Search - Tim Berne, David Sanborn :: Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)

Nice tribute to a modern master

Mr. Mark | Canada | 07/26/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tim Berne did a wonderful job on this Tribute to likely his biggest influence, Julius Hemphill. Tim was a student of Julius, and I think learned a lot from him, and this recording is proof. Joey Baron plays some beautiful drums (as usual), Marc Ducret's gutar work is nice, Hank Roberts holds up his end on Cello and the biggest surprise is David Sanborn's playing. I was a David Sanborne fan back when I was cutting my jazz teeth (and basically knew nothing). As my tastes became more complicated, I thought of Sanborn as a lightweight who provides an ok intro to jazz, but not much more. His playing on this album is stellar, and I feel amost guilty for writing him off in the past! He shines on this recording as a very capable improviser, keeping up with Berne's wildness to a tee, and I don't think this is any small feat (especially considering Hemphill was his teacher). I hope that Sanborne explores this direction of him musical personality a bit more in the future. I am really glad this record was made, I hope that Tim Berne is proud of his fine tribute to one of the finest impovisers in modern jazz."