Nels Cline and Julian Lage? Really?

At first blush, it may seem like an odd combination - a guitarist perhaps best known for playing in a rock band, but whose experience in jazz, punk and experimental music goes back decades; teaming up with a relative newcomer on the scene with an affinity for a more traditional approach. Having seen them perform together, though, I can assure you - they make beautiful music together.

Any musical partnership requires that each player have open years, and be able to react to what the other is doing. Happily, the respective experience of these two particular guitarists lends itself well to an open-eared collaboration. Nels Cline has made a name for himself performing in settings which require maximum flexibility - in his own Nels Cline Singers, with musicians like Tim Berne, Jim Black, Charlie Haden and Yoko Ono, and even with painter Norton Wisdom for a project called Stained Radiance. Julian Lage, recognized as a child prodigy, was taken under Gary Burton's wing but over the past several years has explored broad musical horizons for his own albums and in projects with Fred Hersch, Mark O'Connor, John Patitucci, Bela Fleck and others. The result is a mix of their various influences. Here's a relatively straight-ahead sample which shows off some of the technique which has earned each guitarist acclaim:

Chops aside, though, to me the most interesting aspect of the duo is the musical travels their performances take. I didn't really know about Nels Cline until recently when a colleague raved about him (I admit to not knowing much about Wilco); Julian Lage could (though less now) be classified as an emerging artist. So when I saw the duo perform at Winter Jazzfest in New York in 2012, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, other than "this should probably be good." It ended up being a highlight of the weekend for me. When Lage and Cline perform together, they mix composition with spontaneous improvisation; groove-based playing with more ethereal textures; blues licks with what could be classical excerpts. The result is unexpected, fascinating, and a joyful ride. Here's another clip - this one travels a bit further afield than the first example above:

A concert featuring fully improvised music requires a different investment from an audience - there must be a willingness to suspend pre-conceived notions of melody and harmony, and to just go along for the ride. What reassures me, when I'm entering into a less-familiar musical situation as an audience member, is the knowledge that the music will be performed at a high level. Nels Cline has been hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, while Julian Lage was recently a winner in the Downbeat Magazine "Rising Star Guitar" category. So you will be in good musical hands when these two take the stage.

I was able to find online a (somewhat shaky) recording of that Winter Jazzfest show which impressed me so - here's a clip:

The Nels Cline/Julian Lage Duo performs at the Horseshoe Tavern on Tuesday, June 24 at 10 pm. Buy tickets now or, for more information, visit their concert page.

Josh