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TIM BERNE
FRACTURED FUNK
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Alto-saxophonist/composer Tim Berne is living proof that detailed jazz composition doesn’t preclude the free-form explorations of collective improv or the visceral rhythmic drive of funk. His latest outfit, the alto-piano-drums trio Hard Cell, is aptly named. Aside from the obvious marketplace jibe in the pun, it also describes the band’s usual procedures. Berne builds his pieces on angular little rhythmic-melodic cells that repeat and grow into longer and longer heavily syncopated lines underscored by a hard beat from drummer Tom Rainey. Sometimes one of these cells will be repeated half a dozen times or so, mantra-like, before giving way to a new figure — a "B" section — or a relatively quiet solo from pianist Craig Taborn or a bit of dreamy, tempo-less collective improv. The beat, meanwhile, shifts under Rainey’s hands or as the band move in unison to a new variation. At times, Taborn plays complex lines in counterpoint to Berne’s forceful, bluesy attack; at other times, it’s surprising to hear those fast-moving piano lines in unison with the alto — or pretty damned close. What’s ingenious about Berne’s pieces is how this additive process of rhythmic layers — often like a canon or round, with one player at a time entering and repeating figures that begin to overlap — gradually shifts. A piece often ends by coming to a hard, dramatic stop after a particularly pent-up series of repetitions. At least, that was the effect when the band came to the ICA for a Boston Creative Music Alliance show on Sunday March 6. On CD, the ear gets more of a rest from those insistent repetitive lines, which can begin to take on a sameness over the course of two sets — a heavy sauce for the aural palate. Berne recently asked Taborn to switch from his signature Fender Rhodes electric to the acoustic grand, and electric-guitarist Tom Ducret, who had been with the band for a few years, is also gone. You’d think that would make for a more transparent live sound, but it doesn’t really. Rainey plays forcefully, and Berne himself was unmiked. (The new Hard Cell Live, on Berne’s own Screwgun label, documents the trio’s move to an all-acoustic format.) During the course of the ICA show, it was difficult to tell when all three players were going to come together to sound out a repeated cell. It was also difficult to tell when they were going to turn the beat around, and when they came together to do just that on the fourth tune of the first set, "Traction," it got laughs and cheers of appreciation from the audience.
BY JON GARELICK
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