Berne has never striven to obtain such a status, but he has been a central musician in New Yorks downtown-scene since the early 1980s and he has released numerous records on his own label "Screwgun". His new band, "Snakeoil", released a recording at ECM last year and received very positive reviews from a unison press.  Berne has been wanting to put together a kind of chamber-music ensemble with Oscar Noriega on clarinetts, Matt Mitchel on piano and Ches Smith on drums and percussion. Berne says "I had decided to work with a transparent instrumentation to try to avoid obvious stylistic references, and in an attempt to make the listener focus on the musical ideas which are presented." Freedom and discipline have always been central elements in Berne's musical universe  and this has carried through into "Snakeoil". All the music is written by Berne and is characterized by compositional control and open collective improvisation.  In other words; a lot of variation, with long streaks of meditative states, rough expulsions and intricate rhythmical structures. We look forward to presenting Tim Berne for the first time in Molde.

Tim Berne - Alt-saxophone

Oscar Noriega - Clarinets

Matt Michell - Piano

Ches Smith - Drums/percussion