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Bill Frisell: Beautiful Dreamers
by Troy Collins
Heralded as a sonic innovator since his seminal work for ECM Records in the mid-eighties, Grammy winning, perennial Best Jazz Guitarist award recipient Bill Frisell has developed a rich body of work over the past two decades, guaranteeing him a place in the history books alongside his heroes Jim Hall and Jimi Hendrix. Fastidiously documented by Elektra/Nonesuch since the early nineties, Frisell's twenty plus releases for the label encompass everything from soundtracks for silent films to genre-straddling collaborations with Nashville ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Beautiful Dreamers
by John Kelman
Most people slow down as they get older but, in the case of musicians, there are those who seem to actually step up the pace. Bill Frisell may be approaching 60, but he's busier than ever--so much so, in fact, that the intrepid guitarist has left his record label of over twenty years (Nonesuch), because it was unprepared to keep up with his need to release more than one album per year. Beautiful Dreamers is Frisell's first Savoy Jazz release ...
Continue ReadingJohn Zorn / George Lewis / Bill Frisell: More News For Lulu
by Glenn Astarita
More News For Lulu was this trio's second album and, despite being recorded in 1989 and originally released on hatOLOGY Records (the father label to HatHut Records) in 1992, its crisp attack and buoyant execution holds up rather immaculately with this overdue reissue. A hybrid studio/live program, the artists effortlessly work through bop, and swing motifs with slight nods to abstract expressionism in choice spots. And the overall dynamic is abetted by the record label's pristine audio processing. ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Disfarmer
by Joel Roberts
Guitarist Bill Frisell's latest foray outside jazz into folk-country-Americana is a soundtrack of sorts to an exhibit of photographs by Michael Disfarmer, an eccentric and curmudgeonly portrait artist who recorded stark, stunning black and white images of his fellow townsfolk in rural Arkansas in the 1940s and '50s. Most of the 26 tracks here are sparse, evocative sketches or snapshots, with Frisell and his string quartet of longtime cohorts--Greg Liesz on steel guitar and mandolin, Jenny Scheinman ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Solos and Films of Buster Keaton
by John Kelman
In a career which is in 2009 entering its fourth decade in the public eye, guitarist Bill Frisell has fashioned a trajectory like no other. As comfortable playing Hank Williams country tunes as he is a Ron Carter blues, the guitarist has created such a distinctive sound that, even when he's playing a plain old G chord, it's immediately recognizable. Idiosyncratic and able to take even the most conventional idea on its side, Frisell has gradually built a ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Disfarmer
by John Kelman
Often a cinematic writer, guitarist Bill Frisell has composed film scores in the past, including his back-to-back release of Music For The Films Of Buster Keaton: The High Sign/One Week and Go West (both Elektra/Nonesuch, 1995) and, more recently, music for the 2007 Canadian film All Hat (Emarcy/Universal, 2008). Instead of writing for images in motion, however, Disfarmer is an album of largely original music inspired by Depression-era photographer Michael Disfarmer's arresting images of rural America. Frisell manages to capture ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: The Quiet Genius
by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
If there is a given within the music of guitarist Bill Frisell, it's the honest approach in every note he composes and plays. There are no compromises. His magical world of creativity incorporates yet transcends all styles and genres of music, and as one of today's most original and innovative composers, he has created a unique and distinct voice that has developed into his own personal musical language. Without perhaps trying to do so, Frisell creates the ...
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