feature photo: Jurgen Selphy
Adam Hopkins’ Out of Your Head Records is a Brooklyn-based record label that gets music out from vital, progressively-minded jazz artists. There might be a number of labels just out of Brooklyn alone that does that but OOYH does something extra that as far as I know no one else does. His Untamed Series not only puts out live performances from some choice artists, but these are unvarnished recordings ‘warts’ and all that are nonetheless well above bootleg quality.
The word ‘warts’ is put in quotes because the raw presentations reveal little if any imperfections and that’s what’s special about this series: these guys are so good, they can play highly complex music on a tightrope with no net and make it to the other side every time.
This particular selection comes from saxophonist Tim Berne — who appeared on Michael Formanek’s Untamed entry — and his Snakeoil pianist Matt Mitchell. Spiders is at least the third release from the Berne/Mitchell duo, the others are available on Berne’s Screwgun Records. Berne gave this one to OOYH, but it’s no warmed-over leftover: the audio quality is really good, the best of the Untamed batch so far. Also, this gig from just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020 introduces five fresh Berne compositions not previously heard anywhere on record.
Berne’s led all sorts of ensembles, but a sax/piano duet has a certain intimacy not quite felt on those other projects, especially when going one-on-one with such a resourceful and sensitive pianist like Mitchell.
Without the funkified flow of a rhythm section typical in a Berne group, Berne’s unique extended form is cast in a fresh light. Both work in tight unison on songs like “Increminced,” a delicate act where not just note choice but cadence and timing is crucial to making it work. Many of years of playing together has gone into this special chemistry and it shows. The song is a journey, not a pattern or set of patterns merely repeated.
“Purdy” has a bop-derived theme but also beautifully flowing, liquid passages and the two transition between these two feels with no hitches. “Julius” is full of dramatic flourishes from Mitchell, who often acts as a foil to Berne or lurking underneath with harmonic counterpoints but both come together perfectly at the end.
Berne goes it alone for the initial portion of “The Rose Charade” and Mitchell follows with his own solo reading of Berne’s esoteric melody prior to them merging and combine their approaches into a complete rendering. “Seemly” is just the kind of dense packing of notes in a sequence that can only come from Berne, but Mitchell comes up with his own, complementing sequence at the same time.
Spiders with drop on November 6, 2020 and you can get it then from Bandcamp. Your purchase proceeds goes 100% to the artists.
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