Guitar Summit 2024

Nels Cline is a New York-based guitarist and composer. Known to many as Wilco's lead guitarist, Cline's vast catalog spans four decades and explores many corners of the jazz, rock, punk and experimental genres.

Born in Los Angeles CA in 1956, he grew up with his twin brother Alex as a rock 'n roll obsessive before becoming immersed in the world of so-called jazz and improvised music after hearing the music of John Coltrane. He has played on over 200 recordings and performed and recorded with a wide variety of artists such as Charlie Haden, Julius Hemphill, Tim Berne, Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Mark Isham, Ricki Lee Jones, Lee Ranaldo, Joan Osborne, Phil Lesh, Jim Black, Elliott Sharp, Anthony Braxton, and Julian Lage, to name but a few. He has released dozens of recordings as a leader since the 1980s.

He has led his band The Nels Cline Singers since 2001, generating several recordings and performing worldwide, and collaborates with improvisers in projects too numerous to mention here. Nels has also composed larger commissioned works such as "Dirty Baby", which combined his compositions for two large ensembles with the paintings of Edward Ruscha and the poetry of David Breskin.