, improvisation and the tonal resources of an acoustic band.” The album made the DownBeat Critics Poll of the top 10 best releases of 2012, New York Times critic Nate Chinen listed it as his No...
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Trinosophes is proud to present Tim Berne's Snakeoil, in his first Detroit appearance ever! Berne was recently named No. 7 of New York City’s top 25 essential jazz icons by Time Out New York, and he was declared “a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction” by The New York Times. Acclaim for the first, eponymous ECM album from his Snakeoil band came from far and wide, with The Guardian calling it “an object lesson in balancing composition, improvisation and the tonal resources of an acoustic band.” The album made the DownBeat Critics Poll of the top 10 best releases of 2012, New York Times critic Nate Chinen listed it as his No. 1 release of the year, and Jazzwise underscored the stature of Snakeoil by declaring it to be “suffused with genuine humanity and more than a little wisdom.” With the release of Shadow Man in 2013, All About Jazz affirmed Snakeoil as “Berne’s most impressively cohesive group yet.” Since learning at the elbow of St. Louis master Julius Hemphill in the ’70s, Berne has built an expansive discography as a leader that includes dozens of releases on various labels, as well as a constellation of albums on his own Screwgun imprint. In his pace-setting ensembles over the past few decades, Berne has worked with a who’s who of improvisers, including Joey Baron, Django Bates, Jim Black, Nels Cline, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Michael Formanek, Drew Gress, Ethan Iverson, Dave King, Herb Robertson, Chris Speed, Steve Swell, Bobby Previte, Hank Roberts, Tom Rainey and Craig Taborn. As a sideman, Berne has made ECM appearances on recent albums by Formanek (The Rub and Spare Change; Small Places) and David Torn (prezens). In its review of Snakeoil, the BBC Online praised Berne’s performances in a way that speaks to his ever-evolving career: “The longer he plays, the better he sounds.” Tim Berne’s third ECM album, You’ve Been Watching Me, sees the saxophonist-composer again leading his dynamic New York band Snakeoil, but with the quartet now a quintet with the addition of guitarist Ryan Ferreira. The group’s 2013 release, Shadow Man, garnered Berne some of the highest praise of his career as a composer and bandleader, with The Guardian praising the album for its “unrelenting eventfulness” and JazzTimes marveling over how the leader’s music has grown “wilder and deeper.” The four-star DownBeat review put it this way: “This music rocks and thinks, explores, deconstructs and, yes, it swings, in its own identifiably angular, Berne-ian way.” With You’ve Been Watching Me, Berne has hit a new pinnacle with his writing just as his band has reached a heightened state of collective interaction. Snakeoil – with the leader on alto sax alongside Matt Mitchell (piano and electronics), Oscar Noriega (various clarinets), Ches Smith (all manner of percussion) and Ferreira (electric and acoustic guitars) – can still be bracingly kinetic. But there is new space in these compositions and more lyrical focus to the improvisations, leading to a dramatic, even cinematic experience in such tracks as “Embraceable Me.” Doors at 8 pm. Reserved seating $18 General admission: $12
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