Nels Cline has such a wide musical vocabulary and the guitar chops to put it all into practice, it might seem that each recording project of his is to cover another facet he’s well versed in but never properly presented to the public before. Sometimes, that requires starting a whole new band.
Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note Records) introduces the latest Cline vehicle, a highly-charged quartet composed of Cline, bassist Chris Lightcap, drummer Tom Rainey and saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. In contrast to his long-running affair The Nels Cline Singers with its ‘anything goes’ ethos, the Consentrik Quartet stays within the jazz realm. But within that realm — widely defined here — it’s a showcase for both the awesome collection of talent and Cline’s discerning songwriting.
Since he’s capable of anything and is willing to try anything, Cline the composer is hard to nail down, but one general consistency is that he rarely gives away the game in the first minute, opting to let the song’s whole concept reveal itself in due course, not too unlike one of his big influences, Andrew Hill. For example, even while “Time Of No Sirens” stays solemn throughout, it never stays in place, unhurriedly progressing from one mode to another.
Other times, Cline is inclined to go for the abrupt shifts, illustrated by “Slipping Into Something,” where a deceptively quiet beginning precludes an explosion into a funky delight highlighted by lively Cline/Laubrock consonance and banter. Even when you think he’s getting predictable, that’s when he’s most apt to throw you a curve ball: Cline inevitably shows his rock ‘n’ roll side at some point and that comes out for the gonzo front-end of “Satomi,” but turns introspective for the rest of the way.
Group democracy is a Cline band hallmark and he makes no exceptions here, as everyone is critical to making the music artful and compelling, all the time. “The Returning Angel” gets the album off on a subdued footing, though Rainey’s driving brushwork is notable. Lightcap’s repeating bass figure at the end signals the start of “The 23” and it in fact is the song’s main riff. Laubrock and Cline combine nicely to state the motif and Cline then proceeds to tear off one of his signature nervous, vervy solos.
“Surplus” is bop with avant-garde edges but Lightcap and Rainey put in all these wrinkles that make it all the more fascinating. Laubrock shows off her ability to pilot through difficult changes and make a difficult chart accessible. Meanwhile, Cline lets loose some of his Nordic rage before returning the song to its previously happy mindset.
Within the group aesthetic are the telepathic connections within the front line and the rhythm section. Cline and Laubrock each give their own reading synchronously over the doleful melody of “Allende.” Lightcap and Rainey create chaos during “Down Close,” starting with a swing pace and then devolve into a rubato, yet somehow stay close together.
While most of the tracks here stay tethered to modern jazz, “Question Marks (The Spot)” goes further off on the avant-garde end. That doesn’t mean it’s detached from melody, though: Lightcap opens it up with a woody, penetrating design that informs the guitar/sax lead lines that soon follow, and the song resolves with a hopeful, circular ending. “The Bag” is sometimes-free/sometimes-bebop vessel that gets going with Rainey doing his off-kilter brand of swing. Everyone gets to show us how wiggy they can get, and no one gets wiggy quite like Cline himself, briefly but memorably digging deep into his reality warping fx pedals.
Now nine years with a major jazz record company, Nels Cline continues to act as if he’s still at a boutique label trying to stand out from the crowd as an experimental, forward-thinking artist. As one of the more adventurous new music releases on Blue Note Records recently, Consentrik Quartet proves that even within a conventional jazz quartet format, Cline retains that hunger to thrive on the edge.
*** Nels Cline CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
- Tobias Meinhart – ‘Sonic River’ (2025) - April 22, 2025
- Ivo Perelman, with William Parker + Rashied Ali – ‘Sad Life’ (1996, 2025 reissue) - April 15, 2025
- Nels Cline – ‘Consentrik Quartet’ (2025) - March 31, 2025
