Instrumental Voices
NELS CLINE IS one of those rare musicians who traverses the worlds of jazz, pop and the avant garde while retaining a unique personal voice throughout the journey. In the guitar world, only Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot come quickly to mind as fellow travelers. Cline is equally at home and equally himself whether playing rock-god guitar solos on his Fender Jazzmaster at pop festivals with Wilco, wielding his Gibson Barney Kessel on theater stages in duo with Julian Lage, or assaying lap steel with Mike Baggetta in the tiny back room of a Brooklyn bar.
Share the Wealth (Blue Note), the latest record with his instrumental band, the ironically named Nels Cline Singers, manages to incorporate elements from each of the guitarist’s many musical worlds. The one cover tune, “Segunda,” by Caetano Veloso, features him trading searing solos with saxophone and keys. Elsewhere, he creates the kind of soundscapes at which he is equally adept, while his acoustic side is represented on some sensitive tunes, stemming from personal loss.
“I HAD TO PUSH MYSELF TO PLAY MORE GUITAR. I’M MORE COMFORTABLE THESE DAYS PLAYING CHORDS”
In this version of the Singers, Cline is joined by drummer Scott Amendola, Skerik on tenor saxophone, bassist Trevor Dunn, Brian Marsella on keys, and Cyro Baptista on percussion and vocals. All, save Baptista, are adding electronic textures to the tunes, until it is impossible at some points to discern who is doing what.
