Mars Tim Berne & Gregg Belisle-Chi

• 1 Rose Bowl Charade 05:16
• 2 Purdy 04:17
• 3 Gastrophobia 03:11
• 4 Microtuna 03:48
• 5 Frosty 04:04
• 6 Big Belly 03:43
• 7 Rabbit Girl 04:26
• 8 Palm Sweat 02:56
• 9 Dark Shadows 04:35
• 10 Not What You Think They Are 03:10
• 11 Middle Seat Blues 04:40
• 12 Giant Squids 00:56
• Total Runtime 45:02

Info for Mars

With his extensive artistic biography, Tim Berne is one of the most outstanding figures in American jazz. Rising star Gregg Belisle-Chi, a connoisseur of Berne's music, has this year released the acclaimed album Koi, featuring interpretations of Tim Berne's compositions on solo acoustic guitar.

With his extensive skills and immense sonic potential, he is earning a central place in the landscape of contemporary acoustic guitar. With Mars, these two exceptional musicians present their first duo album. All songs are penned by Tim Berne and enchant the listener with an intense interplay that is playful, poetic and sonically stunning. David Torn, who is responsible for the grandiose sound, writes in the liner notes: "Space Music? no, nope: Earth Music? well, yeah. Folk Music? well… i dunno, could be, but these songs on Mars are written by Tim & reimagined in-real-time by he & Gregg: them 2 being edified by, appreciative & respectful of those who’ve come before, & especially those ones who stayed lit and busted their own asses & spirits in order to continue initiating the kinds of flames that push us all to strive to express & to feel things of life & lives that may otherwise be functionally inexplicable, and may even be ineffable, somehow."

Tim Berne, alto saxophone
Gregg Belisle-Chi, guitar

No albums found.

Tim Berne
has been declared “a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction” by The New York Times. Acclaim for the first, eponymous ECM album from Berne’s quartet Snakeoil came from far and wide, with The Guardian calling it “an object lesson in balancing composition, improvisation and the tonal resources of an acoustic band.” With the release of his second ECM album, Shadow Man, All About Jazz affirmed Snakeoil as “Berne’s most impressively cohesive group yet.”). You’ve Been Watching Me, saw Berne leading a quintet version of Snakeoil, adding guitarist Ryan Ferreira to the core group with Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega and Ches Smith.

Since learning at the elbow of St. Louis master Julius Hemphill in the ’70s, the Syracuse, New York-born Berne has built an expansive discography as a leader. In his pace-setting ensembles over the past few decades, he has worked with a who’s who of improvisers, including Joey Baron, Django Bates, Jim Black, Nels Cline. Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Michael Formanek, Drew Gress, Ethan Iverson, Dave King, Herb Robertson, Chris Speed, Steve Swell, Bobby Previte, Hank Roberts, Tom Rainey and Craig Taborn. As a sideman, Berne has made ECM appearances on recent albums by Formanek (The Rub and Spare Change; Small Places) and David Torn (prezens). The New York Times summed him up by saying: “Few musicians working in or around jazz over the last 30 years have developed an idiomatic signature more distinctive than Tim Berne.”

Gregg Belisle-Chi
is an Asian-American guitarist and composer living in Brooklyn, New York, who over the past decade has been “busily establishing himself as an important and distinctive new voice in the contemporary guitar world” and “has emerged as one of the most creatively dexterous musicians.” (Earshot Jazz)

Described by the New York Times as “a subtle stunner,” his work draws from the spaces between the spiritual and the analytical, the ethereal and the tactile, inviting listeners to a place of pause and reflection; music that “oozes beauty both in concept and execution, making us luxuriate in its immersive sonorities.” (Part-Time Audiophile)

Within a career of mercurial interests, he has performed with Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Reid Anderson, Steve Swallow, Cuong Vu, Ted Poor, Eyvind Kang, Ben Goldberg, Wayne Horvitz, and many more in the Jazz, Improvised, Rock, and Chamber music worlds.

He also leads his own projects, of which there are numerous:

Good Intentions, co-lead with saxophonist Sam Decker, plays original songs inspired by pop/rock and singer/songwriter music, what the band describes as “a love letter to melody.”

Ensō, a trio of guitar, electric bass, and drums playing compositions with a focus on twelve tone rows, long form compositions, and mixed meters.

Book of Hours, a 50 minute through-composed saga inspired by the history and texts of the Mass Ordinary, featuring a quartet for guitar, bass, keys, and drums.

I Sang to You and the Moon, a song cycle based on the poetry of Carl Sandburg, featuring a chamber ensemble of guitar, vocals, trumpet, and bass.

Booklet for Mars