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Tim Berne
Photo by Matt Brown
Background information
Born	(1954-10-16) October 16, 1954 (age 64) Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Genres	Avant-garde jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Saxophone
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Empire, Soul Note, Columbia, JMT, Screwgun, Thirsty Ear, ECM
Associated acts	Miniature, Caos Totale, Bloodcount, Big Satan, Hard Cell, Science Friction, Paraphrase, Buffalo Collision, BBC Trio, Snakeoil
Website	screwgunrecords.com

Tim Berne (born 1954) is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner.

Biography

Tim Berne

Berne he had no interest in playing an instrument until he attended Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. Hearing the album Dogon A.D. (1972) by Julius Hemphill turned his attention toward jazz. He was a fan of rhythm and blues, and it seemed to him that Hemphill was playing jazz with the soulfulness of R&B. In 1974 he went to New York to find Hemphill, who gave him saxophone lessons and advice on how to manage his career. Berne started the record label Empire in 1979.^[1]

For Empire, he recorded four albums with avant-garde jazz musicians such as John Carter, Alex Cline, Nels Cline, Olu Dara, Vinny Golia, Paul Motian, and Ed Schuller. His next two albums appeared on Soul Note in the early 1980s. In these sessions he worked with trumpeter Herb Robertson. He then got a contract with Columbia and recorded with Robertson, Hank Roberts, and Bill Frisell. After two albums, he signed with JMT, a label known for avant-garde jazz. In the 1990s he recorded in the trio Miniature with Roberts and Joey Baron and in the band Caos Totale with Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Steve Swell, and Bobby Previte. He led a trio with Michael Formanek and Jim Black, then added Chris Speed for a quartet. PolyGram bought JMT and closed it. This motivated Berne to start Screwgun Records as the outlet for his albums.^[1]

He is one-third of the group BBC (Berne/Black/Cline) with Jim Black and Nels Cline of Wilco. The group released a critically acclaimed album called The Veil in 2011.^[2]

Groups

• Miniature (Joey Baron, Hank Roberts)


• Caos Totale (Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Bobby Previte, Herb Robertson, Steve Swell)


• Bloodcount (Jim Black, Marc Ducret, Michael Formanek, Chris Speed)


• Big Satan (Tom Rainey, Marc Ducret)


• Hard Cell (Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)


• Science Friction (Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn, Marc Ducret)


• Paraphrase (Tom Rainey, Drew Gress)


• Buffalo Collision (Hank Roberts, Ethan Iverson, David King)


• BBC Trio (Nels Cline, Jim Black)


• Snakeoil (Oscar Noriega, Matt Mitchell, Ches Smith)

Discography

As leader/co-leader

• 1979 The Five Year Plan (Empire)


• 1980 7X (Empire)


• 1981 Spectres (Empire)


• 1982 Songs and Rituals in Real Time (Empire)


• 1983 The Ancestors (Soul Note)


• 1983 Mutant Variations (Soul Note)


• 1983 Theoretically (Empire) with Bill Frisell
  


• 1986 Fulton Street Maul (CBS)


• 1988 Sanctified Dreams (Columbia)


• 1988 Miniature(JMT) as Miniature with Hank Roberts and Joey Baron
  


• 1989 Tim Berne's Fractured Fairy Tales (JMT)


• 1990 Pace Yourself (JMT) with Caos Totale


• 1991 I Can't Put My Finger on It (JMT) as Miniature with Hank Roberts and Joey Baron


• 1992 Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) (JMT)


• 1993 Nice View (JMT) with Caos Totale


• 1994 Lowlife: The Paris Concert (JMT) with Bloodcount


• 1994 Poisoned Minds: The Paris Concert (JMT) with Bloodcount


• 1995 Memory Select: The Paris Concert (JMT) with Bloodcount


• 1995 Inference (Music & Arts) with Marilyn Crispell
  


• 1997 Unwound (Screwgun) with Bloodcount


• 1997 Big Satan (Winter & Winter) with Marc Ducret and Tom Rainey
  


• 1997 Visitation Rites (Screwgun) with Paraphrase


• 1997 Discretion (Screwgun) with Bloodcount


• 1997 Saturation Point (Screwgun) with Bloodcount


• 1998 Ornery People (Little Brother) with Michael Formanek
  


• 1998 Cause & Reflect (Level Green) with Hank Roberts


• 1999 Please Advise (Screwgun) with Paraphrase


• 1999 Melquiades (Splasc(H)) with Enten Eller


• 1999 Ellessi (Splasc(H)) with Umberto Petrin
  


• 2000 Mosaiques (Yolk) with Jazzophone Compagnie


• 2001 Auto da Fe (Splasc(H)) with Enten Eller


• 2001 The Shell Game (Thirsty Ear) with Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey


• 2001 Open, Coma (Screwgun) with Herb Robertson, Marc Ducret and the Copenhagen Art Ensemble


• 2002 Science Friction (Screwgun)


• 2002 The Sevens (New World)


• 2003 The Sublime And (Thirsty Ear) with Science Friction


• 2004 Souls Saved Hear (Thirsty Ear) with Big Satan


• 2004 Electric and Acoustic Hard Cell Live (Screwgun)


• 2005 Feign (Screwgun) with Hard Cell


• 2005 Pre-Emptive Denial (Screwgun) with Paraphrase


• 2006 Livein Cognito (Screwgun) with Big Satan


• 2007 Seconds (Screwgun) with Bloodcount


• 2008 Duck (Screwgun) as Buffalo Collision with Ethan Iverson, Hank Roberts and Dave King
  


• 2011 Insomnia (Clean Feed)


• 2011 Old and Unwise (Clean Feed) with Bruno Chevillon


• 2011 The Veil (Cryptogramophone) as BB&C with Jim Black & Nels Cline
  


• 2011 Intollerant (Auand) with Mr. Rencore


• 2012 Snakeoil (ECM)


• 2013 Shadow Man (ECM) with Snakeoil


• 2015 You've Been Watching Me (ECM) with Snakeoil


• 2015 Spare (Screwgun) with Snakeoil


• 2017 Incidentals (ECM) with Snakeoil


• 2018 Angel Dusk (Screwgun) with Matt Mitchell

As sideman

With Ray Anderson

• 
  Big Band Record (Gramavision, 1994)

With Nels Cline

• 
  Angelica (Enja, 1988)

With Marc Ducret

• 
  Tower Vol. 2 (Ayler, 2011)


• 
  Tower Bridge (Ayler, 2014)

With Simon Fell

• 
  Positions & Descriptions (Clean Feed, 2011)

With Figure 8

• 
  Pipe Dreams (Black Saint, 1994)

With Michael Formanek

• 
  Extended Animation (Enja, 1992)


• 
  Loose Cannon (Soul Note, 1993) with Jeff Hirshfield
  


• 
  Low Profile (Enja, 1994)


• 
  Nature of the Beast (Enja, 1997)


• 
  The Rub and Spare Change (ECM, 2010)


• 
  Small Places (ECM, 2012)


• 
  The Distance (ECM, 2016)

With Vinny Golia

• 
  Compositions for Large Ensemble (Nine Winds, 1984)


• 
  Facts of Their Own Lives (Nine Winds, 1986)

With Drew Gress

• 
  Spin & Drift (Premonition, 2001)


• 
  7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005)


• 
  The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007)


• 
  The Sky Inside (Pirouet, 2013)

With Mark Helias

• 
  Split Image (Enja, 1985)


• 
  The Current Set (Enja, 1986)

With Julius Hemphill

• 
  Five Chord Stud (Black Saint, 1994)


• 
  One Atmosphere (Tzadik, 2003)

With Ingrid Laubrock

• 
  Ubatuba (2015)

With Hank Roberts

• 
  Black Pastels (JMT, 1988)

With Herb Robertson

• 
  Transparency (JMT, 1985)


• 
  X-Cerpts: Live at Willisau (JMT, 1987)


• 
  Elaboration (Clean Feed, 2005)


• 
  Real Aberration (Clean Feed, 2007)

With George Schuller

• 
  Hellbent (Playscape, 2002)

With Ches Smith

• 
  Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013)

With Spring Heel Jack

• 
  Masses (Thirsty Ear, 2001)

With David Torn

• 
  Prezens (ECM, 2005)

With Stefan Winter

• 
  The Little Trumpet (JMT, 1986)

With Yōsuke Yamashita

• 
  Ways of Time (Verve, 1995)

With John Zorn

• 
  The Big Gundown (Nonesuch/Icon, 1986)


• 
  Spy vs Spy (Elektra/Musician, 1989)

References

External links

• Official website, Screwgun Records


• A 1998 interview


• "A Fireside Chat with Tim Berne" at Jazz Weekly
  


• Interview at Ethan Iverson's site


• Discography