Alex Cline

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alex Cline (born in Los Angeles in 1956) is an American jazz drummer.

Cline began playing drums with his twin brother, guitarist Nels Cline, at age 11. Their first combo was called Homogenized Goo and included David Hirschman on guitar. He began a musical association with woodwind artist Jamil Shabaka in 1976 as Duo Infinity. In 1977 Alex Cline became a member of Vinny Golia's group as well as the Julius Hemphill Trio (along with Baikida Carroll), formed the electric improvisational trio Spiral (with brother Nels and synthesizer player-multi-instrumentalist Brian Horner) and began performing solo percussion concerts.

In 1979, Alex and Nels Cline, along with bassist Eric von Essen and violinist Jeff Gauthier formed Quartet Music, a group that enjoyed continued success in its performances and four recordings over an eleven-year period and was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council.

In 1982, Alex Cline made his solo debut with Not Alone (Nine Winds), a double LP of percussion music. In 1987, he recorded The Lamp and The Star (ECM), his first album as a bandleader-composer. As the leader of his own group, The Alex Cline Ensemble, he can be heard on Sparks Fly Upward and The Constant Flame, two releases on Cryptogramophone Records, an LA-based independent creative-jazz label. Cline’s other improvisational collaborations include right of violet (9Winds) and The Other Shore (Cryptogramophone), both with Jeff Gauthier and ex-Shadowfax guitarist G.E. Stinson, and Cloud Plate (Cryptogramophone) with Stinson, vocalist Kaoru and koto player Miya Masaoka.

Other groups Cline has led are Alex Cline’s Band of the Moment and The Rain Trio (with Eric Barber and Scott Walton). He has also been involved in duo percussion collaborations with Ron George, Peter Erskine, Christopher Garcia, Andrea Centazzo, Gregg Bendian and Dan Morris, as well as involved in performing the works of composers such as Robert Eriksson, Harold Budd and David Means.

Alex has served as composer and/or performer for numerous modern dancers and dance companies in Los Angeles, including Margaret Schuette, Linda Fowler, the Momentum Company’s "Soundspace" concerts, Dance/LA, the UCLA Dance Company and has enjoyed a longstanding involvement with Will Salmon’s Open Gate Theatre company.

He has participated in performance collaborations with visual artists Yoshio Ikezaki, Norton Wisdom, Kio Griffith and 2-Tu. He has worked on feature and cable television film soundtracks, done numerous sound workshops and percussion clinics, plus lecture-demonstrations on Asian metal percussion instruments. Cline has also been the curator of the Open Gate Theatre’s Sunday Evening Concerts series, a new music/creative jazz showcase held monthly in Eagle Rock, California (since 1997).

He also works as an interviewer/interview series developer-coordinator at the UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research.

Cline has played on over eighty recordings, and has worked with Gregg Bendian, Tim Berne, Arthur Blythe, Bobby Bradford, John Carter, Buddy Collette, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich, Vinny Golia, Henry Grimes, Charlie Haden, Joseph Jarman, Henry Kaiser, Yusef Lateef, Charles Lloyd, Myra Melford, Frank Morgan, Don Preston, Elliott Sharp, Wadada Leo Smith, Philip Gelb, Richard Grossman, and others.

[edit] Cline's Discography

(Listed in reverse chronology)

NELS CLINENew Monastery: A View into the Music of Andrew Hill (Cryptogramophone CG130) (additional percussion, tracks 5 & 7)
JOHN WOLF BRENNANI.N.I.T.I.A.L.S. (Creative Works CW-1046/1047) (percussion on 2 tracks)
JEFF GAUTHIER GOATETTEOne and the Same (Cryptogramophone CG128)
ALEX CLINE/KAORU/MIYA MASAOKA/G.E. STINTONCloud Plate (Cryptogramophone CG121)
SCOT RAY QUINTETActive Vapor Recovery (Cryptogramophone CG117)
HARRIS EISENSTADT AHIMSA ORCHESTRA (9 Winds NWCD0237) (percussion on one track)
WILLIAM ROPERIf I Ran the Circus (Tomato Sage TCSR-001) (percussion on one track)
GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRAWeb of Light (Meta 007)
ADAM RUDOLPH/YUSEF LATEEF/GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRAIn the Garden (Meta/YAL 008)
JEFF GAUTHIER GOATETTEMask (Cryptogramophone CG112)
ALEX CLINE ENSEMBLEThe Constant Flame (Cryptogramophone CG110)
GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONERequiem for Jack Kirby (Atavistic)
DESTROY ALL NELS CLINE (Atavistic ALP122)
DON PRESTON TRIOTransformation (Cryptogramophone CG107)
DAN MORRISThe Soul the Crow Stole
STEUART LIEBIGPomegranate (Cryptogramophone CG109)
THE MUSIC OF ERIC VON ESSEN, VOL. III (Cryptogramophone CG115)
THE MUSIC OF ERIC VON ESSEN, VOL. II (Cryptogramophone CG108)
THE MUSIC OF ERIC VON ESSEN, VOL. I (Cryptogramophone CG103)
ALEX CLINE/JEFF GAUTHIER/G.E. STINSONThe Other Shore (Cryptogramophone CG105)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLEThe Other Bridge (Oakland 1999) (9 Winds 0210/0220)
VINNY GOLIA/BOBBY BRADFORD/KEN FILIANO/ALEX CLINELineage (9 Winds 0214)
ALEX CLINE ENSEMBLESparks Fly Upward (Cryptogramophone CG102)
LYNN JOHNSTONFirst We Feel (Win 037)
GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONEMyriad (Atavistic ALP119)
JEANETTE WRATE/NORTHERN LIGHT ENSEMBLEEchoes of a Northern Sky (Cryptogramophone CG101) (additional percussion, kantele, one track)
GREGG BENDIAN/ALEX CLINEEspiritu (True Media D 98715)
MARK WEBERTime Zone Differential (ZERX 007)
MARK WEBERO Shenandoah Be Not Telling Me This (Zerx 001) (one track)
MARK WEBERBygone Tumbleweeds, Tarnation of Smoke (Zerx 011) (one track)
GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONE – (Eremite MTE03)
VINNY GOLIA QUINTETNation of Laws (9 Winds 0189)
JEFF GAUTHIER QUARTETThe Present (9 Winds 0196)
JAMES CARNEYOffset Rhapsody (Jacaranda 71002) (one track)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLEPortland 1996 (9 Winds 0180)
ALEX CLINE/JEFF GAUTHIER/G.E. STINSONright of violet (9 Winds 0184)
JOEL HARRISON3 + 3 = 7 (9 Winds 0185)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLETutto Contare (9 Winds 0170)
JOHN RAPSON/ANTHONY BRAXTONDances & Orations (Music & Arts 923)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLECommemoration (9 Winds 0150/0160)
JEFF GAUTHIERInternal Memo (9 Winds 0164)
SHOOTING STARS & TRAFFIC LIGHTS (Bellaphon L & R 45090)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLEDecennium dans Axlan (9 Winds 0140)
ALEX CLINE ENSEMBLEMontsalvat (9 Winds 0197)
RICHARD GROSSMAN TRIOWhere the Sky Ended (hatOLOGY 541)
RICHARD GROSSMAN TRIOEven Your Ears (hatOLOGY 915)
RICHARD GROSSMAN TRIORemember (Magnatone 512MGT)
G.E. STINSON GROUPThe Same Without You (9 Winds 0154)
STEPHEN ARROYOThe Psychology of the Sun Signs (cassette book w/original music by Alex Cline, CRCS Publications
RICHARD GROSSMAN & FRIENDSIn the Air (9 Winds 0146)
BLOOD AND CONCRETEOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrack by Vinny Golia (IRS)
BLOCIn the Free Zone (A & M 75021 5343 2) (additional percussion)
DENNIS GONZALEZThe Earth and the Heart (Konnex KCD 5028, Music & Arts)
RICHARD GROSSMANTrio in Real Time (9 Winds 0134)
JOHN RAPSONBing! (Sound Aspects SAS 036)
VINNY GOLIA QUINTETOut for Blood (9 Winds 0127)
QUARTET MUSICSummer Night (Delos DE 4010)
SUSAN RAWCLIFFE/ALEX CLINEPersonal Ethnic (Clay Music cassette)
CHARLIE HADEN QUARTET WESTIn Angel City (Verve 837 031-1) (one track)
ALEX CLINEThe Lamp and The Star (ECM 1372)
WAYNE PEET'S DOPPLER FUNKBlasto! (9 Winds 0126)
NELS CLINEAngelica (Enja 5063)
QUARTET MUSICWindow on the Lake (9 Winds 0122)
VINNY GOLIA QUINTETRegards from Norma Desmond (Fresh Sound 008)
TIM BERNE (W/ Bill Frisell, Hank Roberts) – Fulton Street Maul (Columbia FC40530; rereleased on Koch Jazz 3-7826-2)
RICHARD GROSSMANone...two...three...four... (9 Winds 0119)
JOHN RAPSONBu-Wah (9 Winds 0118)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLEPilgrimage to Obscurity (9 Winds CD 0130)
VINNY GOLIA QUINTETGoin' Ahead (9 Winds 0117)
JULIUS HEMPHILL'S JAH BANDGeorgia Blue (Minor Music 003)
VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLEFacts of Their Own Lives (9 Winds 0120)
QUARTET MUSICOcean Park (9 Winds 0113)
JOHN RAPSONDeeba-Dah-Bwee (9 Winds 0112)
GREY PAVILION (12" e.p.) (Pink Shoe Productions P.S.1)
VINNY GOLIACompositions for Large Ensemble (9 Winds 0110)
VINNY GOLIA QUINTET -- The Gift of Fury (9 Winds 0109)
ALEX CLINENot Alone (solo percussion music) (9 Winds 0107)
VINNY GOLIA TRIOSlice of Life (9 Winds 0108)
QUARTET MUSICQuartet Music (9 Winds 0106)
TIM BERNESpectres (Empire 48K)
ROBERTO MIGUEL MIRANDA W/ VIRGILIO FIGUEROARaphael (Nimbus 1024)
WALTER THOMPSONStardate (Dane 002)
TIM BERNE7X (Empire 36K)
MOSS/CENTAZZO/CLINEPercussion Interchanges (Ictus p.s. 0012)
VINNY GOLIA TRIO...in the right order... (9 Winds 0103)
TIM BERNEThe Five-Year Plan (Empire 24K)
VINNY GOLIA"Openhearted" (9 Winds 0102)
ANDREA CENTAZZOU.S.A. Concerts (Ictus 018)
VINNY GOLIASpirits in Fellowship (9 Winds 0101)
JAMIL SHABAKA/ALEX CLINEDuo Infinity (Aten 0010)