Tim Berne’s Snakeoil Moves to Intakt Records

courtesy of Naxos of America

As a result of my work with Examiner.com, I have had the good fortune to follow Snakeoil, a band formed by alto saxophonist Tim Berne, from its first recorded release (which is probably about as close to its inception as I can get). The group began as a quartet whose other members were Oscar Noriega (clarinet and bass clarinet), Matt Mitchell (piano and electronics), and Ches Smith (all manner of percussion); and their very first album (called simply Snakeoil) was released by ECM in February of 2012. Fortunately ECM stayed in touch with me when the demise of Examiner.com led to my setting up shop on this current site, and I last reported about an ECM album of what came to be called “Tim Berne’s Snakeoil” in September of 2017.

Last year Berne made his first move to Intakt Records as the saxophonist in the Very Practical Trio. This trio was led by Michael Formanek on bass, joined by guitarist Mary Halvorson. Some readers may recall that Formanek was here in San Francisco performing as a member of Halvorson’s Code Girl in the Joe Henderson Lab of the SFJAZZ Center this past July.

This was followed last month by Snakeoil making its Intakt debut with an album entitled The Fantastic Mrs. 10. As seems to be the case these days, finding the album can involve a bit of a hunt. Amazon.com has created a Web page for an MP3 album download (which does not include anything amounting to booklet notes, possibly because such a booklet was never created). Those wishing a physical release will probably do best by visiting a Discogs Web page (which also says nothing about a booklet).

This new Snakeoil release also includes guitarist Marc Ducret, without identifying whether the quartet has become a quintet or he is a guest artist. Since the latest ECM release, Incidentals, included guitarist Ryan Ferreira, my guess is that Snakeoil is now working as a quintet. The circumstances that led to Ducret replacing Ferreira have not (as least to my knowledge) been disclosed.

For now, at least, Snakeoil is a quintet, and Berne is clearly still setting the directions that the group explores. There is more than a generous amount of free polyphony. Whether or not this would count as polyphony among music theorists or is just a matter of “free jamming” where an electric guitar joins saxophone and clarinet on the “front line” is left as an exercise for the listener. Listening to Berne and Noriega go at each other, I found it hard to shake memories of the free-wheeling exchanges between saxophonists John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders that jolt the listener with the first track of Coltrane’s Meditations album, “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.”

I have no desire to try to decode the title of this album. What interests me more is that the fourth track is a composition by Julius Hemphill. Hemphill was one of those adventurous saxophonists that rubbed shoulders with the likes of Oliver Lake and Anthony Braxton. He died in 1995 when he was only 57 years old; but before then he was one of Berne’s teachers. The title of his track on The Fantastic Mrs. 10 is “Dear Friend;” and it is the best example of the group pulling itself together in the interest of more homophonic chord progressions. Against that chorale-like music, Smith unfolds an uncanny descant that seems to have been derived from both struck orchestra bells and bowed vibraphone.

Hemphill’s music seems to resonate a bit into the following track, Berne’s “The Amazing Mr. 7.” However, homophony is not part of the reverberation. Wild polyphony returns to take the lead, even if it needs a bit of time to build up to full strength. This album is definitely not for the faint of heart, but those whose taste for adventure does not shy away from sharp edges are likely to find The Fantastic Mrs. 10 to be a wild ride worth taking.