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Nels and Alex Cline: 50 Years in the Making
by Jonathan Manning
On their sixty-second birthday, Nels Cline and Alex Cline realized they had been playing music together for fifty years. Since their very youngest days playing music, finding inspiration in The Byrds and King Crimson and exploring jazz and experimental music most of their peers wouldn't bat an eye at, the twins have developed recordings and performed at countless shows that highlight their venture into adventurous music-making. While the brothers now reside on opposite coasts--Alex in Los Angeles, still close to ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Fukushima
by Karl Ackermann
Satoko Fujii's Orchestra New York has been together since their 1997 debut South Wind (Leo Lab/Libra). A “super group" by any standards, it has remained largely intact over the course of twenty years, bringing the ensemble to its latest release, Fukushima, a memorial suite. The Fukushima nuclear accident was caused by a major earthquake and a subsequent tsunami and was the worst such incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Fujii was in Tokyo at the time, in 2011. There were ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Fukushima
by Dan McClenaghan
In 2011 an earthquake set into motion the events that would create a partial meltdown of fuel rods in the reactors in the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Radiation was released. The effects are still felt, and will be for decades (at least)--an especially troubling situation for the only country to have experienced the initially catastrophic and ultimately corrosive and malignant aftermath of a nuclear attack. Satoko Fujii, the Japanese pianist/composer/band leader, has something to say about ...
Continue ReadingIl meglio del 2016 Secondo Vic Albani
by Vic Albani
Kate Bush Before the Dawn (Fish People) Nels Cline Lovers (Blue Note Records) Andrew Cyrille The Declaration of Musical Independence (ECM Records) Dave Douglas, Frank Woeste Dada People (Greenleaf Music) Taylor Ho Bynum Enter the PlusTet (Firehouse 12 Records) Gianluca Petrella Cosmic Renaissance (Spacebone) Marcus Strickland's Twi-Life Nihil novi (Blue Note Records) Thumbscrew Convallaria ...
Continue ReadingJerome Wilson's Best Releases of 2016
by Jerome Wilson
Any “best of the year" list is really a snapshot in time. It's impossible to listen to all the worthwhile jazz music out there so you end up making a list based on what you've heard during the year. With apologies to Kris Davis, John Scofield, Darcy James Argue and all the other musicians whose CDs I haven't heard yet, here is my current Best Of for 2016. Nels Cline Lovers Blue Note Records
Continue ReadingNels Cline: Lovers
by Mark Sullivan
No one can accuse guitarist Nels Cline of being predictable. He has recorded with his avant-garde trio the Nels Cline Singers most consistently (with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola), but also led larger groups, such as the one on New Monastery (Cryptogramophone, 2006). More recently there was his duet with guitarist Julian Lage on Room (Mack Avenue, 2014), not to mention his membership in the rock group Wilco since 2004. His Blue Note debut Lovers is a unique ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline: Lovers
by Jerome Wilson
When I first heard excerpts from Nels Cline's Lovers project, I wasn't too impressed. I thought it sounded like some kind of archaic “mood music" album. Then as I heard more about the set, including the songs being performed and the personnel performing them, I became intrigued. Now I've heard the entire thing and understand what a monumental work it is. Cline has created a kaleidoscopic orchestral tribute to all the facets and emotions of love that is ...
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