Nels Cline is one of these fascinating marginal guitarists. Like Marc Ribot or Arto Lindsay. Navigating in experimental waters between jazz and rock, the Californian became Wilco’s main guitarist in 2004. A full-time job that doesn’t stop him from dabbling in a few solo projects here and there. And the result is always compelling, like with Lovers released by Blue Note in 2016, a record closer to the instrumental albums of the 1950s than the avant-garde treatises that Cline was often keen on.
Two years later with Currents, Constellations, he’s back onto a field more in tune with his DNA, leading a band called The Nels Cline 4, which is in fact the rebirth of his duo with guitarist Julian Lage (documented on the magnificent album Room released by Mack Avenue in 2014), complemented here by a five-star rhythmic made up of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Tom Rainey. A quartet of adventurers capable of wild swerves as well as more laidback, almost contemplative sequences. The complementarity of both guitarists is the secret to this never formulaic initiative, which will delight not only aficionados of jazz guitar, but many others too!
