Recorded across two sessions eight years apart, Nels Cline and Elliott Sharp forge a vivid acoustic-guitar dialogue that blends crisp articulation, percussive attack, spectral overtones, and patient, boundary-pushing interplay, creating a set of inventive, empathetic improvisations that expand the guitar-duo tradition with wit, texture, and fearless curiosity.
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Nels Cline-acoustic guitar
Elliott Sharp-acoustic guitar
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UPC: 884501819534
Label: Public Eyesore
Catalog ID: PE121
Squidco Product Code: 36922
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2012
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded (1-4) at Studio zOaR, NYC (W30th St) October 1999 and (5) live at The Stone, April 2007.
"The strike of a string, a sudden atonal spark, a jarring rhythmic motif -- in the hands of some this could be a recipe for an improvised disaster. However, under the guidance of two restless and experimental master chefs, the result is a setting of new expectations.
Guitarist's Nels Cline and Elliot Sharp are both uncompromising musicians, pushing boundaries whenever they can and coloring within the lines whenever they feel like it. Sharp's Aggregat was a favorite from 2012, and Cline's recent output like Jazz Free: A Connective Improvization and Gowanus Sessions, his recording with Thollem McDonas and William Parker, occupy opposite ends of accessibility in improvised music. On Open the Door, however, they take the acoustic guitar to the edge and tempt the listener to take a taste of the unknown.
There is something special in the arpeggiated backing and plaintive slides and bends on 'Isotropes' and the rhythmic chatter on 'Blue Particles' that engages the listener. Then, there are the overtones and scratches at the start of 'Let Her In' and the percussive clatter later on that thrills. Each song is a unique and unexpected string of ideas, often eschewing melodic conventions, but always displaying empathy and consideration in the interactions.
Suffice to say, Open the Door is an excellent addition to the guitar duo canon. In a patient but uncompromising way, Cline and Sharp cook up something special."-Paul Acquaro, The Free Jazz Collective
Get additional information at The Free Jazz Collective
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Nels Cline "Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956 in Los Angeles) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been the guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. He first came to prominence in the 1980s playing jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex Cline, a drummer. Since then, he has worked with a wide range of musicians in punk and alternative rock, notably Mike Watt and Thurston Moore. He also leads the groups the Nels Cline Singers and Nels Cline Trio. Cline was named the 82nd greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in November 2011." ^ Hide Bio for Nels Cline • Show Bio for Elliott Sharp "Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction. His collaborators have included Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; pop singer Debbie Harry; Ensemble Modern; Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; Kronos String Quartet; Ensemble Resonanz; cello innovator Frances Marie Uitti; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; pipa virtuoso Min-Xiao Feng; jazz greats Jack deJohnette, Oliver Lake, and Sonny Sharrock; multimedia artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Sharp is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2014 Fellow at Parson's Center for Transformative Media. He received the 2015 Berlin Prize in Musical Composition from the American Academy in Berlin. He has composed scores for feature films and documentaries; created sound-design for interstitials on The Sundance Channel, MTV and Bravo networks; and has presented numerous sound installations in art galleries and museums. He is the subject of a new documentary "Doing The Don't" by filmmaker Bert Shapiro."-Elliott Sharp ^ Hide Bio for Elliott Sharp
12/17/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/17/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Blue Particles 5:48
2. Five Tastes Of Sour 9:41
3. Isotropes 13:35
4. Let Her In 19:23
5. Pietraviva 9:49
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Guitarists, &c.
Duo Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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