INTERVIEW: Nels Cline

Photo by: NATHAN WEST

This past Autumn, the Brooklyn Music School (BMS) welcomed several new members to its Artistic Advisory Board. Each member of the Artistic Advisory Board brings a unique perspective, insight, and experience that is sure to support the Brooklyn Music School as it continues to grow and offer inspiring programming for music and dance students of all ages.  

In anticipation of his upcoming sold-out Jimi Hendrix Tribute concert with the Brooklyn Music School on February 24, 2018, we asked Nels Cline of Wilco, a few questions about what inspired him to join BMS's Artistic Advisory Board, and what Jimi Hendrix means to him.

Here's what he had to say. 

Q: What about the Brooklyn Music School Inspired you to get involved? 

Nels: I was approached through the gentlemen Seth Rosner, who run the excellent jazz record label Pi Recordings, to meet the school’s administrators about being on the advisory board, and as a fairly recent resident of Brooklyn and as one who is usually out of town playing, I thought that involvement on some level would offer the opportunity to contribute to my new community in some way. When I met with everyone and got a feel for what the school is about, I immediately loved it. The aim of providing music education for people of all ages and backgrounds is a noble one. I hope I can help in some way to make people aware of what the school is doing and to keep it thriving.

Q: What perspective or experience do you look forward to sharing with the Brooklyn Music School Community?

Nels: My musical background is not particularly academic, but my age (I am now 62!) and rather diverse stylistic impulses may make me an interesting voice to add to those already on staff at the school. My personal trajectory as a late-bloomer/late “success” could be a very encouraging story for musicians of all ages. It’s very hard to “make it” in music, and my consistent message has been to persevere and to try to follow one’s inner voice and not be deterred by disappointments and/or non-artistic pressures.

Q: What inspired you to want to do a Jimi Hendrix tribute? 

Nels: Well, it was really the school’s idea! It was suggested because they knew that my decision at age twelve to play guitar for the rest of my life happened when I heard Jimi back then, in 1967. I agreed to the idea right away. I sure hope I can do the music justice!

Q: What significance does Jimi Hendrix have for you in your life?

Nels: See my previous answer. Beyond that statement, Jimi still embodies the most potent, colorful, innovative, personal, exciting aspects of music - for me and, quite obviously, for millions of others the world over. The work still gets me revved up and inspires not just guitar expression/histrionics but creativity at its most electrifying. And at the core of it all: the Blues...

Q: Do you have a fun fact to share about you or your instrument? 

Nels: When I was young and thrilled by music and by Jimi, I never tried to play like him at all, thinking it was A) impossible, and B) almost sacrilege - Jimi seemed like pure magic, superhuman or something. I designed to be modest, un-flashy. Now, look what’s happened!

BMS Presents: Lead Belly, Brooklyn!

Brooklyn Music School (BMS) presents Lead Belly, Brooklyn!, an All-Ages Sensory-Friendly Event featuring Dan Zanes, Claudia Eliaza, Pauline Jean and students from BMS on Friday, November 17, 2017 at 7 p.m. BMS is located at 126 Saint Felix Street, Brooklyn. Tickets are $5-15.

Join us for a Community Celebration of Lead Belly’s Legacy at Brooklyn Music School. This unique event will feature Dan Zanes, Claudia Eliaza, and Pauline Jean performing a selection of Lead Belly’s music with the students of the Brooklyn Music School.

“Lead Belly's music made me want to play as a 7-year-old, and I've been doing that ever since,” said Zanes. “Lead Belly was the reason I started making music, and Lead Belly was the template for everything I've done in family music. I consider him to be the father of modern family music.”

At the end of the event, audience members will also have the opportunity to participate in a music video with Dan Zanes for the song "Rock Island Line" from his most recent album: "Lead Belly, Baby!,” produced with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and the event will also be filmed for a future documentary on the legacy of Lead Belly.

Grammy Award-winner Dan Zanes occupies a unique place in American music where sea shanties, folk music, the spirit of early rock 'n' roll, and soulful originals collide. For over 15 years he has performed everywhere from thrift shop basements to Carnegie Hall, from Brooklyn to Bahrain and beyond, meanwhile releasing over a dozen children's albums and several DVDs reconnecting people to forgotten songs. Referred to as "the family-music genre's most outspoken and eloquent advocate" by TIME magazine, his widely acclaimed music has all been featured on Sesame Street, Playhouse Disney, Nickelodeon, HBO Family, and Sprout. Zanes recently finished “ Lead Belly, Baby!,” an album released on the Smithsonian/Folkways label celebrating the children's music of his main inspiration, Lead Belly (1889–1949), known as the King of the 12-String Guitar. Routinely performing with a large roster of friends, Zanes will be joined by Haitian-American jazz vocalists Claudia Eliaza and Pauline Jean, and other special guests.

The show will be sensory friendly. Zanes and his fiancée, Claudia Eliaza, are pioneers in the sensory-friendly performance movement. The Kennedy Center recently commissioned the two to create the first sensory-friendly folk opera, Night Train 57. “For me, the folk experience is about inclusion and participation -- welcoming people in,” Zanes said. “The spirit of Lead Belly's music that affected me as a 7-year-old drives me to want to create and present in a sensory-friendly atmosphere today.”

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Dan Zanes discovered Lead Belly's music on the day he got his first library card. On “Lead Belly, Baby!”, the GRAMMY-winning family music performer presents a fresh vision of Lead Belly's music for a new generation with a little help from his friends. Along with guests including Chuck D., Billy Bragg, Aloe Blacc, and Valerie June, Zanes brings the music of this American icon back full circle to its original home on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

For more information about the album, visit https://folkways.si.edu/dan-zanes-and-friends/lead-belly-baby.

BMS Announces New Advisory Board

Brooklyn Music School (BMS), located at 126 Felix Street, Brooklyn, NY, announces a new Advisory Board, created to play a key role in helping BMS continually enrich its educational and artistic offerings, improve its pedagogical approach, increase visibility in the community, and refine strategies for growth.

The new Advisory Board members are Hanna Arie-Gaifman, Martin Bresnick, Christopher Cerrone, Nels Cline, David del Tredici, Bridie Gauthier, Anthony Laciura, Dr. Victor Lewis, Lester Lynch, Elizabeth (Betsy) Hun Schmidt, Dalit Warshaw, and Dan Zanes. These highly skilled, illustrious, and lauded artists, educators, and leaders will provide support to the board and staff of BMS, and help to shape the future of the non-profit organization, which has grown by more than 30% each year for the past five years.

“We are honored to have such an illustrious group of artists and educators contribute to Brooklyn Music School’s mission of making high quality music and performing arts education accessible to all in our community,” said Crocker Coulson, Chair of the BMS Board of Trustees. “In order to remain relevant we need to continually raise the bar of the quality and breadth of the offerings we provide and find new ways to bring the excitement of artistic discovery to the next generation. These Advisory Board members have generously agreed to contribute their time and wise counsel to moving BMS forward.”

Members of the Advisory Board have all committed to contribute their time in meaningful ways, and over the next year BMS will be announcing a series of concerts, workshops, master classes, and lectures that will enable children and adults to interact and learn from musicians, dancers, performers, and arts educators at the top of their professions. Other members will contribute by providing strategic advice to the BMS Board or helping with the professional development of BMS faculty and staff. Additional members of the Advisory Board are expected to be announced in the coming months.