Tim Berne/Snakeoil at Kuumbwa Jazz Center

About

Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Tim Berne was something of a late bloomer, not taking to the saxophone until his college years. Even still, it wasn’t until he heard avant-garde luminary Julius Hemphill that Berne was firmly convinced of the power in the music. He has since perfected his chops as a composer and recorded extensively with everyone from Jim Black and Ethan Iverson to Nels Cline and Joey Baron. Berne’s latest vehicle for intense, long-form improvisational artistry, Snakeoil (Oscar Noriega–woodwinds, Matt Mitchell–keyboards, and Ches Smith–percussion) makes this appearance hot on the heels of a brand new ECM release.