Tim Berne & Michael Formanek - Parlour Games (Relative Pitch Records, 2024) *****

By Don Phipps

Free music. Unconstrained, unlimited, uncompromised, and uncommercial. That is what listeners value about the jazz music of the avant garde. Music as something more than a crass buck. And on Parlour Games, recorded live at The Parlour, June 16, 1991, Tim Berne and Michael Formanek gave attendees a true vision of freedom – music that sounds as fresh today as it must have 33 (quickly passing) years ago.

Right from the get-go, Berne (on alto and baritone sax) and Formanek (bass) command attention. The first number, “Beam Me Up.” begins with both players racing along in sweet unison. Then Berne’s baritone skips about as Formanek hurtles along with double-triple time bass walks that explode like fireworks. Both musicians generate heat without squeezing notes – Berne does not pinch the reed and Formanek - for all the speed and spiky leaps he makes on bass - exhibits an exceptionally light and fluid touch.

But the music here is more than a wild romp. There are bluesy elements – case in point – the oddly titled but aptly conceived “O My Bitter Hen.” The music has the hallmarks of a David Lynch soundtrack from some dark gray detective film noir. Berne brings it on baritone – creating gentle rolling sequences – only to have the pair suddenly emerge with sax and galloping bass line that would leave a Montana stallion in the dust – before reverting to a walking conclusion.

On the lighter side, there is the clownish “Quicksand,” where Berne gently whines and twines above Formanek’s funky bass sequences. The piece is delightful and full of fluttering nuance and lyrical abstractions. And on the jaunty masterpiece “Not what you think,” Berne and Formanek create magic from the opening. The joyful conversations are wide open. Berne flies about on alto – speeding up and down the register - while Formanek keeps the bottom active with jagged syncopation and well-placed plucks. Simply said - this is compositional improvisation at its best!!!

But it is the final number, “Bass Voodoo,” that makes the album unforgettable. It opens like a slithering snake, as Formanek plucks and bows beneath Berne’s slowly waking alto. Then Formanek’s bowing combines with Berne’s zipping lines to increase the intensity. Formanek follows with a bass solo that rips it – rips it good (apologies to Devo). The solo migrates through various speeds, fast-slow-medium – as Formanek displays his mastery along the neck. Berne joins in with tongue-attack stuttering syncopated lines and slurs that feel like a dolphin skirting the seas. Two words – damn amazing! The musical bonfire progresses – heat comes and goes, the wind blows through the flames, the cinders blow about in the wind. There is a stuttering climax and then a joint effort as the music concludes.

Supreme musicianship, brisk and challenging interaction, compositions that strike just the right degree of formalism and spontaneity, it is all present in Parlour Games. Two masters, Berne and Formanek, early in their careers - captured in prime-time form in concert. Highly, highly recommended.