Winter Jazzfest: Worth the Wait for a Marquee Duo I encountered my first line -- the first of many, if past precedent counts for anything -- outside The Bitter End, for a duo set by the guitarists Nels Cline and Julian Lage. I eventually made it inside, and was glad that I did. The pairing epitomized one facet of the Winter Jazzfest experience: marquee collaborations, rather than working bands. Mr. Cline and Mr. Lage are a study in contrasts, with guitarism, and a taste for American folk traditions, as a binding commonality. Mr. Cline is best known out in the world -- but perhaps not among this constituency -- as the lead guitarist in Wilco. He came to prominence well into his career, and he'd be the first to disavow any stature as a virtuoso (despite powerful countervailing evidence). He's also a committed experimentalist, at home with atonal sound sculpturing and artful distortion. Mr. Lage is, by contrast and rather famously, a prodigy. And his output has, so far, been staunchly tethered to one tradition or another. But he isn't any kind of musical ideologue; he likes blending those traditions, in personal ways. His bond with Mr. Cline isn't as random as it might seem. The three-song portion of their set that I heard was full of strummed urgency and braided melody, like a jazz-folk approximation of some bluesy jam-band frontline. They have collaborated in this way before, and the preparation showed, though I found myself wanting a little more danger and angularity out of the equation. Maybe that happened in due time. I left in pursuit of another performance, at Zinc Bar, by the collective trio of Andrew Cyrille on drums, Eric Revis on bass and Kris Davis on piano. If I make it in, it'll be my second time seeing Ms. Davis tonight, and my second time seeing Mr. Cyrille this week. That might be a big "if," given that I'm currently in line outside the venue, in the rain. There's a second time for everything.