Sparks Fly Upward

Alex Cline

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 6, 1999)
• Original Release Date: April 12, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cryptogramophone
• ASIN: B00000IGN9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #315,026 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

LA Weekly, April 16-22, 1999 by Greg Burke
"Sparks Fly Upward reflects the way Cline has always constructed his music - though construct is too harsh a word. The changes, while often radical, occur naturally, like the views you encounter as you walk along a mountain path. Cline seems to clear a quiet space and allow the music to come into it... Whether it's a hushed, busy rhythm underneath, or the way or the way metallophones hit you like four cups of coffee, some element can't help suggesting a restless desire to attain an unnamed pinnacle. And you feel that when he arrives there, he finds humans, not gods.

Product Description
Alex Cline continues in the spirit of his ECM release The Lamp & the Star, with this percussion-voice-violin-guitar-keyboard-bass-lineup. Drummer/percussionist Cline has worked with jazz greats Charles Lloyd, Charlie Haden, Julius Hemphill, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia and many others.

Produced by famed jazz drummer Peter Erskine, Cline's latest release Sparks Fly Upward includes pieces dedicated to Tony Williams, Andrei Tarkovsky, Richard Grossman, and Eric von Essen. Mr. Cline sets to music text by Rilke, Tarkovsky and Dorothea Grossman.

The Alex Cline Ensemble features singer Aina Kemanis (who has recorded with Barre Phillips and Marilyn Mazur), guitarist G. E. Stinson, violinist Jeff Gauthier, keyboardist Wayne Peet and bassist Mike Elizondo.

Producer Peter Erskine writes: "Alex Cline has a musical sensibility and sensitivity that belong to another time...a time when intimate thoughts were best expressed by someone sitting down, setting pen to paper, and sending their innermost feelings by land or sea, to be read by the intended a few days or weeks later...in short, a time when time really counted. This recording is like a very special letter written by a wise friend; the news it carries is current, but its real message is timeless. The musicianship is inspired, the engineering is translucent. This album is a gift." -Peter Erskine

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice spacy jazz by a great drummer, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This new release by California drummer Alex Cline features the same core ensemble as his previous CDs "The Lamp and the Star" (ECM) and "Montsalvat" (Nine Winds), and I think anyone who liked those records will certainly want this one too. It's on a new California label called Cryptogramophone, and was produced by the well-known drummer Peter Erskine. The group includes Aina Kemanis, voice, Jeff Gauthier, violin, Wayne Peet, keyboards, G.E. Stinson, guitar, and Michael Elizondo, bass, and all contribute very impressively. Cline himself is a great drummer who can drive powerfully, but often concentrates on more subtle textural playing. Much of this music is very spacious and atmospheric, but they get into a driving, sort of funky thing on a tribute to Tony Williams. The packaging is also extremely nice. Well worth checking out.