Nels Cline 4

Tickets are $33 in advance, $38 day of show (including all service charges). They are also available by phone through Hold My Ticket at 505-886-1251.

Guitar explorer Nels Cline is best known these days as the lead guitarist in the band Wilco. His recording and performing career—spanning jazz, rock, punk and experimental—is well into its fourth decade, with over 200 recordings, including at least 30 for which he is leader. Cline has received many accolades, including Rolling Stone anointing him as both one of 20 "new guitar gods" and one of the top 100 guitarists of all time.

With Currents, Constellations, Cline's second Blue Note release, we hear the debut of The Nels Cline 4, made up of Cline and Julian Lage plus the fierce and versatile rhythm section of bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Tom Rainey. All of the music is Cline's, save for a haunting and rare Carla Bley gem from the Jimmy Giuffre 3 songbook.

Cline's two-guitar duo with Lage was documented on the 2014 album Room. "When Julian and I started playing together it kicked my ass hard," Cline told JazzTimes around the time of Room's release. "At the same time it inspired me and refreshed my soul." Lage, for his part, declared he had "found his people" playing with Cline: "At last I found a scenario where... you could be free and adventurous, you could utilize sound and be extremely melodic and evocative." The duo is still ongoing, but it is morphing and expanding with the addition of Colley and Rainey.