NELS CLINE
The Inkling
Cryptogramophone
CG105

The thing I like most about Nels Cline is his authenticity. In an age where many avant-garde players proudly trumpet their affinities with the punk rock and hard-core scene to anyone with a laptop and a pair of ears, Cline has toured and recorded extensively with an impressive array of artists from the cutting edge of modern rock music (including members of the Minutemen and Sonic Youth). His profound and varied musical experience also includes stints with respected jazz reedmen Julius Hemphill, Tim Berne and Vinny Golia, and the all-acoustic cooperative Quartet Music (which also featured Nels’ twin bother Alex, multi-instrumentalist Eric von Essen, and Cryptogramophone head honcho Jeff Gauthier). For several years, Cline successfully pursued a sort of punk / improv fusion with his own musically wayward guitar – bass – drums trio. Through it all, Cline’s total disregard for genres and other fashion-or business-related pigeonholes helped him forge an immediately-recognizable sound and made him one of the most interesting guitarists around today.

The Inkling at least demonstrates that Cline’s taste in sidemen is impeccable. Bassist Mark Dresser spent over a decade in Anthony Braxton’s quartet, and his application of extended techniques and alternative miking schemes is now widely imitated. He can also play the blues. Drummer Billy Mintz is a master of shading, light, and percussive understatement. However, he is best known for a first-rate drumset instruction book he wrote almost 3 decades ago titled "Different Drummers." Through the 80s and 90s, Zeena Parkins’ amazing music has literally redefined what it means to play the harp. Parkins does not appear on 3 of the disc’s 10 pieces. "New Old Hat" is an engaging conversation between the resonant, woody tones of Dresser’s contrabass and Cline’s acoustic guitar. Mintz perfectly floats a sizzle cymbal and softly malleted drums over their discourse. The remaining two trio tracks, "Sunken Song" and "Moth Song," are jazzy explorations that seem like the next several steps beyond some of the pieces on his wonderful 1991 recording for Enja, Silencer. However, Dresser and Mintz take these tunes into an altogether different rhythmic space than the members of Cline’s former trio. The tracks with Parkins include raucous metallic freebop jams ("Spider Wisdom"), beautifully-paced acoustic improvisations that have a surprisingly compositional feel ("Circular," "Shale Bed"), and abstract electronic explorations ("Queen of Angels"). The 15-plus minutes of "Alstromeria" are as gripping and vital as anything I’ve heard in the past couple of years. Tightly composed themes are interspersed with exquisite, slowly unfolding trio and quartet improvisations. A pulse builds and dissolves into Dresser’s stunningly twisted bass solo, underneath which Parkins and Cline build a unison melodic figure that sounds like a slightly malfunctioning Mahavishnu music box.

With The Inkling, Cline has accomplished something truly awe-inspiring: a totally individual statement that combines and synthesizes past musical experiences and points toward fascinating new possibilities. Cline’s breadth as a composer and improvisor seems to me to be a work of art in itself. Stunning, gorgeous, scary and wonderful. Buy.

Dave Wayne

Track Listings: 1. New Old Hat; 2. Spider Wisdom; 3. Circular; 4. Sunken Song; 5. Shale Bed; 6. Alstromeria; 7. Moth Song; 8. Cork Farm; 9. Queen of Angels; 10. Lullaby for Ian

Personnel: Nels Cline, acoustic guitar (Tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 8) and electric guitar (Tracks 2, 4, 7, 9, 10); Mark Dresser, contrabass; Billy Mintz, drumset; Zeena Parkins, acoustic harp (3, 5, 6, 8) and electric harp (2, 9, 10)