Nels Kline, who is famous and notorious for his sometimes nasty guitar rock and progressive jazz, allows being accompanied by a chamber orchestra in his debut on the traditional Blue Note Jazz label. Can that be true? Does he not serve thereby the most embarrassing kitsch niche, into which already such jazz legends as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald had been lured due to filthy lucre wrapped in pink strings fog? The fact that Kline was lured into this trap on Lovers might be true since besides Cline originals he did not only record Jerome Kern and Rodgers & Hammerstein songs from the American songbook, but also music from Henry Mancini accompanied by a chamber orchestra acting on velvet paws. This is contradicted however by the fact that Cline on Lovers not only delivers sweeties to the confident Wisky for two at the evening fire-burner or the dainty breakfast in bed, but again and again exits the claws of the guitar tiger, for which he is known from as member of different Avantgard jazzbands and the indie band Wilco. This also is contradicted by the fact that Nels Cline, who is celebrated as one of the top guitarists in the Rolling Stone magazine, would lose his credibility within the rock and jazz scene if Lovers were a pure cuddle album.

A striking argument against Lovers being a cuddle album Cline Michael Leonhardt, as conductor and arranger for the album, puts forward high-class exponents of avant-garde jazz as cellist Erik Friedländer, keyboardist Yuka Honda, and harpist Zeena Parkins, who are too much obliged to experimental music making to abet pink lack of obligation. No way. That is why the album Lovers –despite its gentel gait, and love does not go without gentleness – grumbling and cross-grainedly is built on the foundations of the avantgarde, but without renouncing anarchy. So to speak avangarde light.

Glad to Be Unhappy from the pen of Rodgers & Hammerstein escapes strings pink lack of obligation through an arrangement with muted brassl, cheerful trilling clarinets and atmospheric guitar riffs. Gabor Szabos Lady Gabor hovers on harp clouds airily pimped by guitar sound past pink schmalz. The Jim Hall classic Secret Love benefits from the slightly slanting woodwind cascades, made floating by Cline’s the suspended from the six-stringed guitar. It Only Has To Happen Once by Arto Lindsay style as a blend out of tango and samba . Film music from The Night Porter / Max, Mon Amour is delivered by Cline as a black jazz adaptation. Before Snare Girl drifts into the psychedelic, this title is served with Tom-Toms dressed up by Cline’s guitar à la Americana. As a contrast to the title of Mancini's The Search for Cat, The Bond is a rocking ballad, presented by rock guitarist Nels Cline, who on Lovwers dares to venger into the gentle musical field thereby proving to be a musical chameleon. In doing so, he is able to achieve impressibly the balancing act between romantic and avangardistic music far of non-obligatory mood music, assisted by the impeccably fine sound of this download. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald would have liked to do it this way remote of pink lack of obligation, if only the times had been different.

Nels Cline, guitar
Michael Leonhart, conductor, trumpet
Carla Kihlstedt, violin
Marika Hughes, cello
JD Parran, woodwinds
Charles Pillow, woodwinds
Doug Wieselman, woodwinds
Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon
Steven Bernstein, trumpet
Taylor Haskins, trumpet, valve trombone
Alan Ferber, trombone
Julian Lage, guitar
Yuka C Honda, keyboards
Devin Hoff, bass
Alex Cline, drums, percussion
Kenny Wollesen, vibraphone, marimba, percussion

Recorder and mixed by Ron Saint Germain
Produced by David Breskin