Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)

Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) is an album by saxophonist Tim Berne which was recorded in 1992 and released on the JMT label.[1][2] The album is a tribute to Berne's mentor Julius Hemphill. Alongside Berne's regular band is featured guest David Sanborn, in an outlier among his more mainstream R&B work.

Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)
Studio album by
Released1993
RecordedSeptember 1992
VenuePower Station, New York City
GenreJazz
Length65:37
LabelJMT
JMT 514 003
ProducerStefan F. Winter
Tim Berne chronology
I Can't Put My Finger on It
(1991)
Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)
(1993)
Nice View
(1994)

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
The Guardian     [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz    [5]
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide     [6]
Tom Hull – on the WebB[7]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz     [8]

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states: "This is certainly the most unusual David Sanborn recording to date. Avant-gardist Tim Berne (heard here on alto and baritone) and the popular R&B star Sanborn (mostly leaving his trademark alto behind to play sopranino) share a great respect for altoist Julius Hemphill and the St. Louis free jazz movement... they perform seven often-emotional Hemphill pieces plus Berne's "The Maze." Sanborn is to be congratulated for successfully stretching himself although this is very much Berne's date".[3]

The Guardian's John Fordham wrote: "The pieces are raw-boned and clamouring but rigorously structured and spine-tinglingly harmonised. Sometimes they sound like skewed bebop and sometimes like stealthily building improv, and Sanborn's soul sound... loses none of its famous wail."[4]

John Howard of Perfect Sound Forever called the album "A stunning tour de force... one of the finest jazz albums ever made," and commented: "the album ranges in mood from the sublimely beautiful 'Writhing Love Lines' to... 'The Maze,' 21 minutes of tangling and untangling structure."[9]

Track listing

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All compositions by Julius Hemphill except as indicated

  1. "Sounds in the Fog" – 8:12
  2. "Serial Abstractions" – 6:27
  3. "Out, The Regular" – 5:54
  4. "The Unknown" – 6:50
  5. "Writhing Love Lines" – 7:20
  6. "Rites" – 3:32
  7. "The Maze (For Julius)" (Tim Berne) – 21:23
  8. "Mystery to Me" – 6:30

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Tim Berne discography, accessed October 7, 2014
  2. ^ Shimada, T., JMT label discography, accessed October 7, 2014
  3. ^ a b Yanow, S., Allmusic Review accessed October 7, 2014
  4. ^ a b Fordham, John (January 27, 2005). "Tim Berne, Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill)". The Guardian. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  5. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (1994). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette. Penguin Books. p. 119.
  6. ^ Swenson, John, ed. (1999). The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide. Random House. p. 63.
  7. ^ Hull, Tom. "Grade List: Tim Berne". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  8. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2004). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz. Virgin Books. p. 82.
  9. ^ Howard, John (September 1998). "Tim Berne: Interview by John Howard". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved July 13, 2023.