The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions, by The Bern Nix Trio

The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions

by The Bern Nix Trio

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

includes pdf liner notes

Purchasable with gift card

$9.99 USD or more

1.	Z Jam Blues 03:54	buy track
2.	Acuity 02:46	buy track
3.	Ballad for L 05:14	buy track
4.	Just Friends 04:56	buy track
5.	Desert Storm 04:49	buy track
6.	Let's Don't 07:58	buy track
7.	Driving Sideways Backwards 04:23	buy track
8.	Pat's Theme 05:22	buy track
9.	Boundaries 04:51	buy track

about

“Bern Nix has the clearest tone for playing harmolodic music that relates to the guitar as a concert instrument,” says Ornette Coleman in whose Prime Time Band Nix performed from 1975 to 1987.

With Coleman's harmolodic theory, jazz took a new direction—in which harmony, rhythm, and melody assumed equal roles, as did soloists. Ever since Coleman disbanded the original Prime Time Band in 1987, harmolodics has remained an essential element in Nix's growth and personal expression as a jazz guitarist, as evidenced here.

The linear phrasing and orchestral effects of a jazz tradition founded by guitarists Charlie Christian, Grant Green, and Wes Montgomery are apparent in Nix's techniques, as well as his clean-toned phrasing and bluesy melodies. Nix harks back to his mentors, but with his witty articulation and rhythmical surprises, he conveys a modernist sensibility. “I paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa,” says Nix about his combination of harmolodic and traditional methods.

In much of Nix's music, he doesn't think in terms of bar lines and key signatures. With an open-ended approach to structure, his trio can take different aspects of melody and develop them as motives. “I like to leave it open to the personalities of the players,” he says. “The tunes can be freely interpreted in a democratic way without yielding to chaos. There's not the hierarchy found in standard jazz or classical music. I'll harmonize the melodic interval, but won't necessarily use the 'correct' chord,” Nix says. His use of quartal harmonies (voicing in fourths) makes his sound ambiguous. “I might put a third in the bass, use a voicing in fourths or a cluster on guitar,” said Nix.

With a strong respect for the guitar jazz tradition, Nix reinterprets melodies and harmonies through his technical innovations without adopting any use of electronic devices: “A lot of guitarists today use a lot of gadgets. I want to create a new sound on the guitar without them.”

“The mystery of improvisation has always intrigued me,” he says. With his trio, that mystery lies in the spontaneous interplay, in the call-and-response patterns, and in the open ways in which what comes next delicately speaks to tradition, yet feels modern.

credits

released January 1, 1993

Bern Nix, guitar; Fred Hopkins, acoustic bass; Newman Baker, drums.
This title was part of the CounterCurrents series, with cover design by Steve Byram.

license

about

New World Records Brooklyn, New York

Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

We are dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies.

contact / help

Contact New World Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions, you may also like:

The Anthony Braxton Project
by Thumbscrew [Tomas Fujiwara / Mary Halvorson / Michael Formanek]

supported by 9 fans who also own “The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions”

I am not surprised at how good this is. Thumbscrew are terrific and Anthony Braxton's music is always interesting and moving in different directions. I can not stop listening to this. The recording itself is so well done. It is a deep sound to crawl inside. liclon
go to album
The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert at The Town Hall NYC November 4, 1973
by Cecil Taylor

supported by 8 fans who also own “The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions”

Cecil Taylor is one of my favorite musicians. And Jimmy Lyons has one of the most beautiful alto sax sound in the whole history. echiarel
go to album
Flatbed Buggy
by Rudy Royston

supported by 8 fans who also own “The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions”

So much fun and joy and swing, and the instrumentation allows for some super-fresh sounds as well as some old-timey goodness. And simply great tunes too! Giles
go to album
Penelope (in support of World Child Cancer)
by Billy Marrows

All proceeds from this gorgeous chamber jazz LP go to support UK organization World Child Cancer. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 31, 2024
go to album
April
by Ideophone

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 9, 2024
go to album
Vista Cruiser
by 58 Belvedere

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 10, 2023
go to album
...and then there's this
by Artifacts

supported by 8 fans who also own “The Bern Nix Trio: Alarms And Excursions”

3 great musicians! Rightly praised in Downbeat magazine January 2022 pschmid1
go to album