Jazz Articles

Bobby Bradford and Friends: Stealin' Home: Jackie Robinson Suite

by Chuck Koton
August 8, 2022

Born in Mississippi in 1934 and raised in Dallas, Texas, cornet master and composer Bobby Bradford knows racism and segregation. When asked if Texas was completely segregated, Bradford said, “If there's a word stronger than 'completely,' that was Texas." In spite of the hate and discrimination of everyday life in the Jim Crow South, Bradford and his family were tuned in to events around the country that impacted African Americans. They “got the news from the outside world" from Black ...

Alex Cline's Flower Garland Orchestra: Oceans of Vows

by John Kelman
March 23, 2017

Despite being a key participant in the “Left Coast" scene of more avant-leaning music from the American west coast--in particular, part of the Cryptogramophone imprint that, while less active than in its “glory days" during the first years of the new millennium--Alex Cline releases so infrequently as a leader that any new music from the percussionist/composer is worthy of attention. That he has flown so far under the radar, in recent years, that his last Cryptogramophone release, 2013's For People ...

The Jeff Gauthier Goatette: Open Source

by Ian Patterson
December 11, 2011

Open Source would have made a good alternative name for violinist Jeff Gauthier's ensemble, as it draws inspiration from myriad sources. Goatette continues its near twenty-year journey into territory ranging from avant-garde and sci-fi soundscapes, and deep funk grooves colored by searing electric guitar, to an altogether more pastoral melodicism reminiscent of the Mahavishnu Orchestra at its most serene. Now a sextet with the addition of trumpeter John Fumo, the widely traveled musician steers a course between post-bop and electric ...

The Jeff Gauthier Goatette: Open Source

by John Kelman
October 27, 2011

When two-thirds of a group has “effects" in their instrumental credits, it's a safe bet this ain't your granddaddy's jazz. When it's violinist Jeff Gauthier's Goatette, punctuating the quirky theme in the first moments of “40 Lashes (With Mascara)" with thundering drums and high-octane power chords, it's clear that Open Source is going to make plenty of demands--and not just on the musicians who play it. Any group featuring the intrepid Cline twins--guitarist Nels and drummer Alex--is ...

Tim Berne / Jim Black / Nels Cline: The Veil

by Troy Collins
June 22, 2011

Recorded live at The Stone in New York City on a sweltering July evening in 2009, The Veil is the debut of BB&C (also known as The Sons of Champignon), an acronym for alto saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Jim Black and guitarist Nels Cline--veteran improvisers with a long history of collaboration. Cline first recorded with Berne in the early '80s, while Black was a member of Berne's revered '90s era Bloodcount quartet. Unfolding as a single uninterrupted long-form improvisation and ...

Nels Cline: Dirty Baby

by Mark Corroto
November 21, 2010

Those not hearing Nels Cline's music lately just aren't listening. Besides gracing rock band Wilco's albums and live shows, he seems to be the hottest jazz/improv guitarist of late. Right on the heels of his two-disc Initiate (Cryptogramophone, 2010)--maybe the jazz record of the year--he drops another double set, Dirty Baby, which is part of an art book, published by Delmonico Books Prestel, that re-contextualizes 66 works by artist Ed Ruscha with music and spoken word. These two CDs have ...

The Nels Cline Singers: Initiate

by Mark Corroto
April 24, 2010

The release of the Nels Cline Singers 2-disc Initiate, a two hour-and-fifteen minute behemoth of sound, calls to mind a similar effort of 30 years ago, entitled Sandinista! (Epic, 1980) by the influential punk band turned prophets, The Clash. Like Mick Jones and Joe Strummer's 3-LP project, Cline's vision is too big to be encapsulated into a single genre or sound-byte blurb.

The guitarist Nels Cline, now famous as 'the sound' behind the rock band Wilco, was a ...

The Nels Cline Singers: Initiate

by Troy Collins
April 6, 2010

Called “The World's Most Dangerous Guitarist" by Jazz Times and named one of twenty “Guitar Gods" by Rolling Stone, Nels Cline's profile has expanded considerably since his collaborations with underground personalities like Thurston Moore and Mike Watt and recruitment by Wilco in 2004. Cline's roots in the West Coast jazz scene pre-date his newfound mainstream recognition however, dating back to the mid-1970s.

Initiate is the fourth release from The Nels Cline Singers, Cline's versatile ten-year old power trio ...

Nels Cline: Coward

by Stuart Broomer
May 12, 2009

Few guitarists cover the sheer range of Nels Cline, moving between genres from folk and rock, as a member of Wilco, to free jazz, with Vinny Golia and Gregg Bendian among others, to his own highly eclectic projects that impinge on all of these categories. Coward is a solo record, in the sense that it's the work of a single musician, but it rarely sounds that way, Cline building up many of the pieces with layers of ...

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 ...