Nels Cline

Nels Cline ( born January 4, 1956 in Los Angeles ) is an American guitarist of Modern Creative Jazz.

Life and work

With his twin brother, percussionist Alex Cline, Cline was already playing together in early youth. He graduated from the University Senior High School in Los Angeles where he continued to be active. Together with his brother, violinist Jeff Gauthier and bassist Eric Von Essen he founded in 1979 the group Quartet Music. In addition, he trained with Steuart Liebig 1983, the band Bloc. He took on various projects by Vinnie Golia part and started his own, focused initially on Fusion Jazz Trio and reduced his means of expression and further, until he scored a hard and minimalist sound he often presented in duo projects with Thurston Moore and Elliott Sharp. He is a member of the band Banyan. In addition, he worked with Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Tim Berne, Stacy Rowles, Jessica Lurie and Steuart Liebig, but also with Mike Watt and Willie Nelson. On Gregg Bendians album Interstellar Space Revisited he transferred the part of John Coltrane on the guitar. He had a similar role on the album Electric Ascension (2003 ) that the Rova Saxophone Quartet recorded with guests. The Acoustic Guitar Trio with Jim McAuley and Rod Poole, he dealt with microtonal improvisation. Since 2004, Cline is lead guitarist of the U.S. independent rock band Wilco.

Wolf Kampmann called Cline as one of the few character defining jazz guitarists on the West Coast. 2007 brought him the Rolling Stone magazine among the new Topgitarristen.

Lexigraphischer entry

  • Wolf Kampmann Reclams Jazz Encyclopedia Stuttgart 2002
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