People who buy Tim Berne's records generally know what they're letting themselves in for (and he knows that they know). So the influential US saxophonist feels free to make fairly hefty demands on the attention of his listeners. Shadow Man, the follow-up to last year's widely praised debut, delves deeper into Berne's difficult, beautiful sound world, mixing delicately intricate writing with muscular group improv, executed with utter conviction by clarinetist Oscar Noriega, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Ches Smith. Berne calls the sound he's reaching for "transparent density", and every crash, bang and wallop is audible on this pristine ECM recording. In the end, though, it is Berne's occult skills as a composer and bandleader that make this compelling, super-dense music apparently see-through. Worth the trouble. ecmrecords.com