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The Nels Cline Singers: Draw Breath
by Troy Collins
Draw Breath, the third album from guitarist Nels Cline's ironically named instrumental trio, The Nels Cline Singers, offers another superlative collection of diverse electro-acoustic improvisation.
Cline has been the subject of an unprecedented amount of press for an avant-garde musician, courtesy of his recent stint as lead guitarist for Wilco and his designation as a “Guitar God" by Rolling Stone Magazine. Deserving of the hype, Cline is one of the most versatile and essential guitarists working today, irrespective ...
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by John Kelman
2007 is shaping up to be the year for outstanding releases by guitarists in and around the jazz sphere. Steve Khan, John Abercrombie and David Torn have already released some of their best work in years. Add to that Nels Cline, whose New Monastery (Cryptogramophone, 2006) was on many critics' “best of" lists. Draw Breath pares down New Monastery's sextet to its core trio, The Nels Cline Singers, who've been a stable unit for over half a decade. Cline, bassist ...
Continue ReadingThe Nels Cline Singers: Draw Breath
by Mark Corroto
Maybe the one-off joke is that this band's name has worn thin since their 2002 release Instrumentals (Cryptogramophone), but the flavor continues.
Recently appointed guitar god Nels Cline has been garnering attention of late as the touring (now studio) guitarist for the pop band Wilco. But for jazz fans he has been the guitarist for much of the west coast scene since the 1980s.
Draw Breath is the The Nels Cline Singers' third release following Cline's very hip New Monastery ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline: New Monastery
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ascoltare questo album fa piacere, non solo per la l’eclettismo della proposta, ma anche perché in questo caso il pianista Andrew Hill è oggetto di un peculiare ma significativo riconoscimento, ricevendo il tributo di un intero disco da un musicista curioso come il chitarrista Nels Cline. Uno a cui la definizione di “jazzista” va decisamente stretta. Hill, che ha dimostrato anche con l’ultimo Time Lines la profondità della sua idea di jazz e, qualcuno direbbe, della sua “estetica”, è stato ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline: Entering the New Monastery
by Rex Butters
Having recently shared a 50th birthday recital/jam with his twin brother, Alex, at Cryptogramophone label owner/producer Jeff Gauthier's Cryptonight, LA's Nels Cline shows no sign of slowing down. A musician of limitless range, he creates, among other sounds, noise using kitchen utensils on a heavily processed guitar, enhances Willie Nelson tunes with soulful ornamentation, rocks Wilco, and offers versions of the music of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and now Andrew Hill. Featuring Nels Cline Singers colleagues Scott Amendola on drums ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline / Wally Shoup / Chris Corsano: Immolation / Immersion
by Paul C. Dowd
A caveat to anyone who listens to this record on headphones: be sure to have the volume levels properly calibrated, or you will incur a jolt from the initial skronk of “Lake of Fire Memories. At this point of the opening strains of Immolation/Immersion, most traditionalists will probably opt out of this musical journey, which includes the 28-minute title track. This disc is not for everyone--and like an Ornette Coleman or John Zorn record, it has no intentions of being ...
Continue ReadingMyra Melford Be Bread: The Image of Your Body
by John Kelman
It's been a couple of years since pianist Myra Melford released the broad-scoped, orchestral Where the Two Worlds Touch (Arabesque, 2004) by her group The Tent. Since then she's relocated to Berkeley from New York and, if anything, the duality of her previous record is explored in even greater detail on The Image of Your Body, featuring her new group, Be Bread. It's no surprise, given that the new disc was recorded only eight months after the Arabesque session. That ...
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