With just two shows to officially cover I hit the Jazz Fest scene amidst a sea of people. The streets were teeming with eager bodies, but the fun stopped there. Now perhaps I’m showing my ass here, and heating up my self-perceived cool, but I thought Tim Berne SnakeOil at Montage was the worst thing calling itself music I have heard in my life. I know the importance of improvisation and the application of noise in jazz — at least I thought I did — but these guys took the stage with music written down. It was ridiculous, it was insulting. There’s no way anyone wrote that down. It was just random, screeching note generation with no logic at all. It sounded like a gaggle of geese fucking or an ambulance demolition derby. It was shrill, it was loud, it was utterly awful. Call me a heretic if you want, but I wasn’t the only one leaving with “WTF” written across my face. Maybe I didn’t get it, or maybe it was truly snake oil.
At the other end of the spectrum was the Big Apple’s Amy Lynn and the Gunshow’s delightfully cool cabaret at the Little Theater. The material was extra fun with a wry twist, and the bari sax’s odd, clickity-clackity rhythmic mouthpiece attack was different and tres cool. The music came off like a less-abrasive Bette. They weren’t show tunes, but they could’ve been. Lynn’s voice was beautiful, sassy, and sexy, and the horn-centric Gun Show was tight, alright, and outtasite.
So there you have it, another Jazz Fest down. I think we’ve reached cruising altitude with this one and don’t think they should make it any bigger. Logistically it’s already quite a sprawling affair. I would like to see more local bands plugged in to the mix and perhaps more free show stages — that seems to bring out the masses and really stir the social pot. And of course, I’m still holding out for Tom Waits. But for now it’s no jazz for me for a coupla days…right now it’s chocolate milk and my wife and my cats and Motorhead in my headphones. G’night.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2013.
re: Snake Oil:
yes! you’re not cool. you’re clearly both narrow-eared & desperately under-exposed to contemporary music
— i mean, musical developments since sometime from the early 20th century & forward — &, hey!
you’re rather nasty, to boot:
what a fantastic combination!
have a lovely day.
Hey folks: feel free to disagree with the critic, but keep it polite. We’ll take down any comments that insult him on a personal level. We’re glad you love and support the artist in question, but don’t hurl demeaning personal comments at our music critic in the process.
You need to get out more Frank. Tim Berne is terrific. Oh you might have to leave some preconceptions at the door but the music is engaging and inspired.
I wish you could keep your “critics” to the same standards, sir.
What a shame that in attempting to deride Tim Berne’s music as indicative of modern music’s noise cliches, that this reviewer opted to load his review with precious little else beyond tired music journalist cliches.
Or is he simply a post-modern genius, attempting to demonstrate and comment upon his disgust by structuring his review with the nonsensical drivel he seemed to perceive in the music?
More to the point, what a shame that “honest reviews” have so thoroughly equated to “being an asshole”
Had a blast at Amy Lynn and The Gunshow. Thet put on a really entertaining show. Love the bari slap tongue and Amy’s voice.You guys spelled it wrong though.
Wow, haven’t seen a dis of serious music like this in decades. Reminds me of when my mother likened her first hearing of late Coltrane to some kid warming up. Your taste is important, but your evident assumption that generations of musicians are crazy or incompetent needs an imagination & empathy check. Tim Berne is no joker; and if you accept that, your ability to respect other people should prompt some inquiry in to why other people into why they do what they do. You might learn something, as we all do.
You know what? I agree. I’m a Jazz fan (an uber Jazz fan). Berne’s music is alienating. It’s music played for other musicians with no thought or empathy of the audience in mind at all. He is popular in musician circles and avant-garde circles, but that’s it. It’s not meant for mass consumption. So, newspaper critic…you’re spot on. You review music for people. Not other musicians. Tim Berne will be what he is for as long as he is…and that is complex music for other musicians, not for an audience. Fans of his can get all up in arms all they want (gasp, the horror! someone didn’t like music I like!). But it’s not going to change the fact that if you brought 100 random people to one of these shows – 99 would leave after the first song.
Hey douche bag re:snake oil , you probably didn’t understand Coltrane either. You loose. Thank God for Tim Berne! Shame this Jazzfest in your eyes has nothing to do with Jazz!
Chuck
a response to whatever: musicians serve both the unheard sound AND the audience, and as liasons, would be condescending to play down to an audience in not bringing something more to the occasion than what an audience already knows or can already do on its own. Nearly everything has more to offer than what a quick hit can take in, not just music — and what about mystery? That’s a condition of encountering more than you already know. It’s a projection to assume that musicians have no thought of the audience in mind. What you’re calling “alienating” is just the sting of difference.
Thanks for telling it like you saw it, Frank,I thought it was just me. Squeek and Honk! I saw Sun Ra three times back when John Gilmore and Marshall Allen were pushing the free jazz envelope, I’ve heard Ornette and the Art ensemble of Chicago, and still have the vinyl of Ascension. These guys didn’t play a consonant phrase in the 15 minutes we could stand. Maybe it would have worked in the middle of the week, but the last night, it left a worse taste in my mouth than the antipasto at Max’s. So why did he call the band Snake Oil?
I’m friends with Tim Berne on Facebook and he posted your review, Frank. The comments from other jazz musicians are pretty funny. Frank – what were you thinking? Why did they send you to a Tim Berne concert? This is not a Frank DeBlase thing. That’s just apples and oranges.
“There’s no way anyone wrote that down”: perhaps you should take a listen to this band’s record (wherein they play some of the same material) before publishing a review where you are clearly out of your element. These guys are at the top of their game when it comes to both composed and improvised music, and this performance was a shining example of the seamless, chamber-like melding of composition and improvisation of which these musicians are true masters.
To the moderator from City magazine urging people to be polite:
I probably would have hated the concert, and did enjoy the reviewer’s honest assessment. That being said if he is comfortable publishing such phrases as “It sounded like a gaggle of geese fucking”, I’m sure he can take a few harsh/demeaning comments hurled his way!
Hey,lighten up folks…at least he knows what a gaggle of geese fucking sounds like…hmmm..that ‘s a disturbing thought.
“Call me a heretic if you want, but I wasn’t the only one leaving with “WTF” written across my face.”
Frank, I think you pretty obviously walked IN with “WTF” written across your face. Not liking Berne is fine, not understanding him is acceptable, but pretending to be some sort of informed commentator on something you obviously don’t understand is pretty shameful. You’d do better writing about things you can comprehend, like this:
http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/sign-of-the-apocalypse/Content?oid=2134437
The “music” that Tim Berne and his extremely talented band mates played at the XRIJF almost caused my body to convulse and heave in an unhealthy manner. It was shrill, confusing and I think meant for those people that stop at green lights and run straight through the red ones.
There are rules in life and in music and breaking them just to see the pieces fall is a selfish notion. The band was clearly rife with talent and their heady improvisational abilities were played out on the stage at The Montage.
What happened at that show, may have pleased some, or even most that were there, I did hear applause.
Although, maybe the sound was some form of percussive beat that was meant to reboot the listener’s ears between “songs”.
Like I said, I was there too. Albeit I may not be as wide-eared and expansive as some, I think I represent
the open-minded and exploratory and am always ready for something new on my plate. Tim Berne ain’t it.
WTF was the notion repeating over and again, like the sound of a flock of fornicating foul!
I like to experience something new and sometimes new is just people proving that they can. That, in and of
itself, does not make it palatable.
Reading a review from Frank is always entertaining and definitely accurate from his point of view.
It’s a review, people. CoolJazzPeople. Cool it.
There’s no doubt that the diversity of the nouns in our lives is what makes the world a better place to be.
Can you dig it?
TM
I get it CITY, only your reviewer is allowed to spit dismissive bile with condescension. Don’t get your “feewings huwt” just because you sent someone who is profoundly ignorant of this type of music to review it and then chose to publish his, frankly, embarrassing review (Berne’s music is HEAVILY composed. His bands play the composed elements with the precision and consistency of the best classical musicians alive.) So yes it is notated (someone “wrote it down”). If you publish the statement that the work of an internationally acclaimed composer” sounded like a gaggle of geese fucking ,” don’t be surprised if people think the reviewer sucks. I could have asked my 4 year old nephew his opinion and gotten a more thoughtful response.
Andrew Jones: Normally I prefer to let our commenters have at it and just bow out of the discussion. But there seems to be a continued element of confusion with this piece, so let me explain our policy on this: if you want to critique Frank’s review, or Frank’s reviewing style, by all means do so. That is not the issue here. But people were attacking the critic on a personal level. We will not allow that on this site. Just as Frank reviewed Mr. Berne’s music, not the man himself, we ask that commenters similarly keep their opinions to Frank’s writing and not make disparaging remarks about him as a human being.
Frank, with all due respect, clearly what Berne does has no appeal to you, but your lack of understanding of what his group does translating into your rather insulting description only reflects on your lack of knowledge of what Berne’s music is about. Personally I hear plenty of structure and melody in this music, and plenty of sharp angles and free play as well, to be sure. But If you are going to review music, you need to understand that you are not the arbiter of what is good or bad, only the arbiter of what you like (or don’t). Your not liking Berne’s show does not make the music bad or good, it only means you don’t like it. A tremendous pitfall for a music reviewer is to make assumptions about the musicians and what is going on in their head, so suggesting :”no way anyone wrote that down” suggests knowledge you clearly do not have, unless you spoke to Berne and had that fact confirmed.
You don’t have to like the music, but to describe it as you have is disrespectful to artists who are renowned worldwide. Surely there must be some reason for that, and surely just because something doesn’t float your boat is no reason to completely trash these muscians, as you have.
That’s not journalism; that’s just attitude, disrespect and getting some pleasure in seeing just how many points you can score off the artists. Not that they care, I suspect, since their music is well-regarded and was on many best-of lists when their record was released last year. There’s a follow-up in the works, and I, for one, can’t wait to hear these guys do what they do, and do so extraordinarily well.
If Tim Berne’s music is not your cup of tea then just state that and end the review, I think the moronic level of writing that followed was uncalled for it only makes you look like a clueless hack.
I didn’t read any criticism in this review at all, just another writer out of his depth. Why was Frank not more honest about his own musical ignorance before he wrote the review ? This kind of poor judgement and understanding is second rate journalism, all too common today.
“Snakeoil” on ECM is an excellent album. There is a lot of through-composed, fully notated material as well as improvisation so yes “someone did write that down”, Complex structure and improv,, Berne has been a master of that approach for years.
I hope I get to see this band on a future tour.