Born in Santa Barbara, California, Tom Rainey was a drummer who moved to New York City in his early twenties. He had studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1975 before returning to California to settle in San Francisco. In the early 1980s, the Brooklyn resident began to play jazz in the city. He met pianist Kenny Werner, and then joined a trio with Ratzo Harris. They started playing together in the early-to mid-1980s. Rainey did not appear on any recording with Berne until Big Satan’s “I Think They Liked it Honey”, which was recorded in Paris in 1996. In the meantime, Rainey was a strong presence on many discs including those by Werner and Jane Ira Bloom as well as Mark Helias and Tom Varner. Ray Anderson, Andy Laster and others. Berne’s live and studio dates took up more of his time. Rainey was paired up with Drew Gress as a bassist, making them a empathetic combo that can be heard on many avant- and modern jazz discs. Rainey formed a close musical relationship with Berne from the mid-’90s to the early 2000s. He recorded and performed with Rainey in the groups Big Satan, Paraphrase and Hard Cell. Paraphrase gave listeners the opportunity to see Rainey’s mastery with the drum kit in three way improvisational dialogues. The drummer’s notions about propulsion and momentum, as well as texture or color, kept the music moving forward even when other collective improvisational experiments may have fallen into apathy. Two Paraphrase CDs, Visitation Rites (live German club recordings released in 1996 and 1998 on Berne’s Screwgun label), are a good place to see Rainey at his best. And in Big Satan (Berne, Rainey, and guitarist Marc Ducret), Science Friction (Berne, Rainey, Ducret, and keyboardist Craig Taborn), and Hard Cell (Rainey, Berne, and Taborn), Rainey proved to be a drummer uniquely attuned to these ensembles’ often lengthy compositional/improvisational hybrids. In the 2000s, he contributed to all three groups’ albums, including Science Friction (2002, Screwgun), The Sublime And (2003. ThirstyEar), Big Satan’s Souls Saved (2004. ThirstyEar), Livein Cognito (2006), Screwgun, and Hard Cell’s live (2004. Screwgun) as well as Feign (2005. Screwgun). The Sublime And by Science Friction is a landmark set of two CDs. Prezens (2007 ECM), which features Rainey as a member of a quartet that is led by guitarist David Torn and Berne from Berne’s Hard Cell unit, is also noteworthy. Rainey was a member of Tim Berne’s bands in this time period, but it is tempting to concentrate on Rainey’s participation. There are many fine recordings of Rainey performing with other ensembles. The Trio dates include Come Ahead (1998, Koch Jazz), New School (192001, Enja), Verbs Of Will (2003-2006, Radio Legs), Atomic Clock (2006), Radio Legs), Atomic Clock (2008), Radio Legs), Strange Unison (2008-Radio Legs) by Open Loose. These were performed by Mark Helias, a sax-bass-drums trio. Also, Drip (2003- Knitting Factory Works), Short Trip (2001), Knitting Factory Works) and Alive In Brooklyn (2004, Sarama). 2 (2005, Sarama) by the sax-Wurlitzer-drums trio of Tony Malaby, Angelica Sanchez, and Rainey; and Ash and Tabula (2004, Atavistic) and Downpour (2007, Victo) by the noisy soundscape-exploring outfit of Rainey, guitarist Nels Cline, and multi-instrumentalist Andrea Parkins. Rainey, who has three decades of experience performing and recording in ensembles or led by others, formed the Tom Rainey Trio in late 2000s. The trio, which included Mary Halvorson as guitarist and Rainey as saxophonist, released Pool School on the Clean Feed label in 2010. In 2012, Intakt issued Camino Cielo echo, their second album. Rainey was also featured on Intakt label recordings of two Laubrock-led groups: Sleepthief’s eponymous debut (2008), The Madness of Crowds (2010) and Anti-House’s Strong Place (2013). In 2014, Rainey released Obbligato (2014 also on Intakt), his third album as a leader. This album was a collection of improvisations that were inspired by jazz standards. It featured Rainey and Gress, Ralph Alessi, Kris Davis, and Laubrock. Allmusic
