For the final Bandcamp Friday of 2020, Tim Berne and his Screwgun outlet dangled a couple of carrots with which to entice progressive jazz/experimental music lovers.
One of these carrots is a concert document from the time in the mid-aughts Berne was part of a supergroup led by guitarist/texturalist David Torn. Torn’s Prezens was a major accomplishment by a musician who took group improv to the next level, combining copious doses of chops, feel and technology into a major artistic achievement.
xFORM is a new release by the Prezens quartet that also boasted Berne on alto sax, Craig Taborn on keyboards and electronics, and Tom Rainey on drums. New release, yes, but old recording.
There’s not a wealth of information offered about this album other than it was taped live sometime in 2007. Around that time, Torn, Berne, Taborn and Rainey toured together under the Prezens moniker in support of that album of the same name, playing not songs from the record but brand new instantaneous compositions. That’s really Prezens’ signature, to create these colliding juxtapositions between acoustic and electric, organic and synthetic, but also build these advanced Frankensteins impromptu. It results in direct, honest artistry that might have lost some of its urgency had it been pre-planned, but David Torn’s unmatched savvy in devising complex sonic textures on the fly provides these live performances with the sophisticated quality of the studio, keeping all the instinctual qualities intact. This is exactly why a live Prezens album has its own compelling features apart from that studio Prezens one.
There is one song presented on xFORM, running at a nearly-precisely one hour. “Song” might not be the best description, “extended improvised performance” is more like it.
Ambient contours provides a bed for Berne’s searching alto. Torn and Rainey nudge the proceedings along in a denser direction at around the five minute mark, as threatening loops and electronics assert themselves ever-so discreetly, and Torn’s weepy guitar is well in line with the hurting sentiment coming from Berne’s sax. Berne backs out to let Torn go deeper on his ruminations as Rainey assumes timekeeping that winds up setting some parameters as Berne returns to challenge Torn.
Taborn’s switch from a pulsing electric piano to an oddly soulful sounding synth subtly redirects the path back toward the uneasy peacefulness of the beginning, eventually broken up by Rainey’s groovin’ on the toms. That ushers in another section, paced by Taborn back on electric piano — playing bop on it initially — and the building fury of Torn’s guitar, luring Berne back into action to raise hell with Torn together.
Rainey slows it down to a funkier strut while Berne quickly finds the pocket and stays right in it. An extended barren stretch finds Berne and Torn again engaging with each other but in with a gentle, graceful and still passionate mentality. Rainey’s increasingly restless drums once again points to grimier ground, culminating in Berne going to the squeaky, caustic part of his horn’s register as the drummer metes out jungle rhythms amid Taborn’s funeral organ.
The final push toward a last release involves all four actively engaging with each other while all practically soloing, a feat not possible without some supernatural level of simpatico. Torn and Berne save their most frantic moments for the last couple of minutes as the “xFORM” performance closes with the band’s energy level at its apex.
The term ‘music made in the moment’ is no platitude when it comes to David Torn’s Prezens band; every time they’ve performed they made music with no past and no future. xFORM is one of their snowflakes that’s thankfully been captured for posterity and now, available for the public.
Pick up your copy of xFORM from here.
- ‘Rock Lobster’ Defined the B-52’s While Leading Us Out of the ’70s - July 6, 2024
- Kim Cass – ‘Levs’ (2024) - July 3, 2024
- Soft Machine – ‘Høvikodden 1971’ (2024) - June 24, 2024
