Tim Berne’s Snakeoil: You’ve Been Watching Me | Album Review

If there is one voice that every other contemporary jazz musician is listening to, it’s probably that of New York band leader and composer Tim Berne.

Since the mid 80s, the alto saxophonist has been a pivotal figure on the ‘downtown’ scene, working in a wide variety of settings, bringing to each his unique and idiosyncratic musical intelligence.

As a composer, he plays his Snakeoil group like a soloist plays an instrument, sending his collaborators out to explore a rugged, undulating musical landscape of his own devising.

The addition of guitarist Ray Ferreira and new layers of electronic noise from keyboardist Matt Mitchell moves Berne’s writing into a new, cinematic space, complex, challenging, often unsettling but always rewarding of close attention.