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Nels 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 ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline: New Monastery: A View Into The Music of Andrew Hill
by John Kelman
The problem with tribute records is that they are often too literal, and artists mistake reverence for true appreciation. Not so with Nels Cline's New Monastery: A View into the Music of Andrew Hill. If the best way to honor a source is to demonstrate how it's altered one's own musical perspective in a deeply personal way, then Cline's homage is one that should please fans of both the aging pianist and the intrepid left coast guitarist. While there are ...
Continue ReadingMyra Melford Be Bread: The Image of Your Body
by Troy Collins
Pianist Myra Melford has an abiding interest in India. She cites the writings of the Sufi mystic poet Rumi, as well as her own harmonium studies there, as major influences on her writing, again borrowing from the subcontinent's traditions on this album. Many of these pieces were composed on melodica, enriching them with a strong harmonic foundation and lyric character that she transposes into a sumptuous group sound.
Melford's core trio of veteran bassist Stomu Takeishi (from two ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline: New Monastery: A View Into The Music of Andrew Hill
by Troy Collins
In his liner notes, Nels Cline claims that New Monastery is not a tribute record to iconic pianist Andrew Hill, but merely one view of the rich potential found in his multifaceted compositions. The guitarist assembled an unusual sextet to explore the bittersweet and occasionally turbulent world of Hill's music. Accordionist Andrea Parkins, clarinetist Ben Goldberg and cornetist Bobby Bradford were recruited to join Cline's ironically named trio with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola, the Nels Cline Singers, ...
Continue ReadingWayne Peet Quartet: Live at Al’s Bar
by AAJ Italy Staff
La californiana pfMENTUM tira fuori dagli archivi tre quarti d’ora di musica piena di grinta e di suggestioni, registrata in un bar di Los Angeles alla fine di aprile del 1999. La leadership del gruppo è nominalmente accreditata all’organista Wayne Peet ma sul palco i due chitarristi Nels Cline e G.E. Stinson non si tirano certo indietro e anche il meno noto batterista Russell Bizzett dimostra di essere perfettamente a suo agio nella fase propulsiva, particolarmente importante per una musica ...
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