Tim Berne

Tim Berne
Background information
Born	(1954-10-16) October 16, 1954 Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Genres	Avant-garde jazz
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Saxophone
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Empire, Soul Note, Columbia, JMT, Screwgun, Thirsty Ear, ECM, Intakt
Website	screwgunrecords.com

Tim Berne (born October 16, 1954)¹ is an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and record label owner. His primary instruments are the alto and baritone saxophones.

Berne was born in Syracuse, New York, United States.¹ He has said that 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.² He was a fan of rhythm and blues, and it seemed to him that Hemphill was playing jazz with the soulfulness of R&B.³ In 1974, he went to New York to find Hemphill, who gave him saxophone lessons and advice on how to manage his career.¹ Berne started the record label Empire Productions in 1979.⁴⁵

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.¹ His next two albums appeared on Soul Note in the early 1980s.¹ In these sessions he worked with Motian, Schuller, Ray Anderson, Herb Robertson and others. He then got a contract with Columbia and recorded with Robertson, Hank Roberts, Bill Frisell and others.¹ During this time he also recorded a duo album with Frisell and two albums with John Zorn.⁶⁷ After two albums with Columbia, he signed with JMT, a label known for avant-garde jazz.⁸

In the 1990s, he recorded in the trio, Miniature, with Roberts and Joey Baron,¹ and in the band Caos Totale with Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Steve Swell, and Bobby Previte.⁹ He led a trio with Michael Formanek and Jim Black, then added Chris Speed to form the quartet Bloodcount (which was occasionally a quintet with the addition of Ducret).¹⁰ PolyGram bought JMT and closed it. This motivated Berne to start Screwgun Records as the outlet for his albums.⁵

Screwgun's first release was a 3-disc set by Bloodcount called Unwound, the music of which exemplified Berne's characteristic style of "explod[ing] the walls of traditional compositional form: instead of adhering to anything remotely resembling theme and variations, he intersperses thematic material–sometimes repeated, elongated, or truncated–with the careening pleasures of free improvisation."¹¹ During the late 1990s he continued to perform with Bloodcount, formed Paraphrase, a trio with Drew Gress and Tom Rainey ¹², and Big Satan, a trio with Ducret and Rainey.¹³

In the early 2000s, Berne formed several groups, including the trio Hard Cell with Rainey and Craig Taborn¹⁴ and the quartet Science Friction (Berne, Ducret, Rainey, and Taborn).¹⁵ He also collaborated with members of The Bad Plus for the project Buffalo Collision ¹⁶, with Nels Cline of Wilco for the critically acclaimed album The Veil in 2011,¹⁷ and with David Torn on several projects and recordings.

Berne formed the band Snakeoil with Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, and Ches Smith, which released a self-titled album in 2012 ¹⁸, and six more recordings, with slight personnel changes, over the next decade. During this time, he has also recorded with members of The Bad Plus as Broken Shadows ¹⁹, and in duos with several musicians. In 2023 he released Oceans And with Hank Roberts and Aurora Nealand.²⁰

In the late 2010s albums by other musicians interpreting Berne's music have begun to appear. These include Førage by Matt Mitchell ²¹, Koi by Gregg Belisle-Chi ²², Palm Sweat by Marc Ducret ²³, and Oddly Enough by Gordon Grdina.²⁴

In approximate order of initial activity

• Miniature (Joey Baron, Hank Roberts)
• Caos Totale (Django Bates, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Bobby Previte, Herb Robertson, Steve Swell)
• Bloodcount (Jim Black, Michael Formanek, Chris Speed, and sometimes Marc Ducret)
• Paraphrase (Drew Gress, Tom Rainey)
• Big Satan (Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey)
• Hard Cell (Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)
• Science Friction (Marc Ducret, Tom Rainey, Craig Taborn)
• Buffalo Collision (Ethan Iverson, David King, Hank Roberts)
• Snakeoil (Marc Ducret, Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, Ches Smith, formerly Ryan Ferreira)
• Broken Shadows (Reid Anderson, David King, Chris Speed)
• Capotosta (Gregg Belisle-Chi, Tom Rainey)

• Matt Mitchell - Førage (Screwgun, 2017)
• Gregg Belisle-Chi - Koi (Relative Pitch, 2021)
• Gordon Grdina - Oddly Enough (Attaboygirl, 2022)
• Marc Ducret - Palm Sweat (Out Of Your Head/Screwgun, 2023)
• Gregg Belisle-Chi - Slow Crawl (Intakt, 2025)

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 Enten Eller

• Melquiades (Splasc(H), 1999)
• Auto da Fe (Splasc(H), 2001)

With Umberto Petrin

• Ellessi (Splasc(H), 1999)

With Jazzophone Compagnie

• Mosaiques (Yolk, 2000)

With Simon Fell

• Positions & Descriptions (Clean Feed, 2011)

With Figure 8

• Pipe Dreams (Black Saint, 1994)

With Michael Formanek

• Extended Animation (Enja, 1992)
• 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)
• Even Better (Intakt, 2019)
• Pre-Apocalyptic (Out Of Your Head, 2020)

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 Mr. Rencore

• Intollerant (Auand, 2011)

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 Samo Salamon & Tom Rainey

• Duality (Samo, 2012)

With George Schuller

• Hellbent (Playscape, 2002)

With Ches Smith

• Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013)
• International Hoohah (For Tune, 2014)

With Spring Heel Jack

• Masses (Thirsty Ear, 2001)

With David Torn

• Prezens (ECM, 2005)
• Slipped on a Bar (Screwgun, 2009)
• Sun of Goldfinger (ECM, 2019)
• Congratulations To You (Screwgun, 2020)
• xFORM (Screwgun, 2020)
• Ozmir (Screwgun, 2022)
• Mystic (Screwgun, 2023)
• Ravens Low & Ready 2 (Screwgun, 2024)
• Candid (Intakt, 2025)

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)

With GingerBlackGinger

• Smalltalk Code (Challenge, 2026)²⁵²⁶