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Tim Berne was born on October 16, 1954 in Syracuse, New York. Though he was a music fan, he had no interest in playing a musical instrument until he was in college, when he purchased an alto saxophone. He was more interested in rhythm and blues like Stax record releases and especially Aretha Franklin, until he heard Julius Hemphill’s 1972 recording Dogon A.D. Hemphill was known for his integration of soul music, funk and free jazz, which prompted Tim to move to New York City in 1974. There he took lessons from Hemphill and later recorded with him.

In 1979, Berne founded Empire Records to release his own recordings. He recorded Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams for Columbia Records that was far from the neo-traditionalist hard bop being performed in the mid-1980s. By the late Nineties he founded Screwgun Records, releasing his own music as well as others.

Over the years he has recorded as a bandleader as well as performing in several different groups with Ray Anderson, Tom Rainey, Gerald Cleaver, Bill Frisell, Hank Roberts, Tom Zorn, Herb Robertson, the Arte Quartet, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn, Michael Formanek, Drew Gress, Marc Ducret, David Torn, Chris Speed and the cooperative trio Miniature.

He is currently one-third of the group BBC with drummer Jim Black and Nels Cline of Wilco, releasing a critically acclaimed album called The Veil in 2011. Alto saxophonist Tim Berne has recorded some four-dozen albums as a leader and nearly the same as a sideman. He continues to compose, record, perform and tour.

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