Jazz Articles about Alex Cline

Alex Cline: Continuation

by Troy Collins
March 1, 2009

Twin brother of guitarist Nels Cline, percussionist Alex Cline has often been portrayed as the quieter half, with his introspective leanings serving as the delicate yin to Nels' assertive yang. Cross-cultural metaphors aside, Alex's discography is filled with allusions to his longstanding interest in Eastern spirituality.

Fittingly, Cline's albums often exude an air of introspective tranquility--an aesthetic focus that contrasts with his brother's more omnivorous approach. Less prolific than his sibling, Continuation is Cline's eighth album as a ...

Alex Cline: Continuation

by John Kelman
February 5, 2009

It's been a long time since percussionist/composer Alex Cline last released an album under his own name. 1999's Sparks Fly Upward and 2001's The Constant Flame (both on Cryptogramophone), culminated his evolving Alex Cline Ensemble, combining measured spontaneity with long-form writing that, in its near-classical approach to compositional development, was a unique confluence of form and freedom. Continuation represents two significant changes for Cline: first, it's a far more overtly improvisational disc than his Ensemble records, even as Cline's predilection ...

John Wolf Brennan - Alex Cline - Daniele Patumi - Tscho Theissing - John Voirol: Shooting Stars & Traffic Lights

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 22, 2007

Prendete 3/4 di Pago Libre (Patumi, Brennan, Theissing). Aggiungeteci una dose di batteria (Cline) ed una di sax (Voirol). Il risultato è un cocktail differente, ma altrettanto gustoso. Sia quindi lodata la Leo Records, che ha provveduto a ristampare questo album, originariamente uscito per la Bellaphon nel 1995. Nella sola prima traccia, ci sono molte più idee, molti più spunti tematici, molti più motivi di interesse, di quanti normalmente non se ne trovano in un intero CD di buon livello. ...

Alex Cline/Kaoru/Miya Masaoka/G.E. Stinson: Cloud Plate

by Peter Aaron
April 30, 2005

While Wilco guitarist Nels Cline may now be a household name to the indie rock world, his twin brother, drummer Alex Cline, like Nels, has been a respected player on the LA new music scene since the late '70s. But as long as Alex maintains the same high standard of innovation that's all over this terrific release--as well as in the work he's done with luminaries like Vinny Golia and Julius Hemphill, in his own Alex Cline Ensemble, and with ...

Alex Cline/Kaoru/Miya Masaoka/G.E. Stinson: Cloud Plate

by John Kelman
April 5, 2005

Sometimes it's all about context. A week after his previous studio effort, The Constant Flame, was recorded, percussionist Alex Cline was reconvened with guitarist G.E. Stinson and vocalist Kaoru from that session, also adding koto player Miya Masaoka, for a day of purely unstructured improvisation. The resulting album, Cloud Plate, is, to a large extent, in direct contrast to the more clearly constructed, albeit inarguably experimental, nature of The Constant Flame.

Still, what is remarkable about Cloud Plate is how, ...

Gregg Bendian's Interzone: Requiem for Jack Kirby

by Todd S. Jenkins
March 1, 2002

An impeccable tribute to an incomparable artist. Jack Kirby was one of the great comic-book creators, a dweller in places of long shadows and stark colors who fathered the Fantastic Four, Captain America, the X-Men and other legendary Marvel Comics. A musical tribute to a visual artist working in that medium might seem strange, but Interzone managed to pull off a coup. The music on Requiem is dead-on evocative of Kirby's grotesque otherworlds, and fascinating at that. From ...

Don Preston Trio: Transformation

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 2001

Pianist Don Preston brings together an unusual combination of composure and freedom on his trio disc Transformation. While most of these pieces assume a reflective posture, the group also takes its liberties and spikes the mix with a good dose of healthy dissonance. That unassuming energy may reflect itself as melodic flights around the edges of formal harmony, as on “The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue." Or it may advance through stuttering collective improvisation, as on “Walking BatterieWoman." The key forces ...