The Squid's Ear Magazine


Sobek, Chloe / Tim Berne: Burning Up (Relative Pitch)

The first meeting between New York alto saxophonist Tim Berner and Australian string player Chloë Sobek, performing on the violone, a precursor to the modern double bass, in five improvisations recorded outside of the studio to create an intimate space for their spontaneous, articulate and well-balanced dialogs, from rapt introspection to blazing intensity.
 

Price: $13.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Chloe Sobek-violone

Tim Berne-alto saxophone


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 5904224872625

Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1183
Squidco Product Code: 34823

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded on June 17, 2023, by Joe Branciforte.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"This is the first collaboration between Australian improvisor Chloë Sobek who plays the Renaissance precursor to the double bass, the violone and New York saxophonist Time Berne."-Relative Pitch



"[...] Before recording, the two artists had never met. Actually, Berne was even largely unfamiliar with Sobek's unique instrument, the violone, a Renaissance precursor to the upright bass that is arcane by today's standards. Her work often incorporates electronics and concepts from musique concrète. Of course, alto saxophonist Berne is no stranger to the experimental or pushing music forward in new directions, whether with his own groups like Blood Count or Snakeoil, or collaborations with Julius Hemphill, John Zorn, or David Torn. But the creation of Burning Up essentially put both artists in a construct built upon uncertainty. It creates a space in which neither can do anything but respond to one another in the most creative way they can imagine.

The results are incendiary. The opener, "Scorpius," starts with Sobek's skitteringly frenetic hits with a bow and adds staccato fractured lines on Berne's sax. But it gradually becomes more unified, with long wails on the horn and a gentle but insistent movement on strings. "Disquiet Souls," at times, sounds like a through-composed - albeit loosely so- piece due to the way both artists create lines that smolder and fuse with one another. But, like the rest of the album, it is not preconceived. Throughout, Burning Up is a fascinating musical inferno caused by complete artistic freedom devoid of preconceptions. The music destructively clears through all the existing brush to blaze startlingly new paths. But it is often done to allow new growth to emerge."-Rob Shepherd, PostGenre, from the introduction of an interview with Sobek & Berne


Get additional information at Post-Genre

Artist Biographies

"Chloë Sobek is a composer-performer based in Naarm, Australia. Her work is currently centred on the development of a post-anthropocentric sonic practice that encompasses a diversity of enquiry from acoustemology through to noise music. She is invested in what creative practice can do to deconstruct and reshape the way we conceptualise our collective futures.

Chloë's practice is built around the Renaissance precursor to the double bass, the violone. Her creative process couples maximalist and musique concrète sensibilities such as audio-montage and electronic processing, with a handling of sound as a senate object, unlinked and undefined by its source.

Chloë has won the 2022 Allan Zavod Performers' Award, the Monash Jazz and Improvisation postgraduate award (2021), the Marten Bequest Scholarship (2020) and the RMIT Vice Chancellor's Award (2019). Chloë has also been awarded funding from the Australia Council of the Arts, the City of Melbourne, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and was a scholarship student at the Australian National Academy of Music.

She has presented research and work at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, at TENOR2022 and is co-editor of Recent Networked Music: Performing in and Composing for the Ether issue of Contemporary Music Review (Taylor and Francis). Recent composition and performance highlights include, with the support of the Australia Council of the Arts, the commission to write, record and perform a work for Outlier (Lizzy Welsh and Chloë Sobek) and Tilman Robinson at Melbourne Recital Centre and The Theatre Royal (2021). With the support of the Marten Bequest, the commission to compose and perform a contemporary work for violone (2020) and with the support of the Castlemaine State Festival, the commission to compose and perform an animated score for Outlier (2019)."

-Chloe Sobek Website (https://www.chloesobek.com/biography)
1/17/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tim Berne (born 1954) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist", Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s. His mainstream success has been limited Ð Berne recorded two albums for Columbia Records Ð but he has released a significant body of work over the decades spanning dozens of critically acclaimed recordings.

Though Berne was a music fan, he had no interest in playing a musical instrument until he was in college, when he purchased an alto saxophone. He was more interested in rhythm and blues music Ð Stax records releases and Aretha Franklin, especially Ð until he heard Julius Hemphill's 1972 recording Dogon A.D.

Hemphill was known for his integration of soul music and funk with free jazz. Berne moved to New York City in 1974. There Berne took lessons from Hemphill, and later recorded with him.

In 1979, Berne founded Empire Records to release his own recordings. He recorded Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records, which generated some discussion and controversy, due in part to the fact that Berne's music had little in common with the neo-tradionalist hard bop performers prominent in the mid-1980s. Some regarded Berne's music as uncommercial. In the late 1990s Berne founded Screwgun Records, which has released his own recordings, as well as others' music.

Beyond his recordings as a bandleader, Berne has recorded and/or performed with guitarist Bill Frisell, avant-garde composer/sax player John Zorn, violinist Mat Maneri, guitarist David Torn, cellist Hank Roberts, trumpet player Herb Robertson, the ARTE Quartett and as a member of the cooperative trio Miniature.

Recent years have found Berne performing in several different groups with drummers Tom Rainey and Gerald Cleaver, keyboardist Craig Taborn, bassists Michael Formanek and Drew Gress, guitarists Marc Ducret and David Torn, and reeds player Chris Speed.

He is one-third of the group BBC (Berne/Black/Cline) along with drummer Jim Black and Nels Cline of Wilco. The group released a critically acclaimed album called The Veil in 2011.

Berne's complex, multi-section compositions are often quite lengthy; twenty- to thirty-minute pieces are not unusual. One critic wrote that Berne's long songs "don't grow tiresome. The musicians are brilliantly creative and experienced enough not to get lost in all the room provided by these large time frames." "

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berne)
1/17/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Scorpius 9:21

2. Disquiet Souls 9:38

3. Icarus And The Phoenix 8:01

4. Signe 6:34

5. Burnishing 12:51

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Stringed Instruments
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Duo Recordings
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Relative Pitch.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Sunny Five (Berne / Ducret / Torn / Hoff / Smith)
Candid
(Intakt)
A mercurial album of electronic and acoustic collective free improv from the masterful quintet of Tim Berne on alto sax, David Torn and Marc Ducret on electric guitars, Devin Hoff on electric bass and Ches Smith on drums & electronics, the band intertwining and bending sound to the evolution of their improvisations, which twist and turn in alien jazz soundscape.
Other Recommended Releases:
Berne, Tim (w/ Rainey / Belisle-Chi)
Yikes [VINYL]
(Screwgun/Out Of Your Head Records)
Highlighting the profound skill and musical connection of alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Tom Rainey, and guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, in a captivating journey through meticulously composed pieces, dynamic improvisation, and structured arrangements of spontaneous creativity in a studio recording that emphasize their exploratory artistry and evolution within creative jazz.
Berne, Tim (w/ Tom Rainey / Gregg Belisle-Chi)
Yikes Too [2 CDs]
(Out Of Your Head Records)
Highlighting the profound skill and musical connection of alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Tom Rainey, and guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, in a captivating journey through meticulously composed pieces, dynamic improvisation, and structured arrangements of spontaneous creativity, across 2 CDs contrasting live and studio recordings that emphasize their exploratory artistry and evolution within creative jazz.
Borca, Karen / Paul Murphy
Entwined
(Relative Pitch)
Free jazz bassoonist Karen Borca, a former student of Cecil Taylor, reunites with drummer and percussionist Paul Murphy, both longtime collaborators in saxophonist Jimmy Lyons' band, here distilled as a duo, performing seven studio-recorded dialogs in Virginia -- each an expressive and articulate example of their remarkable technical skill and creativity.
Berne, Tim / Michael Formanek
Parlour Games
(Relative Pitch)
With an extensive discography of collaboration together in a wealth of groupings, New York bassist Formanek and alto saxophonist Tim Berne are heard in this 1991 live duo performance at The Parlour in Providence, Rhode Island, a powerfully confident concert of informed dialogs captured seven years before their only other duo album from 1998, Ornery People.
Salvo, Sofia
ROTAROTA
(Relative Pitch)
Berlin-based, Buenos Aires-born saxophonist Sofia Savlo takes listeners on a tour of eight improvisations performed on the low pitched baritone saxophone, using great control & tone augmented by multiphonics and extended techniques, "rotating" through unusual approaches while engaging listeners through expressive narratives, including emulating a drunken revery.
Lubelski, Samara / Marcia Bassett
Indexical/Rhizome
(Relative Pitch)
Following their recordings of improvisations for the abstract film "Triangulated Waves", the long-running collaboration of guitarist Marcia Bassette (Yew Recordings, Heavy Conversation, Heavy Blossom) and violinist Samara Lubelski (Fiery Furnaces, White Magic, Thurston Moore, God Is My Co-Pilot) join for two extended sonic adventures of intertwining, effected strings.
Space (Ullen / Bergman / Lund)
Embrace the Space
(Relative Pitch)
A startlingly exciting album of piano trio jazz from three creative innovators, in the followup to the 2022 debut of the Swedish Space Trio of Lisa Ullen on piano, Elsa Bergman on double bass and Anna Lund on drums, recording in the studio for eight collective improvisations of extremely well matched, highly interactive and exhilarating modern improv.
Pateras, Anthony
A Dread of Voids
(Another Timbre)
Two works written for a group of Australian performers living in Berlin--Jon Heilbron, Rebecca Lane, Jess Aszodi & Sam Dunscombe--by Australian composer and pianist Anthony Pateras, A Dread Of Voids developed for a residency at the Archipel Festival in Geneva after enduring a pandemic quarantine; and Patterned Language, composed for the Astra Chamber Music Society.
Berne, Tim / Matt Mitchell
One More, Please
(Intakt)
Leveraging more than a decade of collaboration, New York saxophonist Tim Berne and pianist Matt Mitchell present an intimate live concert in Montreal at Club Soda, performing mostly Berne compositions and one by Julius Hemphill ("Number 2") in a thoughtful and innately lyrical set of seemingly telepathic dialogs interpreting Berne's intricate and innovative works.
Rose, Jon
State of Play [2 CDs]
(Recommended Records)
An expansive double album from Australian violinist and mad genius Jon Rose, in solo, duo and odd orchestral settings, including tracks with Jim Denley, Clayton Thomas, Robbie Avenaim, &c.; a project with a 32-string automaton violin + string ensemble; a work for a casino-music driven player-piano; a dueling banjo and interactively bowed violin, &c. &c.; masterfully inexplicable!
Perelman, Ivo / Tim Berne / James Carter / Tony Malaby
(D)IVO
(Mahakala Music)
Led by Ivo Perelman on tenor saxophone, (D)ivo brings four of New York City's finest improvising saxophonists together for an outrageous quartet session, with Tony Malaby on soprano saxophone, Tim Berne on alto saxophone and James Carter on baritone saxophone, their unique styles and masterful skills creating a thrilling and intricate weaving of profound reed expression.
Berne, Tim / Nasheet Waits
The Coanda Effect
(Relative Pitch)
A tour de force saxophone duo between two masterful New York players--alto saxophonist Tim Berne and drummer Nasheet Waits--recording live at The Sultan Room in Brooklyn NY in 2019, in two impressive dialogs: "Tensile" for nearly 40 minutes of articulate expression and powerful rhythmic interaction; and the more introspective "5See" of impressive technique and intention.
Formanek, Michael Very Practical Trio (w/ Tim Berne / Mary Halvorson)
Even Better
(Intakt)
New York bassist Michael Formanek's trio with Tim Berne on alto saxophone and Mary Halvorson on guitar, embraces free music with strong melodic intent through Formanek's solid compositions, providing interesting structures in time and texture through sublimely complex and sinuous pieces that lead to rewarding resolutions of profoundly authoritative improvisation.
Ducret, Marc
Tower-Bridge [2 CDs]
(Ayler)
Guitarist Marc Ducret completes his "Tower" series with a 12-piece ensemble including all musicians from the 4 Tower volumes, includi> ng Tim Berne, Tom Rainey, Matthias Mahler, &c. in 2 CDs of two concerts from their 2012 tour; innovative and astoundingly great modern jazz.
Ducret, Marc
Tower, vol. 2
(Ayler)
The 2nd volume of guitarist Ducret's Tower project, an incredible quartet with saxophonist Tim Berne, violinist Dominique Pifarly and drummer Tom Rainey, complex and exultant, intertwining improv.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Dunmall, Paul Quartet (w/ Noble / Edwards / Sanders)
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
(RogueArt)
UK saxophonist Paul Dunmall, on tenor and soprano, leads a remarkable quartet with pianist Liam Noble, bassist John Edwards, and drummer Mark Sanders, delivering free improvisation rooted in deep collective interaction and sophisticated dialogue, with Dunmall's melodic originality complementing Noble's textural ideas and Edwards and Sanders providing intense, dynamic rhythms.
Mitchell, Roscoe
One Head Four People
(Wide Hive)
"Following his 2024 grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chicago saxophonist, percussionist, composer, and AACM legend Roscoe Mitchell recorded this quartet with bassist Damon Smith, guitarist Sandy Ewen, and drummer Weasel Walter, delivering nine uniquely fascinatingly approaches to free improv, bringing "Ruckus," "Ripples," "Shivers," and "The Final Bell."
Fujii, Satoko Quartet (w/ Tamura / Takeharu / Yoshida)
Dog Days of Summer
(Libra)
One of Satoko Fujii's wildest groups, the quartet of Fujii on piano, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Hayakawa Takeharu (HAYAKAWA, Dr. Umezu Band) on bass and Magaibutsu label leader & Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida present their first album since 2007, expanding their assertive approach to improv in an adventurous set that merges rock and jazz forms with lyricism and power.
Karayorgis, Pandelis / George Kokkinaris
Out From Athens
(Driff Records)
An active and well-balanced duo between Greek pianist based in Boston, Pandelis Karayorgis, and Greek bassist, concert organizer and publisher, George Kokkinaris, both from Athens and recording in the studio in that city, drawing on elements of contemporary music and free jazz in a mix of spontaneous dialogs, one solo improvisation from each, and three Karayorgis compositions.
Ayler, Albert with Don Cherry
1964 Recordings First Visit Completed [2 CDs + POSTCARDS]
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Four sets of recordings from September, 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark from a week performing live at Club Montmarte, and a recording in Hilversum, The Netherlands for VARA Radio, collecting and remastering these vital recordings from tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler's most vital free jazz quartet with Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on double bass and Sunny Murray on drums.
Fujii, Satoko / Natsuki Tamura
Aloft
(Libra)
Propelled by the confidence and intimacy that a familial relationship brings to two improvisers, imbued by each player's masterful technical skills and creative drive, the husband and wife duo of pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura expand their catalog with this set of magnificent dialogs, sometimes quirky, always powerful and implicitly lyrical.
Klein / Rosaly / Warelis
Tendresse
(Relative Pitch)
Since 2020 this trio of Amsterdam-based improvisers have worked together to develop a unique free improvisational language, fueled by but not contained to jazz forms, as heard in this debut album recorded in 2022 between three ex-patriots residing in Amsterdam: German bass & contrabass clarinetist Tobias Klein, Polish pianist Marta Warelis and Chicago drummer Frank Rosaly.
Moor, Andy / Marta Warelis
Escape
(Relative Pitch)
Improvisations recorded at the historical Zaal 100 in Amsterdam between pianist Marta Warelis, whose previous Relative Pitch solo album A Grain of Earth had her playing inside and out of the keyboard; here joined by The Ex and Dog Faced Hermans guitarist and improviser Moor the two create both introspective and rapid-paced sonic interactions of fascinating twists and turns
Livk, Gasper
Introducing Gasper Livk
(Clean Feed)
A 5-CD Box set introducing the work of double bassist and composer Gašper Livk in five configurations — Gašper Livk Trio; Gašper Livk Duo; Gašper Livk Large Ensemble; Gašper Livk Double Bass Octet; and Gašper Livk Solo — released to coincide with his artist-in-residence appearance at the 2024 Jazz Festival Ljubljana.
Surplus 1980
Illusion of Consistency [CD]
(Surplus Industries)
Composed using an "exquisite corpse" method during the pandemic, where each player provided a partially complete track with instructions to expand their concept, enlisting an incredible set of musicians across the US & Europe, directed by Moe! Staiano, including Jesse Quattro, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, GW Sok, Amy X Neuburg, Darren Johnston, &c &c.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC