Crypto Musings

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OPEN GATE

This week marks an important milestone for a dear Crypto friend and recording artist Mr. Alex Cline, who not only is a brilliant percussionist but also a walking database of fascinating jazz factoids. (Take the one he literally just told me five minutes ago when he phoned while I was writing this: one of the names on Richard Nixon's infamous Enemies List was the space jazz pioneer, pianist and bandleader Sun Ra. Good lord. Was George Clinton also in Nixon's sights for "conspiring to bring tha funk"?!)

But that's Alex. So full of stuff like that that I write him off on my Income Taxes because he always gives me such great story ideas, like this one.

But anyway, back to the milestone: Ten years ago, in March 1997, Will Salmon of Open Gate Theatre asked the group's longtime percussionist, Alex Cline, if he would be interested in curating a series of concerts in conjunction with the troupe's bid to have a regular venue in which to mount its productions. Reluctantly, recognizing that at the time there was virtually no venue left in the Los Angeles area to showcase its many vital and important uncompromising musical artists, Cline agreed, the concerts beginning first on Saturday evenings at the American Legion Hall in Pasadena, soon moving to the first Sunday of every month at the Pasadena Shakespeare Company Theater in the Pasadena Mall (which was torn down two years later), and finally at what is currently called the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock. Presenting a mix of creative jazz, new music, free improvisation, and generally unusual music for which a venue is normally hard to find (Alex has jokingly referred to the musical acts "usually unbookable"), the series has scarcely missed a month in its decade-long run.

Just gander a peek at the names who've played there over the years: Ellery Eskelin, Andrea Parkins, William Roper, Michael Vlakovitch, Andrew Pask, Brad Dutz, Sara Schoebeck, G.E. Stinson, Dan Clucas, Tim Berne's Paraphrase, Tom McNalley, Mark Dresser, Antenna Repairmen, Susan Rawcliffe, Brad Dutz Obliteration Quartet, Vinny Golia, Kraig Grady, Cat Lamb, InFlux Ensemble, David Johnson, Will Salmon, Saadet Turkosz, Nathan Hubbard, Justin Grinnell, Rob Sudduth, Ches Smith, Carla Bozulich, Steuart Liebig, Ellen Burr, Dottie Grossman, Kris Tiner -- not to mention Alex's and Crypto's own Fearless Leader Jeff Gauthier.

To celebrate this milestone, the series is presenting a special extended evening of music (beginning at 6:00) and is providing complementary food and beverages for the audience to enjoy as they listen to sets by the electric guitar duo of Nels Cline and G.E. Stinson, the trio of vocalist Kaoru, guitarist Carey Fosse, and percussionist Brad Dutz, the duo of violinist Jeff Gauthier and percussionist Alex Cline, and the Open Gate Theatre Music Ensemble, which for this occasion will include Will Salmon on flute and voice, Dan Clucas on cornet, Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon, Bill Casale on bass, and Cline again supplying percussion -- twice the usual amount of music for the same low price!  Perhaps of interest, among the artists appearing are all the artists who appeared in the series' first concert ten years ago, namely Stinson, Nels Cline, Kaoru, and Dutz (in Stinson's group of the time, A Thousand Other Names), and Salmon and Cline (as Open Gate Theatre in Salmon's piece Atsumori). No one certainly expected to be presenting these concerts for so long, but all concerned are hoping that the series will continue to provide an outlet for the area's remarkable community of imaginative, adventurous, and accomplished musicians.

Here's the official invite fer y'all:

Open Gate Theatre Presents its Sunday Evening Concert
for Sunday, March 4, 2007
at 6pm
(note the different time)

THE TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR OUR MONTHLY MUSIC SERIES
Come celebrate with us!

featuring
The Open Gate Theatre Music Ensemble (6pmish)
Jeff Gauthier & Alex Cline Duo (7pmish)
Kaoru-Carey Fosse-Brad Dutz (8pmish)
Nels Cline-G.E. Stinson Duo (9pmish)
and
The Grand Finale (entire cast of performers, along with Sting, Bono, Paul Simon, Sinead O'Connor, Van Morrison, John Mellencamp, Little Steven Van Zandt and the surviving members of Queen all assemble for a gang-sing on "I Shall Be Released from Knockin' on Heaven's Door". . .

. . .no, no, kidding, but it'll be a blast)

Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock
2225 Colorado Blvd., LA, CA
(just west of Eagle Rock Blvd., near the intersection of the 2 and 134 Freeways)
Free parking is plentiful!

$10 tickets, ($5 students, seniors and series artists)
For information call (626) 795-4989

In fact, our pal Kirk Silsbee at L.A. Citybeat threw our Alex some love in this week's ish:

Alex Cline’s Blended Vocabularies
Jazz drummer? Exotic sound-maker? For L.A.’s new-music impresario, it all goes together
by Kirk Silsbee
(02-22-07)

Horace Tapscott’s small band once played at Catalina Bar & Grill, when that club was in its original location on Cahuenga Boulevard. One night, before the group hit, word came that the regular drummer couldn’t make it. Tapscott asked, “Anybody know a drummer?” Bassist Roberto Miranda finally spoke up. “I know Alex Cline,” he offered. Tapscott simply asked, “Can he play?” Assured that Cline could do the job, Miranda was told to call him, and fast. As the musicians were playing their opener, Cline came in through the front door, walked to the bandstand, and began setting up his kit. The band members, who didn’t know him, threw skeptical glances at the sandy-haired drummer. Then Cline began playing – stoking the beat, goosing the soloists, and shading the contours of the tune. Frontline players felt the heat, turned around, and gave him grins. Before the set was over, the bandstand chatter included “We gotta get this guy again!”

There are at least two Alex Clines. The ensemble drummer gained instant validation in 1984, when alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill drafted Cline into his JAH Band. (Alex’s twin brother, guitarist Nels Cline, was also part of that crew.) A photo in the liners of Hemphill’s Georgia Blue album of that year shows Alex’s head, bookended by cymbals in mid-performance, with a crazed look in his eye and a mallet clenched in his teeth. A mature version of this Alex Cline drums for Arthur Blythe about once a month at Café Metropol in downtown L.A.

The other Alex Cline is a hand and mallet percussionist known for his improvised sound pieces. In years past, Cline the instant composer was likely to work in the midst of a hardware store’s worth of percussive instruments and found objects, girded by metal scaffolding that supported large gongs of various sizes. Bundt cake molds, plastic pill containers with small objects inside, and any number of “legitimate” and unorthodox instruments got equal use. A Paleolithic engraving of him in one of these settings would have given Eric von Däniken fodder for a second volume of Chariots of the Gods.

“The key thing to what I do,” confirms Cline, “is two extremes – jazz drum set player and exotic sound-making person. There’s this big expanse in between where unorthodox approaches and rhythmic ideas meet. These are blended vocabularies.”

The 50-year-old drummer plays straight time or no time with equal flourish and attention to nuance. Both Alex Clines are in short supply these days, but Cline the husband and father still finds time to curate SoCal’s long-running monthly Open Gate Theatre series. He’s provided exposure to many composers, players, and improvisers – all operating under the loose banner of “new music” – who have little or no chance of finding work in nightclubs and concert settings. The next installment, on March 3, will mark the 10-year anniversary of these concerts.

Occasionally, at the behest of the artists he presents, Cline is prevailed upon to play. Earlier this month, for example, he offered five short pieces at the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, Open Gate’s third home. A layout of instruments covered a 10-foot-square blanket – suspended gongs, numerous cymbals, and two large sets of bowls of various sizes. For 40 or so minutes, Cline held 30-some people in the acoustically resonant room in rapt silence. At various points, he would hold a bowl in his palm and rotate a wooden mortar around its rim, producing an eerie whirring that hung in the air for a minute or so after he stopped. These were Tibetan singing bowls.

He made clever use of a marching drum with a 36-inch head, setting various objects on the head to achieve novel sounds. At one juncture, he turned a group of small cymbals face down on the head, held them down, and struck them with mallets. The resulting sonic waves were almost identical to some of the space-age effects made by such 1960s electronic composers as Xenakis. On the same drumhead, Cline conjured another aural vocabulary with a chain, a California license plate, and a metal dog-food bowl.

The featured performer that night was composer Kraig Grady, who, on a pump organ, mixed and matched long, sustained microtones with violist Cat Lamb. Past the monotony, the subtleties of tone and texture grew quite intriguing, producing mental illusions that became larger with time. Grady represents just one point on the huge spectrum of artists who’ve found a forum in Open Gate. Cline and Open Gate partner Will Salmon have presented renegades from jazz, contemporary classical, and alternative, along with left-of-center music makers of all kinds. Yet the audience for such a series is, almost by definition, tiny.

“Even if there are great people on the bills, people don’t always turn out for them,” says vocal innovator and composer Bonnie Barnett. Cohost (with Emily Hay and Dan Krimm) of Trilogy, the weekly new-music show on KXLU (88.9 FM), she well understands the difficulties of keeping such a series afloat. “That’s the state of the new-music audience, and all of us have to make our own solutions to problems like that. But I’m grateful that Alex and Will have been so persistent.”

Barnett, whose work with multiple voices revels in acoustics and overtones, has equal regard for Open Gate’s current space. “It’s very homey, and when there’s a concert, that’s the only thing going on,” she says. “I used to love the weekly New Music Mondays,” the series curated by Nels Cline at the now-defunct Alligator Lounge in West L.A. “I loved the excitement at the Alligator and at Cryptonight at the Club Tropical. But the restaurant activity sometimes took the attention away from the music.

“If you want to drag a criticism out of me,” Barnett offers, “it’s only that Open Gate operates just once a month, and some of the same people get booked two and three times a year. It’s a problem with new-music vocalists. But you just have to be diligent and keep asking, ‘Can I get booked?’”

Yet the future of Open Gate is again in doubt. The Center for the Arts is raising the rent, even though Cline and Salmon can barely afford the space as it is. Cline intends to honor the bookings he already has through the spring. And he’s been here before.

“It’s been 10 years of this,” he says, “so … we’ll see. I don’t know right now; I have to talk it over with Will. It affects him in another way, because he’s been booking dance performances there through Open Gate Theatre as well. Folks still need a place to play, that much I know for sure!”

With his day job and familial responsibilities, one night a month is about as much as Cline can handle right now. What keeps him going? “The music itself, which consistently satisfies and inspires me,” he says. “I hardly go out anymore, so the concerts are how I hear music now. At this point I just want to be able to continue without too much stress.” Yet, he adds, “Whenever I felt like throwing in the towel, I’d do the next concert and say to myself, ‘I can’t stop this. It’s too important.’” (article courtesy of L.A. Citybeat...t'anks peeps!)

DEDICATION: NELS CLINE PAYS TRIBUTE TO ANDREW HILL

In 1971, when my twin brother Alex and I were about 16 years old, we were exposed to the music of John Coltrane by a friend who thought my brother would like the music since he loved Frank Zappa’s “instrumental stuff.” As West Los Angeles rock ’n’ roll fiends, we were really not prepared for the sensations and wonders that flowed from this music—the first piece we heard was “Africa”—but we loved it right away. This began a whole new quest into the far reaches of improvised music, most of it considered “jazz.” From Coltrane we discovered Miles Davis, and then pretty much all jazz-related impulses were reachable, either by looking back or by looking ahead. Alex heard something off the Tony Williams Lifetime’s Turn It Over one day on the underground FM rock station KPPC, and the rest is history.

We read up, experimented, tried to put it all together. How could we, as neo-suburban-rock and progressive-rock boys, embrace this music? Very early on Alex embraced not just Miles and Tony, but also Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. I became Coltrane-obsessed, but together we also started digging Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Tolliver’s Music Inc., Sam Rivers, Chick Corea and—naturally—Andrew Hill.

Why naturally? If you read those last few names, you know why. Andrew Hill’s music was to us in the same category as all of our favorite Blue Note gems like Sam Rivers’ Fuchsia Swing Song, Anthony Williams’ Spring and Grachan Moncur III’s Evolution, but it was more original, it was unpredictable, it really took you somewhere. And, OK, it was weirder. Perfect. So it’s no surprise that a record with Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson and Anthony Williams would grab our attention. Thus Point of Departure entered the pantheon.

Maybe it was our fellow jazz fiend, drummer Michael Preussner, who played us Judgment!. I can’t recall. (It is, after all, a splendid Elvin Jones date so it makes sense.) All I remember is that it was around this time that I decided to pay more attention to this man Andrew Hill because I liked the compositions. I probably likened his piano playing to a hybrid of Randy Weston, Ahmad Jamal and Bud Powell. Who knows? I still don’t really know. Records like Andrew!!!, with superb [and rare non-Sun Ra] John Gilmore tenor work, as well as Compulsion—a personal favorite—always kept me guessing. In a way, certain pieces like “New Monastery” or “Dedication” reminded me of some of my favorite music, that of the late Booker Little. Then there were tunes like “Pumpkin” and “Black Fire” that had a bit of a Juju-era Wayne Shorter flavor. But there was little to compare pieces like "Spectrum” and “No Doubt” to. This man was intriguing!

As the ‘70s were in full swing, Mr. Hill’s music became freer, as did a lot of music at the time, yet it still feels rooted in harmonic tradition. Hill’s never been predictable or safe, and his music maintains a maverick, loose-limbed quality that trusts the improviser while also providing a visionary sonic structure to work within.

Flash forward to 2005: While working extensively with my trio, the Nels Cline Singers (with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola), I had the odd occasion to add guests to the band. New York-based keyboardist Andrea Parkins sat in with us one night at the Smell in L.A., and Berkeley-based clarinetist Ben Goldberg played a whole set with us one night there at the Starry Plough. I became intrigued with the idea of doing special music involving all five of us. Though many of JazzTimes’ readers may think of me as some kind of errant jazz guitarist, others only know me in my rock guise. My own music over the years has sought to represent my own personal aesthetics. Consequently, everything I do has a bit of both these worlds in it. I am then, obviously, not a purist in any sense. Further, I have become much more visible as a member of the band Wilco. Adding all this up begins to explain my decision to plays Andrew Hill’s music. I wanted to play with this quintet—even if only once, and I wanted to play not my own music, but the music of someone whom I could learn, and also whose music suited itself to freewheeling interpretations by this intriguing group of disparate yet arresting players. I also wanted this music to be written by an under-recognized master living among us today. I wanted to point a finger to someone other than myself, to possibly illuminate a path, create curiosity, give credit and give something back. I guess it sounds a bit silly. But this is what I was thinking. Young listeners listen. They are still open and curious and would do well to absorb Andrew Hill’s music.

Then I started to worry. What is my relationship to jazz? I’m not a real jazz guy! Who do I think I am? But I persevered for two reasons: One was that I really wanted to play with this group of people. After returning to Andrew Hill’s music with this project in mind, it became apparent that I needed a brass player. I asked my friend and inspiration Bobby Bradford to play, and when I saw his enthusiasm, my confidence grew. What a great, weird band! Second, I thought of the music itself. Andrew Hill’s music, from the many solo recordings to the wild ‘n’ woolly large groups, was loose, free and not to be categorized. Maybe he won’t mind; maybe that’s what all of this means. I had met Mr. Hill briefly while I was playing with Greg Bendian’s Interzone at a festival in Skopje, Macedonia many years ago. He was there with his trio and I got a chance to see how absolutely charming he was. I discovered that Ben Goldberg has already played with Andrew and also loved the music passionately. I learned that accordion (which Andrea Parkins is noted for playing) was Andrew’s first instrument. I had to do it.

Selecting the music was hard, mostly because I wanted to do so much of it. It was going to be for my friend Jeff Gauthier’s label, Cryptogramophone, which meant I could pretty much do anything I wanted—it just had to fit on a CD. I started with a list of about 16 pieces. After poring over it for a long time, I decided to combine some of them into suites. This seemed like a good way for the group members, who seemed to be naturally conversant with episodic thought and action, to play. It also mirrored what I see as the way a lot of Mr. Hill’s music evolved after pieces like “Spectrum.” And I could squeeze more compositions on the disc. I didn’t want to do all Blue Note stuff, though I amdit that is what I, like most people, was more familiar with. I had also heard A Beautiful Day and The Day the World Stood Still and really like these two large-group discs, especially the blazing rhythm section of Scott Colley and Nasheet Waits. I bought the Mosaic box of “all of the rest” of the Blue Note sessions, and this really threw me: There was so much really great, wild stuff at the end of the ‘60s here! Sessions with strings (I had some of that on a vinyl “twofer” called One for One); with organ, trios, quintets (some killer Sam Rivers/Robin Kenyatta workouts). I added the jazz-quartet-plus-string-quartet version of “Illusion” to my “must do” list and Ben [Goldberg] agreed.

When all was said and done, I couldn’t do “Illusion.” But I paired the liast down to a manageable size using three categories: pieces that I wanted to play not matter what, pieces that seemed right for the players and pieces that were unobvious. “McNeil Island,” “Compulsion,” “Pumpkin,” “Dedication,” “Reconciliation,” “No Doubt” and “New Monastery”—these were the ones for me. “Yokada Yokada,” “Dance with Death”—those seemed cool for the band’s sound. I changed the rather bright exotica of “Dance with Death” to a dark exotica befitting both the combo and reflecting Mr. Hill’s current struggles. I termed it “Psychedelligtonia.” The more obscure tunes included “The Rumproller” (perhaps a bit of slapstick on my part) and “Not Sa No Sa,” although the latter is also perfect for the musicians’ approaches. I also concede that “No Doubt” is a hidden gem. But who else had played these compositions anyway? I learned that Anthony Braxton has a disc of Hill compositions out, and I had no idea. Man—and I still haven’t heard it! Anyway, I tried to get in touch with Mr. Hill via telephone. Goldberg had his number. And my friend Marty Ehrlich plays with him. But we never hooked up. I get shy, embarrassed, afraid of being annoying. Anyway, I really wanted that string quartet music to “Illusion”! As it turned out, we didn’t have room for it anyway. And after three gigs playing our versions, we had a sound, an identity of sorts. And brother Alex came in for percussion on “Compulsion” and stayed long enough to add to “Dedication.” The feeling was there.

I got all the music together by listening to the recordings, transcribing it, then making arrangements. There might be wrong notes in there! I appealed to Marty Ehrlich for the opening line to “Not Sa No Sa,” which is brisk and “flammy.” He was on tour, but referred me to trumpeter Ron Horton. He had the music, but was also on tour. So all I could do was what I always end up doing: wingin’ it. Both Marty and Ron were very encouraging, as was Michael Cuscuna, who assisted in many ways with information, and who got me permission from Blue Note and from Mr. Hill to use a detail of the cover of Point of Departure for my CD cover. So things kind of fell into place, and possibly in a way that reflects something of Andrew Hill’s music: a kind of controlled, lucid randomness. There is no way I could ever have seen myself doing this: taking down Andrew Hill’s music, putting it together for a group of some of my favorite people. Am I not mostly a self-taught garage rocker? Perhaps no more…

I admit that I still worry that this record is going to be noticed for some of the wrong reasons. To most, I am an electric guitarist, and Andrea Parkins and I use electronics as part of our palette, unlike any of Andrew Hill’s music. I didn’t know when I came up with this idea that Mr. Hill was seriously ill, fighting cancer as I write this (I pray he may recover and play more wonders ofr us). I worry about the jazz police—meaning that I am not, as described a true jazz artiste, but rather a guy pointing to inspiration and attempting some beautiful music in a personal way. What is my stake in the evolution and history of jazz? I really have no idea. But again, look at the man. Listen to his music. It is unpredictable, non-didactic, natural yet advanced, visionary yet approachable, beautiful and free. How can I—or history itself—resist?

(Courtesy of the February 2007 issue of Jazz Times. Thanks, Lee & Co.!)

NELS CLINE IS A "ROLLING STONE GUITAR GOD"!!!

I know I know, no post for 20 days and then boom boom mancini -- 2 in 2 moons!

See, in Indiejazzworld, we wind up focusing so much on the perfection of product that inconsistency in the rest of our lives seems to be the norm, like eating and cleaning yourself regularly, or being so crazed with backed-up work that you wind up "bowl blogging."

(FYI: beware splashes of toilet water on your laptop keyboard).

Anyway, we had just finished yesterday's update when we went down to the drugstore to get some cigarettes and picked up the current issue of Jann Wenner's struggling little indie zine Rolling Stone (the February 22, 2007 issue, 'nards!) and flipped casually though its cover story by RS senior editor David Fricke, The Top 20 New Guitar Gods. . .

. . .and lo and behold (cue drum roll, organ music)

NELS CLINE WAS #4!!!

(cheers, trumpets, doves released)

The piece isn't available online yet (at least not that we know of), so here's a gander:

THE AVANT-ROMANTIC
NELS CLINE
of WILCO
For many rock-guitar fiends, the oldest guitarist on this list is actually the newest. Before joining Wilco in 2004, in time to tour behind A Ghost is Born, Cline -- born in Los Angeles in 1956 -- was a highly regarded figure in jazz and avant-rock circles, a sonically aggressive guitarist who played with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, the art-country band the Geraldine Fibbers and his own searing instrumental groups. Now Cline agitates the bent-pop designs in Wilco's recent music with strafing feedback, zigzagging distortion and, when you least expect it, a striking, scarred romanticism.
ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCE: "Ashes of American Flags," Kicking Television: Live in Chicago (2005)

If you're not familiar with the writer David Fricke, he's a RS lifer and a diehard lover of music in the manner of the rock journalists of the art form's first Golden Age: the late 60s and early-70s. The bespectacled, shaggy-haired Fricke offers somewhat nerdy, somewhat hippyish, but always arresting and articulate (not to mention healthily anti-establishment) presence in such great rock documentaries as Wilco: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart and Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart. He was nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for The Byrds box set There Is A Season. Check him out. Read his shit. It never rings false.

As for Rolling Stone, it was probably wise for photographer Matthew Rolston (cool first name) not to have Nels on the cover. If you haven't seen it, it's a Fleetwood Mac-esque overhead shot of the poll's Top 3: pop-blues crooner John Mayer, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' brilliant John Frusciante and Southern-fried axeman Derek Trucks. If Nels (who is 6'3") had been in the shot, his head and boots would have been sliced off.

In other news nuggets, the JazzTimes, Jazziz and Jazzwise polls have come limping in, and we are very happy with the results!

JazzTimes: Nels has one of those little photos on the 'Contributors Page' of the February 2007 issue ("...looking resplendent in his jungle-green shirt and unfastened vintage silk tie..."). This is because, as we reported before, Nels wrote a nice long feature on the music of pianist Andrew Hill. (It, too, isn't available in complete form online, but the boys in the engine room are working on getting the whole thing up on our next post.) But there's also the 'Year in Review '06' poll, where Nels' Andrew Hill tribute New Monastery made #12, Bennie Maupin's Penumbra made #25 and Myra Melford's The Image of Your Body made #28. Yow.

Jazziz: On page 44 of their 'Critic's Choice 2006' issue (January/February 2007), critic Bill Milkowski chose New Monastery as his #1 favorite album of the year:

The adventurous L.A. guitarist tackles the decidedly unguitaristic music of Andrew Hill on this unconventional tribute project. While the music remains Hill's, everything is filtered through Cline's slightly twisted aesthetic, revealing startling new outcomes through sky dissonance, ambient textures, and white noise onslaughts. Also featuring strong contributions from the great, underrated freebop trumpeter and former Ornette Coleman collaborator Bobby Bradford.

Jazzwise: In its 2006 'Albums of the Year' poll, 3 critics (Tom Barlow, Selwyn Harris & Peter Quinn) chose Penumbra by Bennie Maupin for their individual Top 10 new jazz releases...but the real cherry on top is that after all the votes were counted (and recounted -- twice) Penumbra made #5 on the overall Top 10 List for the whole year. Those Brits love Bennie!

And our man Nels, too. In the same Jazzwise issue, Daniel Spicer reviewed New Monastery:

Cline's long been something of a an outsider to the jazz world, prone to sabotoging his own work with noise and dissonance, so it makes perfect sense that he should take on the work of the maverick pianist and composer Andrew Hill. Leading a boisterous sextet, leant strange new colours to Andrea Parkins' electric accordion, Cline crams 12 Hill compositions into seven tracks, amalmagating tunes into mini-medleys that deconstruct the originals with crunching guitar skronk and interludes of skewed intensity. At the same time, these unexpected arrangements throw the eccentric poise of the compositions into new light, letting Hill's singular genius shine through. So, while "Compulison" comes on like a slice of Sonic Youth-like distorto-rock, the classic "The Rumproller" is tackled with an almost tongue-in-cheek, rip-roaring exuberance and Parkins' accordion drone on "Dance with Death" thrillingly accentuates Hill's masterfully funereal chord sequence. This is much more than your average tribute album.

Speaking of our dear Mr. Bobby Bradford, his rarely-seen-live-anymore Mo'tet, which includes Crypto's own Don Preston on piano, Chuck Manning on sax, William Jeffrey on drums, Ken Rosser on guitar and epic bass vet Roberto Miguel Miranda, played a smoking two-set night at an Italian rez in sleepy-creepy Sierra Madre (the city where the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was filmed). Our friend Brick Wahl at the LA Weekly even gave Dr. Bobby a little blurb in the LA Weekly, mentioned not only the gig but also the re-release of the Mo'tet's classic 2003 release Live at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. T'anks again, Brick!

In other Nels News: We have a new working title for the new Nels Cline Singers CD (‘The Nels Cline Singers Draw Breath’) and appropriately surreal album cover from Pasadena artist Angela Decristofaro. Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche will contribute vibes and pitched percussion to the track titled "Squirrel of God." CD drops in May 2007. Stay tuned.

We also have the track listing for pianist David Witham's debut release on Crypto, Spinning the Circle, due also in May 2007

1. "Spinning the Circle"
2. "Jay's Tune"
3. "Who Knows"
4. "N.O. Rising"
5. "Afrobeat"
6. "Light & Life"
7. "The Neon"
8. "Conquein"

David assembled a great team for his second solo album: Jon Crosse (woodwinds); Scott Amendola (drums); Jay Anderson (bass); Greg Leisz (guitar on 4 tracks) and some guy named Nels (guitar on 2 tracks).

We at the Crypto Nerve Center are thrilled to have Mr. Leisz sit in for this session. He's a legendary "musician's musician," about whom kd lang once said: "He freed pedal-steel [guitar] from the bondage of country [music]." Or something like that. And he's a true warrior of the rock 'n roll road -- read here about Greg Leisz's life and work.

Let us not forget the upcoming CRYPTOWEEK AT THE FAMED JAZZ STANDARD club in New York City. Here now the lineups:

Cryptonights at the Jazz Standard

March 26 - The Jeff Gauthier Goatette

Jeff Gauthier - violin
Nels Cline - guitars
David Witham - keyboards
Joel Hamilton - bass
Alex Cline - drums
with special guest Erik Friedlander - cello

Violinist Jeff Gauthier is founder of Cryptogramophone Records, and has been twice named a Downbeat Rising Star as violinist, and three times as producer. He has performed and recorded with Yusef Lateef, Mark Dresser, Nels and Alex Cline, and has appeared on a Grammy nominated recording of music by Kristoph Penderecki. Gauthier has recorded 2 CDs as a leader on Nine Winds Records, and two on Cryptogramophone.  His most recent, "One and the Same" was released in May, 2006. Gauthier's Goatette features guitarist Nels Cline, and his twin brother, drummer Alex Cline. Cryptogramophone recording artist and cellist Erik Friedlander will join the ensemble for several tunes.

March 27 - Scott Amendola Band

Jenny Scheinman - violin
Nels Cline - guitars
John Shifflett - bass
Scott Amendola - drums, electronics

Drummer Scott Amendola is in great demand as a leader and sideman, having recorded with Charlie Hunter, TJ Kirk, Norah Jones, Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Madeleine Peyroux, among many others.  He is also the drummer with the Nels Cline Singers.  Amendola has two CDs as a leader on Cryptogramophone.  His latest, Believe, was released in June of 2005.  His band features Cryptogramophone artists Nels Cline and Jenny Scheinman.

March 28 - Myra Melford and Be Bread

Cuong Vu - trumpet
Ben Goldberg - clarinet
Myra Melford - piano and harmonium
Stomu Takeishi - bass
Elliot Humberto Kavee - drums

Pianist Myra Melford is one of the most inspiring women musicians in jazz today.  A veteran of the New York Downtown scene, Melford is now on the faculty of UC Berkeley. Her ensemble collectively known as Be Bread, features Cuong Vu, the trumpeter in The Pat Metheny Group, and for this performance also includes Cryptogramophone recording artist and clarinetist Ben Goldberg.  Melford's new Crypto CD "The Image of Your Body" was released in September, 2006.

March 29 & 30 - Nels Cline and Friends Play the Music of Andrew Hill

Bobby Bradford - Cornet
Ben Goldberg - clarinet
Andrea Parkins - accordion, electronics
Nels Cline - guitars
Devin Hoff - bass
Scott Amendola - drums

Guitarist Nels Cline examines the music of celebrated pianist Andrew Hill on his latest Cryptogramophone release, "New Monastery." Cline is joined by Ornette Coleman alumnus Bobby Bradford on cornet, Ben Goldberg on clarinets, Andrea Parkins on electric accordion, Scott Amendola on drums and Devin Hoff on bass, as they take a fresh look at Andrew Hill's music. New Monastery was voted  #4 Best Jazz CD of 2006 in the Village Voice, and  # 6 on Nate Chinen’s Top 10 list in the New York Times.

March 31 & April 1 - The Bennie Maupin Ensemble

Bennie Maupin - woodwinds
Darek Oles - bass
Michael Stephans - drums
Munyungo Jackson - percussion

Bennie Maupin has recorded with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, and Eddie Henderson, to name only a few. His highly personal bass clarinet sound has helped define such important jazz albums as Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Big Fun and On the Corner, as well as recordings by Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band, and the Headhunters. His latest Cryptogramophone CD Penumbra was voted # 9 Best Jazz CD of 2006 in the Village Voice. Catch this rare New York club appearance by an important jazz artist who is at the height of his artistic powers.

OTHER, MISC., ETC., ET AL...

Keyboardist and world-music traveler Myra Melford is having a release gig at Joe's Pub in NYC. It's been 5 months since The Image of Your Body's been released, but that's yet another common thing in Indiejazzworld.

The Scott Amendola Band just got reviewed by none other than the New York Times's Nate Chinen.

And, finally....

It is confirmed: Anna Nicole Smith is dead

P.S. SOME BONES THROWN: NON-CRYPTO JAZZ-RELATED EVENTS IN L.A.

Feb. 16, Friday: New Jersey poet laureate and author Amiri ("Bulworth! Ooo-bop-shebam!") Baraka will be reading and signing his new collection of short stories at 7pm at EsoWon Bookstore (4331 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park). Following the reading, he will perform with amazing saxophonist David Murray. There will be a cover charge for the performance. For more info, phone (323) 290-1048.

Feb. 18, Sunday: Also at EsoWon, author Joao H. Costa Vargas will sign and discuss with other his recent book Catching Hell in the City of Angels: Life and Meanings of Blackness in South Central Los Angeles, a great new work on L.A., set in Leimert Park and many other parts of the city.

Feb. 25, Sunday: the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra will be performing at the World Stage in Leimert Park from 3-5 pm.)

. . .And, as always, keep track of Crypto artists coming to your town and helping you party down by consulting the Cryptogramophone tour page!

OK, WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO GET THROUGH ONE BLOG POST WITHOUT MENTIONING N-E-L-S-C-L-I-N-E. . .

One of the difficulties being an artist who happens to run a record label is that invariably you find yourself in the position of supporting other people’s music more than your own. Nothing against the artists themselves, of course, it’s just the way o’ the biz. Well, the same could be said of our own Fearless Leader Mr. Jeff Gauthier, who not only has been collaborating with...um...well, you know....as well as many other of L.A.'s creative music artists for some 26-odd years but also released his Goatette’s third album One in the Same last year on Crypto the same time that the label released Bennie Maupin’s Penumbra. But Jeff also collaborated on an ECM-style jazz meets European jazz record with acoustic guitarist Gilbert Isbin and bassist/pianist Scott Walton for the Belgian label/distibutor Jazz’halo. It’s called Venice Suite and it's a good chance to hear Jeff stretch out away from the Crypto umbrella.

Here’s the skinny, from Jazz’halo honcho Jos Demol:

October 5th, 2003: Another rainy day in Brugge! Jeff and I wanted to do some sightseeing. As the weather was chilly, we decided to stop somewhere for a bite to eat and to drink one of these gorgeous Belgian beers, a Triple from De Garre. Later that afternoon we visited guitarist Gilbert Isbin, whom Jeff never met. Things immediately clicked between the two musicians and Jeff invited Gilbert to play a couple of concerts in L.A. in February 2004.

Afterwards, when Gilbert returned home to Brugge, we listened to some recordings that they had made in Jeff’s studio and they sounded incredibly good. It was as if they had been playing together for many years. It seemed obvious that they should make a proper recording some day. That same year Jeff returned to Belgium to do a couple of concerts with Gilbert. We discussed the project and they thought that they would like to record with a bass player. As I was very impressed by Scott Walton’s playing with the Vinny Golia Quintet (check out our twofer TS018/019), I proposed Scott as the right person for this music. Both Jeff and Scott liked Gilbert’s compositions and so the trio was born. We recorded in November 2005 at the Cryptogramophone studios in L.A. with master recording enginee! r Rich B reen. The whole project was recorded in only two afternoons.

The result is amazing! There are two suites of improvisations on this recording; the Venice Suite for the trio, on which Scott plays the piano in a most wonderful way, and the Brugge Suite for violin and guitar duo, documenting the original duo of Gilbert and Jeff. There was electricity in the air! We hope you enjoy this CD as much as we do.

Still not convinced? Check out the recent review from Glen Astaria at eJazz News:

It’s a joint production taken on by Southern California-based Cryptogramophone and the Belgian, Jazz’Halo record label by a trio that irrefutably rises to the occasion. Violinist and Crypto label chief Jeff Gauthier established a rapport with Belgian guitarist Gilbert Isbin via some California concerts and an interest in each other’s artistry. Subsequently, fellow West Coast musician bassist/pianist Scott Walton was deemed the right man for the job with rounding it this wonderfully enticing and genre-hopping studio date. In effect, there’s quite a bit going on under the proverbial hood. Gauthier combines the flair of a concert violinist with dense improvisational acumen to complement the musicians’ weaving of hypnotically melodic lines with richly textured themes. They often interrogate each other’s voicings while occasionally mixing it up within avant-garde like frontiers. On the piece titled “Shine,” the violinist executes a sweet melody atop Isbin and Walton’s bouncy undercurrents. Yet, the trio also inject moments of dissonance into the grand scenario where plots develop and ultimately morph into a regeneration of musical notions. Then on “Why Was That,” Isbin lays down a haunting ostinato as Walton subsequently stretches out with ascending lines. For the finale, the trio covers fabled song sleuth Nick Drake’s “River Man.”. Finesse, discernible ingenuity and a highly entertaining form-factor are but a few of the attributes uttered throughout this unit’s musicality.

Another artist on Cryptogramophone who is about to break the waves is keyboardist David Witham, whose second solo album Spinning the Circle drops this May, the same time as the new CD by the...uh, "Nails Shine Singers." David describes himself thusly:

I am a pianist primarily, but I also use synthesizers, samplers, and various other noisemakers in my music. I studied piano with Jaki Byard at the New England Conservatory of Music, and Alan Broadbent in Los Angeles. I have current writing and performing associations with saxophonist Ernie Watts, bassist / composer Jay Anderson, the Jeff Gauthier Goatette, and percussionist Luis Conte.
    I've been Musical Director for George Benson since 1990, and have served as a producer for Tom Scott and Grover Washington. Recording and performance credits include Lee Ritenour, Patti Austin, k.d. lang, Missiles of October, Chaka Khan, Jose Feliciano, Eddie Harris, Bluezeum, Charles McPherson, Joao Bosco, Larry Carlton, Maxi Priest, Chick Corea, Michael and Randy Brecker.
    Since 1999 I've been producing a television show centered around music and performers called Portable Universe for Long Beach Community Television. The show airs every Friday at 6 p.m. on Channels 65 / 95 / 69 in Long Beach and Signal Hill and features artists from around the world.

Look for more info on David W. and his exciting new music in future posts!

ONTO OTHER NEWS. . .

We'd like to give Big Ups to two class acts on the jazz scene in Los Angeles: Greg Burk and Brick Wahl. Both used to write for the LA Weekly and wrote some fine copy on Crypto artists (among many others) even before the Fearless Leader hung out his shingle. Crypto received the sad news recently that both our boys got either laid off (not the good kind) or had their services severed curtailed at the magazine over the last two months. (What the hell is happening over there? Hmmm, maybe I should read more blogs...)

From Greg:
"You do know me as a plain, blunt music journalist who writes about heavy metal, jazz and other kinds of mostly extreme music. Since leaving LA Weekly in late 2006 after 27 years, I have been writing occasionally for LA Times, and will continue to write for other publications. But there's a lot I want to say anytime I feel like it, so I have created my own site for words about music, www.MetalJazz.com, the first issue of which now exists. You can subscribe to my weekly/biweekly postings by going there and hitting updates by email or rss. And there's space for your own comments if you feel like blabbing. Issue 1 contains words about L.A. shows this weekend; reviews of Shirantha Beddage, the Esoteric, Rez Abbasi, Skip Heller and Steve Roden; and an observation about. . .Elaine Pagels, scholar of early Christianity, and how she relates to heavy metal. If you're a publicist, a musician or some other kind of music-industry professional, you can update your surface-mailing information to my non-Weekly address by hitting information at www.MetalJazz.com or mailing [email protected]. May the Great Spirit be with you."

Bless you, Greg. Happy writings, compadre.

Check out Mr. Burk's first L.A. Times piece. It's a stellar review on sax legend Arthur Blythe's 2-night stint (with Crypto's "house drummer" Alex Cline sitting in). To check out Mr. Burk in the flesh, he offered insightful commentary for VH1's Heavy: The Story of Metal.

From Brick:
"The LA Weekly is getting rid of freelancers like myself and will be turning the listings over to a staffer (that right...we're being in-sourced). I'll be doing a couple jazz picks a week instead. (Almost the same money for 95% less work, so it works out fine for me.) It's been a blast, people. I hope the listings have helped. Be seeing you about."

Check out some of BRICK'S JAZZ PICKS for the LA Weekly.

A writer in the Jazz Arena: Blogosphere Division should be Big Upped as well:

Bret Primack started the first Jazz blog in 1998, Bird Lives, where as the Pariah, he fought a never ending battle for truth in the Jazz biz. Primack was a respected Jazz journalist who was also a web pioneer when he decided to pose as the Pariah and write diatribes directed at the injustices of the music industry.  Bird Lives quickly caught on and became a talked about website, entertaining many, and ruffling a few feathers a long the way.  Several thin skinned record company executives even threatened Bret with lawsuits.
    But after September 11th, Bret decided to focus on other targets, and he suspended the site.
    Now, Bird Lives returns, as Bret's Video Blog.  For the past three years, Bret has produced videos for such artists as Sonny Rollins, Billy Taylor and Joe Lovano. And with the advent of web video, he decided to utilize this new medium to tell his stories in a new way.
    The first edition features a Tribute to Michael Brecker, which includes rare interview footage Bret did with Michael, as well as an amazing performance of the Saxophone Summit (Brecker, Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano), Live at Birdland in 1999.
    Bird Lives also serves as a video portal, and includes Bret's favorite YouTube videos, as well as links to other relevant video on the content the web.Please tell your friends and visit, without fail.

And lastly but not yeastly, our elder statesman Bennie Maupin recently played a critically acclaimed (and sold out) show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown L.A.  It was a tribute to the ailing hard bop pianist Horace Silver (who also just published his autobiography) and it was worthy of a mention by Don Heckman in the LA Times.

Dr. Bennie had better get his rest -- he's got quite a few gigs coming up. Check 'em out on the Cryptogramophone tour page.

And speaking of touring, Crypto's OTHER house drummer Scott Amendola was profiled by our bud Bob Gendron at the Chicago Tribune. Thanks, Bob! (The hookers are on their way up...)

Oh, and by the way, NELS CLINE.