Jazz Articles about Bill Frisell

About Bill Frisell

Book Excerpts

Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer

by AAJ Staff
March 15, 2022

The following is a revised excerpt from “Chapter 20: Frislandia" of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer by Philip Watson (Faber & Faber, 2022). Bill Frisell's music has always, right from the beginning, raised critical questions about definition and classification, about the very nature of genre. What is it that Frisell is playing, and how might we begin to describe it? The most common descriptor, of course, is that Frisell is a jazz guitarist. 'I don't know ...

Book Review

Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer

by Ian Patterson
March 14, 2022

Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer Philip Watson 560 Pages ISBN: 978-0571361663 Faber & Faber 2022 The great guitar anti-hero Bill Frisell has dreamt of perfect music--an otherworldly blend of unimaginably beautiful sounds. It may be a just a dream, but that hasn't stopped the Denver-raised musician from constantly searching, for striving for this ideal. And on an inspired night he can get close...for a while. For Frisell it is the journey, as this, the ...

Album Review

Gui Duvignau: Baden

by Dan Bilawsky
March 12, 2022

Gui Duvignau has had Baden Powell's sound in his sights for some time now. Born in France and raised in Brazil, the rising-star bassist delved deeply into that legendary Brazilian guitarist's work at the behest of several six-stringer friends. And as he studied guitar too, Duvignau came under the sway of Powell's advanced harmonic concepts, personalized technique and keen ability to skirt easy categorization by blending classical stylings, jazz sensibilities and a broad mixture of Brazilian traditions. Having then performed ...

Album Review

Skúli Sverrisson With Bill Frisell: Strata

by Ian Patterson
December 26, 2021

A meeting of minds, of hearts and of souls. Strata may be the first recording of the duo of Icelandic bassist Skuli Sverrisson and guitarist Bill Frisell, but so attuned are the musicians to each other's wavelengths, and so spellbinding their common language, that you could be forgiven for thinking they had played in this format for donkey's years. Originally a limited edition, vinyl-only release in 2018, Strata is now available for the first time on digital platforms, which is ...

Album Review

Andrew Cyrille: The News

Read "The News" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
November 3, 2021

There is no denying the significance of Andrew Cyrille's oft-cited association with Cecil Taylor, not to mention his collaborations with other avant-garde luminaries such as Walt Dickerson, Ahmed Abdul Malik and Marion Brown. However, such reductive narratives tend to overlook Cyrille's own, fairly extensive output as a leader, beginning with What About? (BYG Actuel, 1971). Whilst there have sometimes been long gaps between his records, the Brooklyn-born drummer has struck a rich vein of form in his autumnal years on ...

Album Review

Andrew Cyrille Quartet: The News

Read "The News" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
October 19, 2021

Con una carriera che attraversa gli ultimi 60 anni di storia del jazz, dall'alto dei suoi 80 anni (compiuti un paio di mesi dopo le sessioni di registrazione di questo disco nel 2019), il veterano batterista Andrew Cyrille non ha alcun timore di mettersi ancora in gioco, come aveva già dimostrato pochi anni fa con il notevole The Declaration of Musical Independence (titolo decisamente programmatico per il suo esordio da leader per l'etichetta tedesca), di cui questo nuovo album rappresenta ...

Album Review

Lyle Mays: Eberhard

Read "Eberhard" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
October 11, 2021

La prematura scomparsa di Lyle Mays nel febbraio 2020 ha privato il mondo di uno straordinario musicista, troppo poco considerato al di fuori dell'importantissimo contributo da lui dato all'interno del Pat Metheny Group, dove ha rappresentato l'ideale complemento del chitarrista dal 1977 al 2010 prima di decidere di abbandonare definitivamente la scena musicale per dedicarsi professionalmente al mondo del software, un altro dei suoi numerosi interessi. Se i periodi trascorsi a fianco di Pat Metheny ne hanno ...