Nels Cline/ Larry Ochs/ Gerald Cleaver Trio 12/8/17 Firehouse 12

Closing show of the 2017 Fall Season at F-12. Guitar chameleon Cline has been reviewed in this blog in various incarnations in the past. Lead guitar for the cult of Wilco where he joins Jeff Tweedy in a spin vs. spazzfest. In an acoustic duo configuration with an equally skilled Julian Lage, or on this particular evening a free-form burble-off with sax player Ochs, and drummer Cleaver. Cline isn't shy and he starts right in with some metal droney material. Ochs, a member of the ROVA Saxophone Quartet looked exactly like the muppet sax player. Droopy face, shades (at night), bald with scraggly long gray hair spooling down from the equator of his skull. Ochs burbled sideways to Cline's forward bursts, Cleaver cleverly keeping time in the back. Cline seemed obsessed with the technique of tapping the guitar neck from behind creating various sounds depending on where the fret hand was at the point of thwack. Cleaver at one point does some cymbal scraping that sounded like a bus with bad brakes trying to stop The second set consisted of one long improvised freakout which was not easy listening, but it is always great to be in close proximity to a truly original artist spewing his truly original art.