Michael Formanek, Tim Berne, Jeff Hirshfield

Loose Cannon is a trio record by bassist Michael Formanek, saxophonist Tim Berne and drummer Jeff Hirshfield, recorded and mixed at Barigozzi Studio in Milan from 26 to 28 October 1992 and released by Soul Note in 1993. Berne plays alto and baritone saxophone, and the eight pieces are credited to him and Formanek. The longest, Fibrigade, is dedicated in its title to Django Bates and runs for over sixteen minutes.

The three had already worked together on Formanek's Extended Animation, recorded in 1991, a larger group with guitarist Wayne Krantz and violinist Mark Feldman, before they met again in Milan as a trio. Giovanni Bonandrini produced the session, Giancarlo Barigozzi engineered it and Gennaro Carone mastered it, Stephen Byram did the design and John Zorn wrote the liner notes. Without a chord instrument, bass and saxophone carry the harmony between them, and Berne's switch to baritone changes the weight of the group. The programme alternates long tracks and short ones: Almost Normal opens at six and a half minutes, The 12 ½% Solution runs close to eleven, and Fool's Paradise eight, while Lowball, Beam Me Up and the closing Tilt each last about three. Broken, at five and a half minutes, sits in the middle of the disc before the long Fibrigade.

This is the Soul Note CD 121261-2, first released in 1993.