Cline Singers + NOVA

[walto]

I went to see a performance of Hindemith's (weird) opera Cardillac Friday night, but if I hadn't, I'd have gone to see this:

Celestial happening

The Nels Cline Singers join forces with the Rova Saxophone Quartet

The Celestial Septet is sax players Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Steve Adams, and Bruce Ackley, guitarist Nels Cline, bassist Trevor Dunn, drummer Scott Amendola.

By Andrew Gilbert Globe Correspondent / February 25, 2011



The Celestial Septet isn’t so much an all-star ensemble as a brilliant constellation uniting the Rova Saxophone Quartet and the Nels Cline Singers, two singular West Coast bands dedicated to exploring the near and far reaches of the sonic universe.



THE CELESTIAL SEPTET
At: ICA, tonight, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20. 617-478-3103, www.icaboston.org.




The septet performs tonight at the ICA as part of a brief five-city tour marking the group’s first foray since recording a stellar eponymous CD in 2008, released last year on New World Records.

The combination of the Singers, a volatile vocal-less trio with drummer Scott Amendola and bassist Trevor Dunn, and Rova, a rigorously inventive combo in its fourth decade of investigating what trombonist George Lewis calls “the hyphenated space between improvisation and composition,’’ nudges both groups into a new orbit.

“Working with the Singers makes Rova play a little differently,’’ says Cline, 55. “They’ve been playing together for so long, it can be a little daunting to sit and watch them do their machinations. They’ve got this detailed system of hand cues to signal each other and change directions. We add a whole bunch of new options.’’

While Cline is best known these days as Wilco’s lead guitarist, he spent decades as a revered underground figure on the Southern California scene who zigzagged giddily across stylistic frontiers. An incisive, often lyrical improviser who has collaborated with jazz searchers like Charlie Haden, Vinny Golia, and Wadada Leo Smith, Cline is also in his element shredding with bassist Mike Watt (of Minutemen and fIREHOSE fame), or rocking out with former Jane’s Addiction drummer Steve Perkins.

Those freewheeling days are long over however. Since joining Wilco in 2004, his ability to take on special projects has become extremely constrained.

“The rock ’n’ roll world does so much booking close to the gig,’’ says Cline, still sounding elated weeks after marrying multi-instrumentalist Yuka Honda, best known as a founding member of Cibo Matto. “People are always asking me about things I can’t commit to, so I just let people dangle. This tour almost didn’t happen. My priority is doing Wilco, which means I have virtually no life outside of playing all the time. Though I guess I now have a personal life.’’

Working with Rova was close to his heart. He first joined forces with the quartet back in 1998, when guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpeter Smith recruited Cline and Rova for “Yo Miles!’’ their first album exploring the mid-’70s fusion of Miles Davis. A few years later, Cline collaborated with an expanded version of Rova, Orkestrova, on “Electric Ascension,’’ a plugged-in rendition of John Coltrane’s seminal free jazz session (released on Atavistic in 2009).

Founded in 1977 by Jon Raskin (baritone and alto sax), Larry Ochs (tenor sax), Andrew Voigt (alto and soprano sax), and Bruce Ackley (soprano and tenor sax), Rova used to perform often in the Boston area on the way to concerts in Europe. Voigt’s 1988 departure opened the door for altoist Steve Adams, a member of Boston-based Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet, which deepened Rova’s ties to the region for a while, though tonight’s concert is the group’s first Massachusetts performance in more than a decade.

Grounded in the chance-taking aesthetic of free jazz and contemporary classical music, as well as an international array of popular and traditional musical forms, the visionary San Francisco-based ensemble has become a singular musical institution by commissioning and collaborating with an amazing array of musicians and composers.

While serving as a laboratory for their own compositional voices, the quartet has also engaged in extensive collaborations with some of the era’s leading composers and improvisers, from Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Jack DeJohnette, and John Carter to Terry Riley, Alvin Curran, Henry Kaiser, and Fred Frith.

Just about every musician on the “Celestial Septet’’ session contributed a composition. The album’s centerpiece is Ochs’s epic, 25-minute “Whose to Know (For Albert Ayler),’’ an episodic rumination on the late, protean tenor sax searcher full of cries, drones, murmurs, and shouts. Amendola wrote the opening track, “Cesar Chávez’’ for a 2005 Scott Amendola Band album “Believe’’ (Cryptogramophone) featuring Cline, a piece he rearranged for the septet as a study in orchestral and electronic textures. Composed specifically for the septet, Cline’s piece “The Buried Quilt’’ is another extended textural investigation, built upon Rova’s ability to play as a unified section and Amendola’s eerie clangs and clanks.

“It fits like a glove,’’ Ochs says. “Rova has worked with a lot of composers, and some pieces really fit. In the end, working with the Singers was so easy. Some of the pieces are pretty complicated, even for us to keep track of where we need to be next, but nothing felt forced or overthought. It’s always a privilege to be on stage with people who blow your mind.’’

[walto]

Hah, I wrote "Nova" instead of "Rova"!

[bernardlyons]

The Celestial Septet played Baltimore last night..mindblowing is an understatement!

[Paul B]

Saturday's show at Le Poisson Rouge in New York was pretty amazing too. I've seen Rova countless times over the years, but this show was certainly one of the best. Incidentally, Rova's new album, "Planetary," is beautiful—highly recommended.

[Gordon B]

Saturday's show at Le Poisson Rouge in New York was pretty amazing too. I've seen Rova countless times over the years, but this show was certainly one of the best. Incidentally, Rova's new album, "Planetary," is beautiful—highly recommended.

I bought Planetary at the Baltimore show last night but am currently listening to the studio Celestial Septet album. The studio album but doesn't capture intense and thrilling aural experience of their live performances.

Paul, do you know if they plan to release a live cd from their just concluded tour?

[Captain Hate]

Funny that Cline talks about Wilco occupying so much of his time yet he's had a lot of releases under his own name recently; I'm listening to Initiate now. Any idea why Trevor Dunn was playing bass instead of Devin Hoff?

[chorus 1]

Devin Hoff moved to Chicago last year and parted ways with the Nels Cline Singers (though he and Cline will play together at the Hideout on March 9 in a quartet with reedist Dave Rempis and drummer Frank Rosaly).

[Paul B]

I bought Planetary at the Baltimore show last night but am currently listening to the studio Celestial Septet album. The studio album but doesn't capture intense and thrilling aural experience of their live performances.

Paul, do you know if they plan to release a live cd from their just concluded tour?

Good question. I'm sure at least some of the shows must have been taped. Will see what I can find out.

[Captain Hate]

Devin Hoff moved to Chicago last year and parted ways with the Nels Cline Singers (though he and Cline will play together at the Hideout on March 9 in a quartet with reedist Dave Rempis and drummer Frank Rosaly).

Thanks for that feedback. That sounds like a fun gig; looks like Nels is finding some things to do apart from Wilco.

[steve(thelil)]

I was real close to seeing them Saturday. Sorry I didn't.

[Vince Kargatis]

looks like Nels is finding some things to do apart from Wilco.

I would even speculate that the extra money he gets from his Wilco gig overcomes the time drain in terms of added opportunities, leaving him busier than ever. Which is great!

[Steve Reynolds]

I'm really irritated that I didn't hear about the NYC show until it already happened.

At least I will see ICP at the same place on the last day of this month - hopefully will be just as thrilling in a different way than the above.

[steve(thelil)]

I'm really irritated that I didn't hear about the NYC show until it already happened.

At least I will see ICP at the same place on the last day of this month - hopefully will be just as thrilling in a different way than the above.

It never ceases to amaze me that Stevie is SOOOO into the Insane Clown Posse.

Gangsta, baby.

[Captain Hate]

I would even speculate that the extra money he gets from his Wilco gig overcomes the time drain in terms of added opportunities, leaving him busier than ever. Which is great!

Absolutely. I thought the Wilco gig would be chock full of win for him in terms of being able to finance additional projects and getting a wider group of people interested in his music.

[steve(thelil)]

Absolutely. I thought the Wilco gig would be chock full of win for him in terms of being able to finance additional projects and getting a wider group of people interested in his music.

I'm now starting to understand the rumored Brötzmann/Bieber collaboration.

[CraigP]

I'm now starting to understand the rumored Brötzmann/Bieber collaboration.

Baby, baby, baby oh baby...(scream)

Don't let Brotz near that child!

[bluenoter]

I can add only the following to what Bernard and Gordon commented:

! ! !

I don't know whether I'll ever again see such a successful live performance.

[Steve Reynolds]

Rita - maybe ICP on March 30th @ The Wind-Up Space in Baltimore, a day before I will see them in NYC.

Not saying better but this band always has the potential to be spectacular as well!

[Captain Hate]

Rita's seen MM before (and graciously got me his autograph which currently resides in the case of one of his solos discs); not sure if it was with ICP or not. I'm extremely jealous of anybody that got a chance to see these performances.

[Steve Reynolds]

but you have the "New-Look" Cavs!!!

[bernardlyons]

I have to second Rita on this. I've produced a lot of gigs over 20 years or so . This one has to be way up there! Its great to follow this with ICP..gonna be a good year.