Big Satan
The aptly titled Ornery People is a sax-and-bass duo. Three of the six tracks are credited to Berne, two to Formanek, and one to both of them. In general, Berne is more restrained than usual here. The album's tracks are also shorter than the epic improvisations of his groups Bloodcount and Paraphrase. As it turns out, the tight focus of duo work leads Berne to concentrate his statements more than usual. This lends a more homogeneous feel to each track, almost as if each is an _tude.The disc opens with Formanek playing alone for nearly a minute and a half on his composition "Jiggle the Handle," displaying a broad range of techniques including con legno (playing with the wooden part of the bow) and double and triple stops. When Berne enters on alto, it's with a plaintive theme that recalls early Ornette Coleman. On "Byram's World," Berne toys with small motifs, varying the accents and phrasing on each repetition, adding and subtracting bits, circling through them in a sort of jazz minimalism."Stubborn Love" is a study in timbres, with Berne (on baritone) starting with quiet altissimo tones. The middle section is even quieter and finds sax and bass twining around each other, sometimes together, sometimes splitting off, with Berne throwing in some harmonics.Formanek's lengthy solo on "Are We There Yet" is a well-constructed dialogue between the upper and lower ranges of his instrument. When Berne enters, there's almost a bebop feel to his perpetual-motion lines. It's Berne who starts solo on "Emerger," the space in his tender melodies showing the influence of his mentor, Julius Hemphill. The album's last tune - the 14-minute, co-composed "Brincident" - finally fully unleashes Berne's screaming, unbridled power.Throughout, Ornery People grows organically, without the abrupt shifts and occasional doldrums that have sometimes plagued Berne's past work. Quiet intensity is the watchword, and the result is one of his most consistent recorded efforts.--- Steve Holtje, JAZZIZ MagazineCopyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.--From Jazziz