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Bill Frisell's "Guitar in the Space Age" at the Blue Note
by Peter Jurew
Bill FrisellBlue Note New York, NY October 4, 2016 It's one month before what is shaping up to be an epochal presidential election; the national mood is tense, nerves are fraying, anxiety is high. And just in the nick of time, here comes guitarist Bill Frisell to save our sanity! He's presenting the Blue Note (NYC) audiences with a week of coolly poignant interpretations of some of his favorite vintage pop tunes, most of which ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star
by Ian Patterson
There's something undeniably powerful about the music of one's youth, whether it be the theme tune to a much loved children's TV show, the pop music of our teens or the soundtracks to the classic films that signpost the passing of the years. When You Wish Upon a Star pays tribute to well-known film and television theme tunes from the 1950s to the 1970s and represents the latest foray from Frisell, following his John Lennon tribute All We Are Saying... ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star
by Luigi Sforza
Chi di Bill Frisell conosce le passioni non si stupirà per quest'album interamente dedicato alle musiche da film. La frequentazione del chitarrista, compositore e band leader di Baltimora con le musiche per il cinema è di lunga data. Numerose sono le colonne sonore da lui composte in un ventennio -si potrebbe partire dal lungometraggio La Scuola di Daniele Lucchetti del 1995, per arrivare al più recente documentario The Great Flood di Bill Morrison del 2013 passando per il film d'animazione ...
Continue ReadingTom Collier: Across The Bridge
by Dan Bilawsky
Ruminations on the past, musical or otherwise, are often weighed down by the sediment of sentiment. But it certainly doesn't have to be that way. Looking back can provide an outlet for the imagination to take control, and vibraphonist Tom Collier seems well aware of that. On Across The Bridge, Collier revisits his youth, delivering nine original numbers that touch on a childhood spent on the opposite side of the West Seattle Bridge from where he currently resides. It's a ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star
by Dan Bilawsky
Bill Frisell's America is a true land of musical opportunity. It's a place where portraits of bucolic beauty can mingle freely with reflections on gritty urban jungles, giving voice to anything and everything from the lighter side of life to the dark underbelly of existence. This inimitable guitarist's body of written work, along with his priceless interpretations of the music of Aaron Copland, Hank Williams, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Thelonious Monk, George Gershwin, Willie Nelson, and ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star
by John Kelman
While jazz and interpretation are hardly strange bedfellows, few musicians have managed to be both as deeply reverent to his source music and profoundly personal and in his approach as guitarist Bill Frisell. That's not to suggest his re-imaginings of other composers' works have been anything remotely approaching predictable; as early as his first covers" record, Have a Little Faith (Elektra/Nonesuch, 1993), Frisell managed to create a congruent program out of disparate sources ranging from Aaron Copland, John Phillip Sousa ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell Trio at Peace Center
by Mark Sullivan
Bill Frisell Trio Peace Center Greenville, SC November 22, 2015 The promotional description for this Bill Frisell Trio show promised music from Frisell's entire, and quite versatile, repertoire." A bold claim, given the guitarist's huge, varied discography, which ranges from experimental jazz with John Zorn to reinterpretations of pop songs. But although the program wasn't quite that far-ranging, it definitely had that spirit, showcasing several sides of Frisell's playing, as well as a wide ...
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