January/February 2002

Enten Eller/Tim Berne
Auto de Fe
Splasc(H)

By Daniel Piotrowski

On Auto de Fe, Tim Berne joins the Italian quartet Enten Eller for a live date in March 2000. Although it's not their first meeting-Splasc(H) has also released a 1999 live date, Melquiades-Berne doesn't gel with the band. With the prog-rock/jazz quartet, Berne has to do something he's not best at: subjugate himself to the will of a collectively run band. Berne and Enten Eller seem to have their own agenda, which prevents pure communication throughout the majority of the performance. The band does have some synergetic moments, especially on "Traveling Day" and "Veleno per Topi," as trumpeter Alberto Mandarini and Berne are fully in sync. On "7/13" the band is at its peak, since it's when Berne sounds most like the group's leader. Most of the time, though, the stage isn't big enough for all of them.