Nels Cline : Consentrik Quartet

Nels Cline is a musician’s musician. Prior to becoming Wilco’s lead guitarist/noise maker in 2004, Cline had been more known in the underground music scene of California. Playing with everyone from Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, Mary Lou Lord; to Rickie Lee Jones, John Zorn, and Blue Man Group. His lightning fast solos only matched by his unique, singular approach to pulling a universe of sounds out of his six-string and a plethora of guitar pedals and noise boxes.

Besides thriving in the experimental and noise music world, Cline’s first love is jazz. He’s always flirted with jazz, even so much as covering compositions from the great Andrew Hill on the album New Monastery.

Since 2016 Cline has released a series of records with the great Blue Note Records. His last was the great Share The Wealth in 2020. We now have Consentrik Quartet, an hour of adventurous jazz tracks that span from the groovy to the experimental. Consentrik Quartet is a new band Cline put together featuring Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones, Chris Lightcap on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums. With Consentrik Quartet Nels Cline continues to evolve his jazz chops and compositional muscle.

There’s a looser quality with these tracks. “Surplus”, for example, floats along on some truly groove-heavy vibes courtesy of Laubrock’s saxophone playing. You get an Eric Dolphy “Hat and Beard” feel. Disjointed but playful. And Nels Cline shines with some tasteful and restrained playing. “The Bag” shimmies and shakes with some hefty drumming, which then seems to explode in an almost stream-of-consciousness avante garde noise. The upright bass and drums keep things from floating into outer space. Nels lays down some seriously out there guitar to keep things slightly menacing.

Elsewhere opener “Returning Angel” is restrained and mysterious, bringing to mind Cline’s excellent 2009 album Coward. “Slipping Into Something” is the sound of entering some disorienting world. Very David Lynch vibes. “Satomi” seems to be the centerpiece here. 9 1/2 minutes of musical chaos with order strewn in throughout at various times. Bringing in the spirit of Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, and Andrew Hill, Cline takes us to the brink and back.

With his Wilco gig, Nels Cline can fulfill his love of The Grateful Dead, The Byrds, and play as much pedal steel as his heart desires. When he’s writing for himself the sky’s the limit. Consentrik Quartet goes into the stratosphere, and then some. Far out jazz and experimentalism at its finest.