*R.I.P. SKY SAXON (06.25.09)

I am truly saddened to learn of the death of Sky Saxon. As a boy, growing up in Los Angeles, Sky Saxon was my first rock idol of sorts. The Seeds' music was important to me, sure, but Sky's amazing charisma, as he appeared rather ubiquitously on TV shows like "Boss City" and "The Groovy Show" around 1966, was galvanizing. I would stare in disbelief as he, clan in shiny satin Nehru shirts bedazzled with some gaudy brooch, would gyrate around lasciviously, holding the microphone in every cool way imaginable. He seemed from another planet. I thought he was amazing.

Years later, in the late 70s, Sky became known as "Sunlight", and manifested a few eccentric and quite acid-soaked (or so they sounded) recordings that led credence to the rampant stories of his decaying mind and artistry. He came into the record store I worked at for years and, with his face covered in a long mane of hair, massive beard, and shades, went silently through the stacks with wraith-like fingers. I was dismayed, a bit freaked out by this creature, the former beautiful god of rock'n roll otherness.

But only a few years ago, as my friend and colleague Carla Bozulich and I were going into our local Trader Joe's, we ran into a bass player friend of mine named Rick who had in tow a gray-haired, aging hippie type of man with an unavoidably compelling face and style. Carla, not normally interested in old hippies, immediately whispered to me, "Who's THAT?!" Of course, you know it was Sky Saxon. And Rick was playing in the new version of The Seeds, recording just down the street from Carla's house! Long story short, I went and hung out a bit, ended up recording a song about a corrupt judge on the then-upcoming Seeds record (sorry that the titles escape me today). Sky was really quite deferential to me. Plus, he seemed to be in quite good shape. He gave me a record, recently issued, of some of his pre-Seeds 1950s doo-wop-ish rock songs. How old IS this guy? I wondered.

We ended up doing a duo gig of almost totally improvised music one night at Zen Sushi. I was ecstatic. I suggested we call ourselves The Flower Lady & Her Assistant, but Sky immediately countered with The Flower God Men and Their Assistants. I had gear problems on the gig, and Sky had a bit too much sake before we played, but it was amazing to me. There were barely 30 people there anyway! I started plotting ways to do some more improvising with him. He was going off in a very Beat-style manner. I thought of collaborations with my trio, The Singers, but then Sky went off to more European touring, headed back to Shasta. Rick moved to New York...

I won't ever be able to do those things with Sky. I feel lucky to have ever even seen him on TV, yet alone to have played some wild, extemporaneous psychedelia with him. They say Mick Jagger copped tons of his moves and style, and I believe it. But there was so much more to this man that remains to be revealed.

- Nels Cline
Glendale, CA
6/25/09

NELS CLINE "COWARD" : solo CD OUT NOW on Cryptogramphone!



You can order your copy NOW at the Cryptogramophone website!
Also available on:

**UPDATE!**
If you purchased a copy of the"Coward" CD and experienced any problems with the CD tray, please watch Nels' Public Service Announcement!

CURRENT NEWS

I appear on yet another new release, this time by singer/songwriter Amy Hobish called "Mystery Play". Amy worked on this CD for a long time on more than one continent. Much of it was recorded and mixed by the fabulous Wayne Peet, and it also features appearances by Tony Levin, Andy Newmark, and Robert Bell.

I GOT ASKED TO DO SOME PLAYING FOR RECORDINGS...

More upcoming releases OF NOTE:

WADADA LEO SMITH - For his upcoming double CD of The Golden Quartet and Organic Music. An acoustic quartet (w/ Vijay Iyer, John Lindbergh, Pheroan Ak Laff) and an electric sextet (w/ Skuli Sverisson, John Lindbergh, Michael Gregory, Brandon Ross, me) interpreting the same pieces by trumpet master and composer extraordinaire Wadada. What an honor.

EVANGELISTA: "The Prince of Truth" - I played on a three tracks for Carla Bozulich/Evangelista's upcoming record, which has a large cast of able and ill individuals and sounds to me like it equals the chillingly wonderful "Evangelista" and "Hello, Voyager" releases (all on Constellation). I hear it's a Fall release....

RICHARD JULIAN - I ended up playing recently on a few songs by NYC singer/songwriter Richard Julian. With Lee Alexander producing, this crafty fellow has collected some killer songs and musicians for a record that will come out... someday/somehow.
DON'T FORGET: June 30th = WILCO (THE ALBUM), official release date.

NEWS UPDATE (FEB 2009)

Here are some releases that I played on that are coming out this year:

COWARD is my new record, to be released on February 10th on Cryptogramophone. It is a rather insular, personal recording of yours truly multi-tracked, alone in a crowd of myself (click here for Nels' extensive notes on COWARD). Thanks to Jeff Gauthier at Cryptogramophone for continuing to release beautiful records in beautiful packages. This comes out the same day as my twin brother Alex's stirring and sublime CD "Continuation" - a twin release.

Other documents you may look for in the ensuing months which might either brighten your day or heighten your angst are:

The eminent New York photographer and guitarist Ralph Gibson has recently had his compendium of guitarist portraits published by Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Called "State Of The Axe", it features yours truly along with a stellar and un-obvious collection of creative guitarists, mostly but not exclusively from the New York jazz, jazz-fusion, and avant-garde scene. Besides the wonderful photographs, all in glorious black & white, the book also has small written pieces by each guitarist, which are often revealing and fascinating.

Check out this interview at the website: Downbeast.

"DIRTY BABY"
Music by yours truly on CD that will accompany an Ed Ruscha art monograph, with poetry by David Breskin, who also produced/conceptualized/designed the book. A double CD in the book, to be published this fall by Steidl, and also a double CD release from Cryptogramophone, the music is of two separate ensembles playing music commissioned by Mr. Breskin to elucidate his visionary/multi-media recontextualization of the lesser-know works of L.A. artist Ed Ruscha from the 80s and 90s. The musicians on the two CDs are: Scott Amendola, Devin Hoff, Jeremy Drake, Vinny Golia, Jon Brion, Alex Cline, Bill Barrett, Glenn Taylor, Jessica Catron, Dan Clucas, Brad Dutz, Jeff Gauthier, Wayne Peet, Danny Frankel... More on this as the year progresses.

WILCO: The Ashes Of American Flags (Nonesuch DVD)
Yep, it's that Wilco band, traipsing around the USA playing our unique brand of rock 'n roll/folk/country/exploratory music. Trekking through the midwest to the southern U.S., this will probably be a really good 'live' document. At least what I have seen of it is. And the tour it documents, which features performances with our sometime horn section "The Total Pros" , was a good 'un. Out April 17th (and directed by Christoph Green & Brendan Canty of Trixie DVD). WILCO has been recording a new album, and it might come out in July. I am excited about the songs and the sounds. Recorded by Jim Scott (and some by TJ Doherty), and may surprise/and/or delight fans and non-fans alike...(Nonesuch CD/LP, title and release date TBA)

THE ACOUSTIC GUITAR TRIO: VIGNES (Long Song CD)
This recording, which will be the second by this trio which I formed a few years ago and which features yours truly along with Jim McAuley and the now sadly-departed Rod Poole, is taken from a 'live' performance at Los Angeles' Downtown Playhouse on Vignes St. Before Rod was murdered, we had listened to recordings from this engagement (Rod recorded everything, including all sorts of improvised concerts around L.A.) and whittled what we heard down to this compact series of four pieces. It languished for years; there was a helicopter here, a car there... outside noises, though not distracting at all. Now the Long Song label in Milano wants to release it, and I am so glad. Rod is gone, but the Acoustic Guitar Trio manages to live on. Thank you, Fabrizio... Available now.

G.E. STINSON/NELS CLINE: Elevating Device (vol. 1) (S.A.A. AKA Sounds Are Active CD)
This disc is from a session with me and my good pal and amazing guitarist/sound expander-destroyer G.E. Stinson. It is one long improvised piece. With any luck, the other pieces that were shorter will be released as "Volume 2", but in the meantime, we like this one, which I think was "take one". Release date TBA.

THE NELS CLINE SINGERS go into the studio in late March to record a batch of new material/improvisations. That's me + Devin Hoff (bass) and Scott Amendola (drums, electronics). We've been playing together for eight years now! David Breskin will produce and wizard knobsman Ron St, Germain will record us.

I made two recordings last year with MIKE WATT. The first was a reunion of The Black Gang (Watt, Bob Lee, me), and it's another brilliant Watt "concept album" called "My Shunbun No Hy", about his 50th birthday "winter solstice". Recorded in L.A., it was a super-concentrated affair with what could now be referred to as the familiar Watt unpredictability, wide-ranging references, and amazing conceptual clarity. Label and release date TBA.

The other recording was done just this last December in Tokyo with Watt and the partners in his Japanese project called Brother's Sister's Daughter. I was a guest playing along with the wonderful and generous Mr. Shimmy on guitar (and recording/mixing engineer) and the sweet and rock-solid Yuko on drums. I contributed a piece, and the rest of the combo contributed several. Label and release date TBA.

THE CELESTIAL SEPTET: (title TBA) (Cunieform CD)
The Celestial Septet is the name of the ensemble that combines my trio, The Nels Cline Singers, and San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland's ROVA Saxophone Quartet. I think Larry Ochs from ROVA came up with the name. We have done some pretty ecstatic and unrelenting gigs in Northern California, and this recording, done last year in San Francisco, documents pieces by Larry, Steve Adams, Jon Raskin, and me from those dates. Undoubtedly, it will max out the CD format. Brace yourselves! Release date TBA.

JAZZ FREE: a recording put together by Henry Kaiser that features Mermen Jim Thomas and Allen Whitman along with Weasel Walter, Henry, and yours truly playing some song structures + generally freaking out on some free surf/skronk/hippie/free froth. Right now I can't remember who is putting this out. Release date also TBA.

STEPHEN GAUCI, KEN FILIANO, MIKE PRIDE, NELS CLINE: RED FEAST (Cadence CD)
A free jazz sort of freakout culled from an evening in Brooklyn with the protean tenor saxophone player Gauci, who put this together, along with amazing bassist (and an old friend) Ken Filiano and volcanic-yet-flexible drummer Mike Pride. Available now.

STAINED RADIANCE (Nels Cline & Norton Wisdom) DVD
I recently produced the filming by a small and dedicated crew (led by Director Aeght Nign) of the duo work I do with the 'live' painter Norton Wisdom. I have known and collaborated with Mr. Wisdom (his real name) for over 25 years, but I feel that our duo, which we call STAINED RADIANCE, is the best way to really see what Norton has been up to all these years because here he is not just a guy painting while some band does its thing. It is a collaboration, completely improvised. "Google" the man... In the meantime, we will edit this and maybe release it ourselves. Who knows? All other info TBA.

ANTHONY SHADDUCK QUARTET - various 'live' recordings (S.A.A. AKA Sounds Are Active CD)
Long Beach, CA-based bassist Shadduck plays all kinds of music, but he leans towards spontaneously improvised ones. It seems that the few times I play with him have been recorded and is released by Long Beach's SAA (Sounds Are Active) label at some point. The one released a while back on SAA was recorded in woodwindist Lynn Johnston's parents' living room in El Segundo and had Ches Smith on drums. Subsequent gigs have had Bert Karl on drums, and the aforementioned recorded gigs have been with Mr. Johnston and Vinny Golia, respectively. A slightly lower-key form of "free jazz", these recordings are said to emerge sometime in limited pressings.

JON BRION + NELS CLINE - 'Live' and improvised at Largo (title, label, and date TBA)
Yes, Jon and I plan to sift through the several hours of extemporaneous mayhem, madness, and mellifluous merriment to bring you the listener SOMETHING in SOME FORM OR OTHER to listen to, to enjoy/assess. We are promising some sort of distillation of improvised music culled form Wayne Peet's recordings from four & more engagements at the old Largo location in West Hollywood, CA.

ADDI SOMEKH's balloon bass CD (yes, he plays a bass made from a balloon) "Air, Rubber, & Soul"
Balloon artist and Internet TV personality Addi Somekh is a balloon artist. I met him through Sex Mob trumpet monster Steven Bernstein. He has been working on balloon bass for a few years; this after his balloon drums experiments. He entertains with balloons, brings people the world over together with his balloon artistry... On this CD he is joined by Danny Frankel on drums and percussion, Greg Cohen on contrabass, Ralph Carney on woodwinds and brass, and yours truly. Some of my electric sitar playing utilized Addi's balloon reverb! I am not kidding about this stuff!! Look out for them balloon grooves...

SESSIONS HAPPEN...
The CD by James "Wooden Wand" Toth came out on Ryko sometime last year. Steve Fisk produced, I played on it, and I will hear it someday. It also has people like Carla Bozulich and Deerhoof's John Dieterich on it, so you might have to go out and get it FOR REALS...
I played on a song on the upcoming Jolie Holland CD to be released on Anti that is produced by Shahzad Ismaily. 'Twas just a bit of lap steel... Jolie is a talented singer/songwriter living in Brooklyn and plays a violin (or was it a viola?) made out of a box...There is so much more to say/report, but I will add to this dilapidated vehicle later. Soon. But later.

New and worth searching for is Jim McAuley's new double CD on Drip Audio called "The Ultimate Frog", which features duets - both improvised and arranged - with Leroy Jenkins, Alex Cline, Ken Filiano, and yours truly. Mr. McAuley has been playing significant acoustic guitar around Los Angeles and elsewhere for decades. He was in Acoustic Guitar Trio with me and the late Rod Poole, and this new recording reveals layer upon layer of his singular talent.

I ended up playing a solo on the upcoming CD by Retribution Gospel Choir, the heavier trio led by Low man Alan Sparhawk, a personal favorite. Look for it - it's wild and beautiful. I can't remember who's putting it out. It was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago.

COMING SOON:
Wild & wacky effects pedals, tributes to Lux Interior and Ron Asheton, interviews with John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, Low, Deerhoof, and others TBA.

Peace + love to all >>>>>>>>>>>> N