Hear marks the ferocious return of saxophonist Tim Berne's Big Satan. At just under 48 minutes ó the longest piece just over ten ó it is somewhat diminutive within Berne's catalog. But the taut arrangements distill the power of the performances. Focused on intensity, Berne, along with guitarist Marc Ducret and drummer Tom Rainey, unleashes a musical torrent that threatens to overwhelm.
Ducret's supple acoustic guitar opens "Ce Sont Les Noms Des Mots," almost antithetically to what follows. The piece builds momentum, with Ducret and Berne trading statements. For emphasis, producer David Torn allows the horn to echo, adding additional sonic color and a touch of drama. Guitar noises and skittering drums introduce "Hostility Suite," a frenetic tune that has Berne hanging on notes and bleating short phrases, before the tune melts to a spacious conclusion. "Geez" is another spry tune, with Berne and Ducret's parts becoming tightly wound together as Rainey whips them along. He does it again on "Rampe," locking into a chunky groove with Ducret's snarling bottom-end sound, allowing Berne's horn to slink through the spaces. The sax-guitar duet of "Emportez-moi" offers a brief respite, before Rainey's solo statement introduces "Deadpan," a stuttering Berne piece that hints at themes before fully stating them. The tune boasts intense exchanges between the drummer and his partners individually, and erupts when all three converge. After a kinetic intro, "Mr. Subliminal" features Berne's insistent horn, before Ducret joins him for snake-charming effect. A Torn remix and recombination concludes the CD, and suggests how deep the musical mine runs.
Despite the overlap of players with other Berne projects, Big Satan has a collective identity of its own, with each member contributing compositions, and has built a tight interplay over time. - Sean Patrick Fitzell
The members of Big Satan have been working together in various groups for years, and all that time playing in various contexts has given them a nearly unmatched rapport as musicians. Tim Berne is one of the most original alto players and composers in jazz at the opening of the 21st century, and Marc Ducret has been playing with him long enough that they have very compatible compositional styles. The tunes are challenging, yet fairly accessible, with convoluted melodies that are often played in unison. These melodies then split off into improvised territory where the tune seems to be deconstructed, but somehow, they end up at the same point and join into another serious mind meld. As Berne and Ducret head away from the melody, it's drummer Tom Rainey who always ties them together, adding polyrhythms to the implied groove and then locking in tight in unison. It's almost telepathic. Compared to other recent releases from Berne, the tunes here are relatively brief and somewhat easier to approach, but just as interesting. A couple of tracks stand out from the others: the brief "Emportez-Moi" is quite atmospheric, and the closer, "Plantain Surgery," has some post-recording effects added courtesy of David Torn, including delay and turning Rainey's drums into a drum'n'bass attack. Berne and his various bands (Big Satan, Hard Cell, Science Friction) have been forging a very personal new sound in jazz, and Souls Saved Hear is another dazzling example. Recommended. - Sean Westergaard
It might be a surprise to learn, considering how catchy and reassuringly melodious Esbjorn Svensson's music is, that the most requested concert broadcast on the BBC's Jazz on 3 show behind Svensson's is the November 2003 gig by the fierce, edgy American saxophonist Tim Berne and his abstract, raw-nerved Science Friction Band.
Berne's bands don't threaten to scorch the paint off the walls the way that John Zorn's do, but this music's tight logic, general avoidance of legato melody, post-Hendrix guitar impressionism and Coltranesque banshee sax sounds, is hardly likely to find its way on to a JazzFM playlist. This is the latest firecracker from Berne's most fiercely economical ensemble, Big Satan - the cut-down group he co-leads with guitarist Marc Ducret and drummer Tom Rainey.
Some of Ducret's most resourceful playing is audible on this set, both acoustically and electrically, and his starkly graceful acoustic duet with Berne on Ce Sont les Noms des Mots is one of the unexpected highlights - and a very sharp contrast to the splintering, spluttery plugged sounds he pitches against Berne's clipped sax phrases soon after. Crisp, longer-lined, rather quacky sax-playing from Berne develops over gallumphing drumming from the ever-changing Rainey, before a slow and spooky exploration of long sounds and echo.
A devastating, remorselessly chattery drum break then gives way to Berne sweeping in high on the alto, with Marc Ducret's melody part designed to shadow his every move. A free-improv quality grows, with Berne getting higher and squeakier, eventually almost evaporating into whimsical Steve Lacy-like whistles and a long high note that ushers in a dazzlingly wild guitar solo from Ducret. The music starts to sound like an Ornette Coleman group might have done if John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra had taken over its repertoire, and the influence of Britain's Evan Parker on multiphonic tenor-sax technique is also apparent in the later stages. Not for faint-hearts maybe, but one of the tightest and most focused of Tim Berne's recent releases. - John Fordham
Tracks
1. Ce Sont les Noms des Mots (Marc Ducret)
2. Hostility Suite (Tom Rainey)
3. Geez (Tim Berne)
4. Rampe (Marc Ducret)
5. Emportez-Moi (Marc Ducret)
6. Deadpan (Tim Berne)
7. Mr. Subliminal (Tim Berne)
8. Property Shark (Tim Berne)
9. Plaintain Surgery (Tim Berne/David Torn)
MARC DUCRET guitars
TOM RAINEY drums
TIM BERNE alto saxophone
Recorded June 9-10, 2004 at the Make Believe Ballroom
Thirsty Ear - THI57151 2