Visitation Rites is the debut of Paraphrase, a collaborative improvisational trio featuring Tim Berne on saxophones, Drew Gress on bass and drummer Tom Rainey. Recorded live in Berlin in 1996, Berne and company stomp, boomerang, flail and jump all over the place, musically, yet somehow it all seems to make sense. Berne’s serpentine lines let him milk a motif for all it’s worth before letting Rainey and Gress take it somewhere else. Although their flights of collective improvisation are rather lengthy, they maintain a sense of cohesiveness throughout this challenging music. Their musical tapestry is vivid, rendering emotional peaks along with moments of whimsy.
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