Tim Berne’s Snakeoil at Painted Bride Art Center

Tim Berne has been described as “a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction” by The New York Times. His spirited band, Snakeoil, is a potent blend of new voices and new ideas. Incidentals, the band’s fourth album, featuring clarinetist Oscar Noriega, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith is augmented by guitarist Ryan Ferreira. The music is characteristically action-packed in the Berne tradition: hypnotic, fast-moving, and teeming with detail.

Snakeoil’s live show balances compositional rigor with fluid group improvisation. Hypnotic rhythms and long, seductive melodies collide with jagged dissonances and surprising textural shifts...

read more

Tim Berne has been described as “a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction” by The New York Times. His spirited band, Snakeoil, is a potent blend of new voices and new ideas. Incidentals, the band’s fourth album, featuring clarinetist Oscar Noriega, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith is augmented by guitarist Ryan Ferreira. The music is characteristically action-packed in the Berne tradition: hypnotic, fast-moving, and teeming with detail.

Snakeoil’s live show balances compositional rigor with fluid group improvisation. Hypnotic rhythms and long, seductive melodies collide with jagged dissonances and surprising textural shifts. A lush, organic blend of saxophones and clarinets is layered with acoustic keyboards and an ever-changing tapestry of percussion. Freedom and discipline, consonance and discord, past, present and future- all work together to power Tim Berne’s Snakeoil.

show less