note: version of “Bro’Ball” above is from the album Unwound.
On September 3, 2021, Tim Berne’s Screwgun label will drop two, humungous albums covering four 1997 live set recordings from Berne’s mid-’90s Bloodcount ensemble. Attention Spam and 5 continue a recent and most welcome vault raid by one of avant-jazz’s most distinctive and respected composers, band leaders and sax players of our time.
The Bloodcount band fronted by Berne boasted Chris Speed on tenor sax and clarinet, Michael Formanek on double bass and Jim Black on drums. Sometimes, Marc Ducret would join in on electric guitar. During their brief time in existence, the Bloodcount quartet/quintet issued six albums with a DVD that came out about a decade later. This pair of new concert documents from 1997 represent the first new releases of Bloodcount music in nearly a quarter century.
Emptying the vault of live recordings isn’t the same with Tim Berne as it is for most other artists; live recordings tend to be more of the norm for him and even if he’s covering his own songs, he and his band never play them the same way twice. So every Berne release is virtually new music performed by a band in its natural, live habitat. That’s especially true of the Bloodcount quartet, which never recorded in the studio.
I’m pretty sure that every one of the Bloodcount players played with Berne in at least one other of his ensembles, but with Berne, it’s not just quality musicians: leveraging the unique, different combinations of their crazy skills is the distinguishing mark of each of his ensembles.
In the case of Bloodcount, a front line consisting of only couple of reed players and no chordal accompaniment added more to the rhythm section’s typical roles but Formanek and Black were up to task and even thrived within this challenge. Speed wasn’t at all redundant voice to Berne’s but a vital augmentation who could burrow deep inside these enigmatic pieces and add definition and harmonic layers to them, often spontaneously. One of Berne’s best attributes as a leader is not only allowing this to happen, but openly encouraging it. That’s why a Berne composition might be one-dimensional on a score sheet but three or four-dimensional in action.
These new-to-us recordings were engineered, mixed and mastered properly and the band was on their game for all of these engagements. Since each of the new releases span a double-CD’s worth of music and that music is not lightweight stuff, each deserves its own discussion space. For this episode, let’s center on the quartet’s two-set Attention Spam, which feature exclusively Berne-penned extended forms that previously appeared on other Bloodcount albums.
Black’s dynamic pattering keeps “Bro’Ball” in forward motion, becoming fused with the advanced bop progressions harmonized by Berne on baritone sax and Speed on tenor. Berne rips off a solo in the middle capped off by an excursion up to the highest reaches of the big horn. He then articulates a fully formed melody on his sax and Speed on clarinet picks it right up and traces it perfectly.
After an opening remark from Berne, Formanek bows poetically on “Snow White” while Speed on clarinet and Berne interacts with him. A coiled melodic development gently emerges from there while Black manages the flow rather than formulate a formal rhythm. The peacefulness is broken up by the chirpy, bird language that launches “Mr. Johnson’s Blues” before moving into softer sections that features each performer. Speed’s clarinet feature gets furious, firmly wedded support from the Formanek/Black unit.
“The Opener” is one of those examples where Tim Berne turns tricky rhythms and harmonic progression into a single thing; Formanek and Black are operating of one mind. “Talk Dirty To Me” commences with ear-piercing alto sax soliloquy. Later it moves into an intimate, three-way convo between Berne, Speed and Formanek on sawed bass.
Black is one of the more unusual drummers and he lives up to his reputation as a top-notch avant-garde percussionist with an unaccompanied bit that kicks off “I.R.U.S.” As the horn duo advances Berne’s knotted progression, Black transitions over to that completely different cadence cleanly where most drummers would have stumbled and even makes it danceable. He also picked up a savage groove that the whole band locked onto as the song charges toward a frightening crescendo.
The artistry of Tim Berne’s various projects never rested solely on notes and structure but also the combination of unique musical personalities and getting their best out of them. Attention Spam is a reminder that Bloodcount’s special combination made the music itself special and this latest output is a precious capture from those short few years the ensemble was active.
Pre-order/order Attention Spam from Screwgun Records.
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