Articles

Bill Frisell: 40 Years Of Friendship, Music And Mischief With Hal Willner

By Ludovico Granvassu

Kindred spirits and artistic co-conspirators, Hal Willner and Bill Frisell have both devoured an inordinate amount of music with childlike abandon and glee, and then metabolized it into something utterly unique. Delving into their discographies is like getting lost in a treasure hunt where, at every corner, you unearth sonic gems that sound familiar while they take you by surprise. Their paths were meant to cross. Luck had it that it happened almost four decades ago, leading to ...

A Jazz Immuno-Booster: Part 3

By Ludovico Granvassu

The suggestions from musicians eager to share, in these trying times, the music they turn to when they need to uplift or sooth their souls keep pouring in. Here's the third volume of this immuno-booster jazz mix-tape series, featuring a compelling mix of jazz masters, contemporary jazz guitar heroes, latin tinge, soul and new gospel. The third installment of this mix-tape series features selections by Melissa Aldana, Reinier Baas, Zeno De Rossi, Howard Fishman, Bill Frisell, Miho ...

2019 Jazz & Wine of Peace Festival

By Luciano Rossetti

Bill Frisell: Harmony

By Franz A. Matzner

Renowned guitarist Bill Frisell's Blue Note Records debut Harmony is a pleasant album. This does not imply lack of innovation, the saccharine sound or the absence of bite and sorrow. These hues of bite and sorrow actually dominate the fourteen selections, which in patented Frisell manner run the gamut from traditional Americana to Elvis Costello to classic jazz. The album's appeal comes from its utter listenability and sumptuous delivery. It also proffers an innovative, drum-less configuration of strings, lead, and ...

Bill Frisell: Harmony

By Mark Sullivan

Iconic guitarist-composer Bill Frisell has chosen to primarily emphasize the Americana side of his music for his debut as a leader for Blue Note Records. When Frisell organized his new band with vocalist Petra Haden, cellist Hank Roberts and guitarist-bassist Luke Bergman he was struck by the fact that all of the band members but him sang, so their vocal blend became the group's signature sound as well as the inspiration for the name Harmony. Upon first hearing, the album ...

Bill Frisell | Thomas Morgan: Epistrophy

By John Kelman

When ECM Records released Small Town in 2017, beyond capturing the profound intimacy and musical ability to “finish each other's sentences" shared by the first recorded document of guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan in a duo setting, one of the biggest walk-aways was the hope that this would not be a one-off. Two years later, Epistrophy captures another 68 minutes (running literally 34 seconds longer than Small Town) of intimate interaction, culled from the same March, 2016 run ...

Big Ears Festival 2019

By Mark Sullivan

Big Ears Festival Knoxville, TN March 21-24, 2019 The major focus of this year's Big Ears Festival was a celebration of ECM Records' 50th anniversary, which included a number of live performances (representing both the main label and the classical music imprint ECM New Series) as well as a panel discussion “ECM @ 50" (covered in a separate article here). There were about 20 concerts, the largest group of ECM artists under one banner ...