Jazz Articles about Bill Frisell

About Bill Frisell

In Pictures

The Bill Frisell Trio+1 at Roulette in Brooklyn

by Dave Kaufman
June 6, 2022

Bill Frisell brought his Trio to Roulette in Brooklyn on Friday (May 27, 2022). He has a lengthy history with the venue dating back to his early days in New York City (late 1970s/early 1980s) when Roulette was situated in lower Manhattan and served as a forum for up-and-coming adventurous artists. On this occasion, the Trio was joined by alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins. Frisell has amassed an extraordinary and remarkably diverse body of work over 40 years. However, relatively few ...

Radio & Podcasts

A Focus On Frisell Plus New Releases

by Bob Osborne
May 26, 2022

Guitar maestro Bill Frisell is featured on two albums this week. Firstly a 2015 release from Michael Gibbs & The NDR Big Band who perform a Frisell setlist. Secondly, on the new album from Ches Smith. There are also new album releases from Out To Dinner, Jane Ira Bloom & Mark Helias, Ariane Racicot, and, the trio of Mario Salvador, Marcos Morales, & Yasel Muñoz. In addition there's a brand new single from the Igor Willcox Quartet.Playlist Show ...

Album Review

Ches Smith: Interpret It Well

Read "Interpret It Well" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 18, 2022

A short list of the fellow travelers who New York drummer, vibraphonist & percussionist Ches Smith has journeyed alongside—Tim Berne, Kris Davis, John Zorn, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, David Torn—should give a hint to the many places he went with his latest experiment Interpret It Well. On this second go round with pianist & keyboardist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri—their first was 2016's still vibrating, The Bell (ECM)—Smith deputizes the ubiquitous musings of guitarist Bill Frisell. Then, ...

Album Review

Ches Smith: Interpret It Well

Read "Interpret It Well" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
May 6, 2022

Ches Smith's extraordinary Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic Records, 2021) was a breakout recording that placed the drummer/composer at the top of many year-end lists. His sophomore outing on Kris Davis' label bears little similarity to his Pyroclastic debut beyond the artist's knack for discovering unexplored terrain. Interpret It Well reunites the trio of pianist Craig Taborn, violist Mat Maneri, and Smith (The Bell (ECM, 2016)) and adds guitarist Bill Frisell. With these master improvisers in place, Smith ...

Touchstone Album Picks

Bill Frisell: Never Ending Revelations

by Ian Patterson
April 28, 2022

Touchstone Albums Picks is a new column from All About Jazz that invites artists to talk about the albums that have moved and inspired them and perhaps in some way informed their own music. In celebration of the publication of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer (Faber & Faber, 2022), Irish journalist Philip Watson's definitive biography of the Denver guitarist, AAJ invited Bill Frisell to kick off the series. What follows is an extract, largely unedited, of a conversation where ...

Album Review

Ches Smith: Interpret It Well

Read "Interpret It Well" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
April 26, 2022

Ches Smith is a drummer who can make an immediate impact in a number of ways. His work as a sideman with everyone from John Zorn to Ben Goldberg to Tim Berne is ample evidence of his rhythmic range. But his own projects are just as inventive, from the punkish mania of Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013) to the re-imagined Haitian Voudou on 2021's Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic). If there is a common thread, it is probably found in Smith's ...

Building a Jazz Library

Bill Frisell As Leader: A Beginner's Guide

by Ian Patterson
March 16, 2022

To celebrate the publication of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer (Faber & Faber, 2022), Irish journalist Philip Watson's definitive biography of the Denver guitarist, All About Jazz presents this beginner's guide to Frisell's discography as leader. Half a dozen other albums could easily have made the list, but these selections attempt primarily to highlight the range of Frisell's music and his evolution as both a guitarist and a composer. Bill Frisell's debut as leader, In Line, (ECM, 1983) was ...