Nels Cline

Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country... group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. Since early 2004, the other current members are guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released eight studio albums, a live double album, and three collaborations: two with Billy Bragg, and one with The Minus 5. Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles, including Bill Fay and Television, and has in turn influenced music by a number of modern alternative rock acts. The band continued in the alternative country of Uncle Tupelo on its debut album A.M. , but has since introduced more experimental aspects to their music, including elements of alternative rock and classic pop. Wilco garnered media attention for its fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot , and the controversy surrounding it.
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Cryptogramophone Records is a Los Angeles-based jazz record label which was formed in 1998 by violinist Jeff Gauthier to document the music of his late friend and musical companion, bassist Eric von Essen. The label has since expanded its vision, currently serving the needs of a community of West... Coast creative musicians who are committed to exploring the worlds of improvisation, composition, artistic vision and instrumental technique. Cryptogramophone has released albums by such West Coast musicians as guitarist Nels Cline, drummer Alex Cline, bassists Darek Oles and Steuart Liebig, drummer Scott Amendola, guitarist G. E. Stinson, trombonist Scot Ray, pianist Don Preston and Jeff Gauthier himself. In addition, Cryptogramophone has documented the music of Downtown New York artists Mark Dresser and Erik Friedlander. Cryptogramophone sponsors a weekly concert series in Los Angeles called Cryptonight at the Club Tropical, and an independent jazz retail website called indiejazz.
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Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in black communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a... mix of African and European music traditions. Its black African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation and the swung note. From its early development until the present day jazz has also incorporated music from American popular music. As the music has developed and spread around the world it has drawn on many different national, regional and local musical cultures giving rise, since its early 20th century American beginnings, to many distinctive styles: New Orleans jazz dating from the early 1910s, big band swing, Kansas City jazz and Gypsy jazz from the 1930s and 1940s, bebop from the mid-1940s and on down through West Coast jazz, cool jazz, avant-garde jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, modal jazz, free jazz, Latin jazz in various forms, soul jazz, jazz fusion and jazz rock, smooth jazz, jazz-funk, punk jazz, acid jazz, ethno jazz, jazz rap, cyber jazz, Indo jazz, M-Base, nu jazz, urban jazz and other ways of playing the music. In a 1988 interview, trombonist J.J. Johnson said, "Jazz is restless.
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