Bill Frisell - Orchestras

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 86:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 198,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:15) 1. Nocturne Vulgaire
(5:09) 2. Lush Life
(4:47) 3. Doom
(4:25) 4. Rag
(6:01) 5. Throughout
(5:56) 6. Electricity
(5:58) 7. Sweet Rain
(7:03) 8. Richter 858, No. 7
(3:50) 9. Beautiful Dreamer
(7:11) 10. Lookout for Hope
(4:28) 11. Levees
(6:24) 12. Strange Meeting
(6:32) 13. Doom
(4:09) 14. Electricity
(6:48) 15. Monica Jane
(4:47) 16. We Shall Overcome

The influential American guitarist Bill Frisell and the innovative English composer and arranger Michael Gibbs go back a long way. Frisell first heard Gibbs’s ingenious writing for the vibraphonist Gary Burton when he was a teenager in the 1960s; in the mid-1970s he studied composition with Gibbs at Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Since then the guitarist has played in Gibbs’s stellar big bands, and the composer has arranged many of Frisell’s compellingly unconventional tunes in 2015 they collaborated on an album with the NDR Bigband. A longstanding ambition to record with an orchestra, however, has eluded them.

Until now. In fact, on this double release of concert-hall recordings with his regular trio of Thomas Morgan, on bass, and Rudy Royston, on drums, Frisell gets to play Gibbs’s orchestrations with two large ensembles: the 59-strong Brussels Philharmonic and the 11-piece Umbria Jazz Orchestra. “To say this is a dream come true would be an understatement,” Frisell writes in a short liner note.

Far from being a predictable soloist-with-strings project, Orchestras fully integrates guitarist, trio and ensembles into one multifaceted whole. Not all of the 16 selections are Frisell originals there are striking explorations of two famed Gibbs themes, Sweet Rain and Nocturne Vulgaire, and supersmart orchestrations of timeless songs such as Lush Life and Beautiful Dreamer. On Frisell standards that include Strange Meeting, Lookout for Hope and his masterpiece Throughout, however, the arrangements seem to take on an entirely different dynamic and dimension; it’s as if they are projections of Frisell’s searching and sometimes mysterious musical imagination itself.

It is also fascinating to compare and contrast: the philharmonic sounds lush, cinematic and darkly romantic; the jazz orchestra feels more earthy and laidback there is a kind of easy dissonance to its mood. A triple-LP version, which includes a bonus album of additional concert material, mostly featuring the trio alone, is available for completists.
.https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/review/2024/04/18/bill-frisell-orchestras-guitarist-trio-and-ensembles-become-one-multifaceted-whole/

Personnel: Bill Frisell: guitar; Thomas Morgan: bass; Rudy Royston: drums + Brussels Philharmonic and Umbria Jazz Orchestra.

Orchestras

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Julian Lage - The Layers

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 24:54
Size: 57,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:12) 1. Everything Helps
(3:02) 2. Double Southpaw
(5:34) 3. Missing Voices
(4:19) 4. This World
(4:01) 5. Mantra
(3:43) 6. The Layers

The layers here come from the wonderful interplay between the guitar of Julian Lage and his trio members Jorge Roeder on bass and Dave King on drums both musicians who lay back nicely, and find a way to resonate with those trademark chromatic notes that Lage seems to spin out effortlessly! The album's billed as a precursor to the previous View With A Room album looser and more exploratory than that one, but also pretty darn great on its own. Titles include "The Layers", "Mantra", "Everything Helps", "This World", "Missing Voices", and "Double Southpaw". © 1996-2023, Dusty Groove, Inc.https://www.dustygroove.com/item/137651/Julian-Lage:Layers

Personnel: Electric Guitar – Julian Lage, Bill Frisell; Acoustic Bass – Jorge Roeder; Drums – Dave King

The Layers

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Julian Lage - View With A Room

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:16
Size: 99,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:47) 1. Tributary
(3:15) 2. Word For Word
(4:28) 3. Auditorium
(3:31) 4. Heart Is A Drum
(4:52) 5. Echo
(4:19) 6. Chavez
(3:58) 7. Temple Steps
(3:57) 8. Castle Park
(5:10) 9. Let Every Room Sing
(3:55) 10. Fairbanks

View With A Room looks in on two generations of American guitarists; the younger generation is represented by Julian Lage, the leader of the effort, and the older generation by Bill Frisell, who sits in on seven of the ten original Lage tunes ("Echo" is co-written by Lage and the set's bassist Jorge Roeder).

Following up on Lage's 2021 Blue Note Records debut, Squint (and let's give the label's boss, Don Was, a big tip of the hat for bringing the label back into the forefront of modern jazz), Lage again employs his blue ribbon trio mates, drummer Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King, along with his front line cohort and guitar partner, Frisell. The two guitarists share a complete lack of pretense in their approach to music, making excellent, rock- solid, stripped-down guitar atmospherics with a light but deft hand on the production side tunes which could fit into a playlist with the classic old and new guitar hits. The old: Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, Link Wray, the Chantays.

The new: Pat Metheny, Mary Halvorson and (of course) Bill Frisell, the finest of American jazz guitarists (and O. K, vote for Pat Metheny if you want to; an argument can be made), This is two masters of the six strings sitting down without overplanning (or so it sounds), in the Lage's garage actually not, though it has that relaxed atmosphere, the ease and fluidity of expression playing guitar tunes as engaging a 1963's "Pipeline" by the Chantays, or Link Wray's "Rumble" from 1958.

Drummer King and bassist Roeder are mostly understated, serving this intricate, plain-spoken music well, on a set which has a subdued mood from start to finish. The album features a definite American feeling, authentically so, twanging at times, picking out sharp, succinct, delicate points of light at others, with the pair of guitars painting lush, beautiful harmonies. It has the feel of a sophisticated and virtuosic cowboy band.

At this point in his career, Frisell has nothing to prove. Then he sits down and proves his expansive talent anyway. Lage, more than three decades Frisell's junior, does have things to prove, and he continues to go about that task with unwavering success on View With A Room.By Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/view-with-a-room-julian-lage-blue-note-records

Personnel: Julian Lage: guitar, electric; Bill Frisell: guitar, electric; Jorge Roeder: bass, acoustic; Dave King: drums.

View With A Room

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Bill Frisell - Four

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:49
Size: 133,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:25) 1. Dear Old Friend (For Alan Woodard)
(5:15) 2. Claude Utley
(5:43) 3. The Pioneers
(3:46) 4. Holiday
(2:47) 5. Waltz For Hal Willner
(5:09) 6. Lookout For Hope
(6:17) 7. Monroe
(3:46) 8. Wise Woman
(3:48) 9. Blues From Before
(4:13) 10. Always
(3:03) 11. Good Dog, Happy Man
(4:49) 12. Invisible
(6:42) 13. Dog On A Roof

Two years after issuing his acclaimed trio album Valentine, Grammy Award-winning guitarist and composer Bill Frisell returns with ‘Four’, a stunning meditation on loss, renewal, and those mysterious inventions of friendship.

Frisell’s third album for Blue Note Records since signing with the label in 2019 proffers new interpretations of previously recorded originals as well as nine new tunes. The session brings together artists of independent spirits and like minds: Blue Note stablemates Gerald Clayton on piano and Johnathan Blake on drums, and longtime collaborator Greg Tardy on saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet. ‘This combination of people had been floating around in the back of my mind since before the pandemic,’ says the Brooklyn-based artist.

Guitarist Bill Frisell, on his third recording for Blue Note, expands the quiet, explorative music he delivered on 2020’s Valentine through a much different instrumental configuration. Much of the music is about loss, the deep ties of friendship, and a few that point to renewal. The music leans far more into contemporary jazz than into the kind of folk and Americana we associate with Frisell, but races do remain. There are 13 tracks, all composed by Frisell, nine of which are new and four reinvented from previous recordings.

Longtime collaborator Greg Tardy on tenor saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet is a major force along with Blue Note artists Gerald Clayton on piano and Johnathan Blake on drums. Conspicuously absent is a bassist, thus leading to much lighter, spacey sound that developed as Frisell entered the session, not with through-composed pieces, but fragments as he encouraged spontaneous and open interaction. Consider that five of these tracks feature clarinet, electric guitar, piano, and drums not a configuration one often hears. The music is highly textural and melodic, eschewing the conventional head-solo-solo-head but instead collectively building variation off melodies, or in some case, simply off chords.

Frisell developed the concept during the pandemic, during a time when we lost so many talented artists and friends, giving the album an overall melancholy tone. This is somewhat divergent, but it recalls for this writer the pop album from Australians Paul Kelly and Charlie Owen favorite funeral songs, 2017’s Death’s Dateless Night, which is vastly different musically but similar in tone and spirit, balancing the reverent with the celebratory. Suffice it to say that while folks often spend hours on playlists for a wedding, few would do the same for a funeral. Yet, if they did so, Frisell’s music should be at the top of such a list. Melancholy doesn’t necessarily imply maudlin.

There’s sublime, flowing beauty in these tracks, beginning with “Dear Old Friend,” written for Frisell’s childhood friend, Alan Woodard, who Frisell had known since the seventh grade. The title also applies to one of Frisell’s closest friends, the late cornetist and Blue Note artist Ron Miles, with whom Frisell had played frequently and to whom he dedicates the album. Tardy carries the angelic melody on clarinet, with a tone so airy and pure, that sounds flute-like. The melody itself has echoes of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” as Frisell and Clayton tenderly and texturally wrap Tardy’s lines. “Claude Utley,” written for Frisell’s painting friend who passed this past year, harnesses the same instrumentation but it is looser in terms of any distinct melody.

Tardy plays tenor on the elegiac “The Pioneers,” one of four where he plays that instrument, using bass clarinet on another, both tenor and bass clarinet on one, while yet another is a Clayton solo piano piece. This one is a great example of how Frisell and Clayton play contrapuntally and in call-and-response patterns to Tardy’s yearning melody. Similarly, Tardy’s long tenor tones in the contemplative “Invisible” leave plenty of space for the others, a tonal departure from Frisell on baritone guitar. “Holiday” moves away from the smooth into a joyous, playful, jagged, syncopated vein, proving to be a strong vehicle for Blake, one of the most versatile drummers in contemporary jazz. Clayton’s intro leads into a simple but memorable melody for Tardy’s tenor on “Waltz for Hal Willner.”

Frisell revisits his classic the noirish, 1988 “Lookout for Hope,” with Tardy on bass clarinet playing contrapuntally to the guitar and piano in a haunting fashion. “Monroe” shows the breadth of Frisell’s writing as the quartet sneakily climbs into blues, with Tardy on both the tenor and bass clarinet, articulating the theme on each. The reedist returns to tenor on the closing “Dog on the Roof,” a languid, mysterious, electronically fueled piece, bordering on free jazz, both gathering a casual funky momentum as it evolves.

“Wise Woman” echoes Ornette Coleman in its harmonic palette while “Blues from Before” is more jagged, syncopated, and searching in an even freer mode, with Tardy on exploring every possible reach of the clarinet between the two. The latter is very complex rhythmically, but Blake expertly navigates the quartet through it. This leads to a minimalist solo piano excursion by Clayton on “Always,” airy, edgy, and seriously contemplative. “Good Dog, Happy Man” gets a makeover from its 1990 version, as Frisell plays both acoustic and electric guitars and Tardy on clarinet trades cascading melodies with both the guitarist and pianist in this gently flowing, uplifting tune. https://jazzbluesnews.com/2022/11/11/cd-review-bill-frisell-four-2022-video-cd-cover/

Personnel: Bill Frisell: Guitar; Greg Tardy: Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet & Bass Clarinet; Gerald Clayton: Piano; Johnathan Blake: Drums

Four

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Charles Lloyd - Trios: Chapel

Styles: Saxophone, Flute Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:52
Size: 105,6 MB
Art: Front

( 7:23) 1. Blood Count
( 9:00) 2. Song My Lady Sings
( 7:19) 3. Ay Amor
( 9:49) 4. Beyond Darkness
(12:19) 5. Dorotea's Studio

Blue Note Records has a history of boasting strong stables of players. In the 1950s and 60s, we could look to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and if ever there was an incomplete list compiled, that one is it. Time rolls on. Twenty years (or thereabouts) into the new millennium, the label hosts an all-star roster once again pianist Gerald Clayton, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, sax man Immanuel Wilkins, guitarist Julian Lage, and to wrap up another partial listing veteran saxophonist Charles Lloyd.

At eighty-four years of age, Lloyd after a sixty-plus year career that includes album releases on Atlantic, Columbia and ECM Records, Warner Music extends his twenty-first century connection with Blue Note Records via a "Trio of Trios," three separate trio albums, featuring three different groups of players, released one at a time on different dates over a mid-to-late 2022 time span.

The first of these, Trios: Chapel, was named for the San Antonio, Texas, Elizabeth Coates Chapel in which it was recorded. Lloyd's choice of bandmates: guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan, a duo teaming responsible for a pair of gorgeous and understated ECM albums, Small Town (2017) and Epistrophy (2019). In addition, Frisell is a member of Lloyd's other Blue Note recording group, the Marvels; so there is a connection, a built-in rapport at play in the spontaneous-sounding set of tunes.

Overall, the group displays a light touch, making buoyant and delicately pretty sounds that vibrate in an understated chapel resonance. An obvious parallel is with the Paul Motian recordings the drummer did with saxophonist Joe Lovano and Frisell for ECM Records: It Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago (1985) and I Have The Room Above Her (2005). Lloyd's sound is gentle, bird-like (not Charlie Parker "bird-like," but possessed of an actual ornithological elocution), opening with the prettiest version of Billy Strayhorn's "Bloodcount" imaginable. Frisell is succinct, his notes and chords ringing clear and true, unembellished, while Morgan's deft underpinnings offer a perfect support without calling out for attention.

Dreamy, compelling, non-propulsive sounds that exist outside of time, as a sort of soundtrack to some kind of tranquil enlightenment, or as a testament to "right now."
By Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/trios-chapel-charles-lloyd-blue-note-records

Personnel: Charles Lloyd: saxophone, alto flute; Bill Frisell: guitar, electric; Thomas Morgan: bass, acoustic.

Trios: Chapel

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Mary Halvorson, Bill Frisell - The Maid with the Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:12
Size: 97,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:03) 1. Moonlight in Vermont
(8:12) 2. The Maid With the Flaxen Hair
(3:15) 3. Scarlet Ribbons for Her Hair
(4:33) 4. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
(3:30) 5. Shenandoah
(4:27) 6. The Nearness of You
(3:25) 7. Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
(3:18) 8. Old Folks
(2:56) 9. Misty
(2:28) 10. Walk Don’t Run

Sometimes I love reading scorchers (especially on amazon and youtube) of albums and artists I like a lot. Mary Halvorson, for example, often seems to disappoint people who are confronted with her music without having heard her before. On her new release, The Maid With The Flaxen Hair, a duo album with Bill Frisell, she pays tribute to the music of guitarist Johnny Smith. A listener ranted that this was a perfect example of “the bankruptcy of modern jazz guitar, taking one wonderful song after another, burying the melody in all sorts of extraneous effects“. For him the album was just awful and he wondered what kind of tribute to Johnny Smith this was. Well, one that makes perfect sense, of course.

Compared to Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis and Grant Green, Johnny Smith is by far less famous. On the other hand, especially among musicians, Smith, who was also familiar with classical music, is widely considered as one of the greatest guitarists of the cool jazz era of the 1950s and early 1960s - and he has influenced both Halvorson and Frisell. Together, they play ten numbers associated with the guitarist, most of them ballads.

Bill Frisell’s connection to Johnny Smith goes even further back. He studied with him in 1970 at the University of Northern Colorado, where Smith had moved after the death of his wife in order to take care of his daughter. Frisell wasn't impressed by Smith’s lessons, coming down on his playing as “old fuddy duddy corny schmaltzy stuff“. He’s often regretted this statement since then, because he soon discovered the grace in Smith's elaborate and lyrical playing. “I didn't get it at the time. I wasn't hearing the beauty. I’m ashamed of myself and embarrassed to tell you this“, he later said about Smith’s style. One of Frisell’s signature tracks, “Shenandoah“ (from Good Dog, Happy Man), is based on Smith’s version of the traditional song and dedicated to him. Frisell did also copy Smith's arrangement of the folk song "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair“ and it's this arrangement that Halvorson plays note for note here. What is more, she plays it on a guitar designed by Johnny Smith. And what an outstanding version this is. Halvorson’s playing is ultra-precise, she takes the mellowness out of Smith’s version. It’s simple, clean and clear, the melody is crassly put to the fore, so that one has the impression that each note stabs you. This is foiled by Frisell's wobbly, yet elegant accompaniment.

Although the love of the two guitarists of Smith’s music constantly shines through, they make his versions their own as they meander through these well known compositions. As to Halvorson she does this with her hallmark sound created by a volume pedal and a Line 6 delay modeler plus expression pedal, as to Frisell it’s his reverberant, spacious, open style. Another highlight is “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning“, a classic the duo plays with the utmost respect, almost dissecting it. “Walk Don't Run“, a Smith original and the only uptempo track here, closes the album. It’s a joyful, sparkling number, that sounds as if the notes were made of glass. “I'm nowhere close to getting it right, but I'm going to keep on trying and trying“, Frisell says on playing this tune. That’s a bit too coquettish, of course. The Maid With The Flaxen Hair is a virtuoso album that not only every guitarist should listen to. Moreover, it’s a very good introduction to Johnny Smith, no matter what the negative comments say.~Martin Schrayhttps://www.freejazzblog.org/2019/01/mary-halvorson-bill-frisell-maid-with.html

Personnel: Guitar, Arranged By – Mary Halvorson; Guitar, Arranged By, Liner Notes – Bill Frisell

The Maid with the Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith

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Gregoire Maret, Romain Collin & Bill Frisell - Americana

Styles: Harmonica, Piano And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:31
Size: 125,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:08) 1. Brothers in Arms
(3:57) 2. Small Town
(6:16) 3. Rain Rain
(4:02) 4. San Luis Obispo
(5:15) 5. Back Home
(5:27) 6. Wichita Lineman
(7:07) 7. The Sail
(8:14) 8. Re: Stacks
(6:11) 9. Still

Harmonica player and composer Gregoire Maret is not a familiar name in the U.S. but he should be. The New York-based artist has recorded with Jimmy Scott, Jacky Terrasson, Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Charlie Hunter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Pat Metheny and many others. The very bankable musician has appeared on over seventy-five releases as a sideman and has recorded as a leader on three albums. Americana unites Maret with pianist, composer and label-mate Romain Collin, along with legendary guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummer Clarence Penn on one track.

The music on Americana comes from the perspective of two immigrants to the U.S.; the Swiss-native Maret, and Frenchman Collin. On many tracks Frisell adds the authenticity he brought to his own Nonesuch Records projects such as Nashville (1997), Good Dog, Happy Man (1999) and Disfarmer (2009). Maret and Collin often perform as a duo and open the album with the unexpected; Scottish-born Mark Knopfler's Dire Straits song "Brothers in Arms" feels like a natural here. Frisell then joins in on two of his own compositions, "Small Town" and "Rain, Rain" given a fresh feel with Maret's contributions.

Collin's "San Luis Obispo" appeared on the pianist's Press Enter (ACT Music, 2015); a beautiful Appalachian-tinged lullaby, sparse and haunting in its original piano form, Frisell and Maret give it a down-to-earth reading. Maret's "Back Home" is the only appearance of Penn who adds some light brushwork. The trio takes on the Jimmy Webb classic "Wichita Lineman" and the Justin Vernon composition "Re: Stacks" from the Dirty Bourbon River Show debut For Emma, Forever Ago (Self-produced, 2007). In Collin, Maret and Frisell we have artists of three origins, entangled together in the early influences of U.S. music; they urge the listener to hear common threads. Americana is a journey guided by distant lights, and the musicians lead each other in an alliance that is both conversant and spiritual. Highly recommended.~KARL ACKERMANN https://www.allaboutjazz.com/americana-gregoire-maret-romain-collin-bill-frisell-act-music

Personnel: Gregoire Maret: harmonica; Romain Collin: piano; Bill Frisell: guitar, electric; Clarence Penn: drums.

Additional Instrumentation: Romain Collin: piano, Moog Taurus, pump organ, effects; Bill Frisell: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo; Clarence Penn: drums.

Americana

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Charles Lloyd and The Marvels - Tone Poem

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:51
Size: 160,9 MB
Art: Front

( 3:10) 1. Peace
( 4:58) 2. Ramblin'
( 6:17) 3. Anthem
( 6:30) 4. Dismal Swamp
( 9:02) 5. Tone Poem
(10:24) 6. Monk's Mood
(10:03) 7. Ay Amor - Live
(10:48) 8. Lady Gabor
( 8:34) 9. Prayer

Charles Lloyd and The Marvels' April 2017 performance at UCLA's Royce Hall, with guest vocalist Lucinda Williams, was nothing but highlights from Lloyd's dance moves across the stage as one or other of his bandmates soloed, to Williams' impassioned performances on such songs as Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and Jimi Hendrix's "Angel." They also played a song by The Beach Boys. ("In My Room"). But the night really got going when the band played about fifteen minutes of Ornette Coleman material, shifting from a reverent version of "Peace" to an extended rendition of "Ramblin,'" the great rhythm-and-blues inflected song that Lloyd himself, in his short-lived mid-1960s quartet with Gabor Szabo, covered as "Goin' to Memphis," and which provided an occasion for Lloyd and his Marvels Bill Frisell on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel, bassist Reuben Rogers on bass, and drummer Eric Harland to rock the rafters in an auditorium where, with an equally packed house, Coleman himself performed in 2010. As it turns out, Lloyd and the Marvels were warming up for 2021's Tone Poem (Blue Note), which kicks off with "Peace" and a shorter, but no less incendiary, rendition of "Ramblin.'"

With the Marvels, Lloyd seems be circling back around the repertoire of his quartet with Szabo: on its first outing, I Long To See You (Blue Note, 2016) the former group played a sizzling version of "Of Course, Of Course," the title song of the Lloyd-Gabor unit's only album; while on Tone Poem, in addition to summoning "Ramblin'" / "Goin' to Memphis," Lloyd and company revisit Gabor's serpentine, restless composition, "Lady Gabor," which the two musicians first played near the end of their tenure in drummer Chico Hamilton's group and continued to perform live circa 1965, as documented on their recorded performances with Ron Carter and Pete La Roca, released as Charles Lloyd: Manhattan Stories (Resonance Records, 2014).

None of the Marvels an ensemble of all-stars is a stand-in for members of Lloyd's 1965 quartet; nevertheless, Frisell and Leisz, with their stringed instruments, provide a tangle of sound in and out of which Lloyd's flute weaves, hypnotically, while Rogers and Harland deepen the song's rhythmic mysteries. "Lady Gabor" is the "Dark Star" of '60s jazz, but it might be more accurate to call "Dark Star" the "Lady Gabor" of psychedelic rock especially since Lloyd also played Gabor's opus with his better-known quartet of the late '60s in mainstream rock venues and pop music festivals. The version on Tone Poem is not a throwback, however, but a renewal for the twenty-first century. Although Lloyd solos memorably on "Lady Gabor," on the title song, and elsewhere on Tone Poem, the sound he and the Marvels achieve doesn't rely on any one individual's playing. Lloyd can rivet this listener's attention by simply simply playing a song's melody line, as he does on a rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Anthem." There's music for everyone on Tone Poem; and by "everyone" that doesn't mean jazz listeners only, but every human being.~ ERIC GUDAS https://www.allaboutjazz.com/tone-poem-charles-lloyd-blue-note-records

Personnel: Charles Lloyd: saxophone; Bill Frisell: guitar, electric; Greg Leisz: guitar, steel; Eric Harland: drums; Rueben Rogers: bass.

Tone Poem

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Bill Frisell - Harmony

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:52
Size: 108,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:35)  1. Everywhere
(4:07)  2. God's Wing'd Horse
(4:06)  3. Fifty Years
(3:56)  4. Hard Times
(3:07)  5. Deep Dead Blue
(4:40)  6. There In A Dream
(3:20)  7. Lonesome
(3:23)  8. On The Street Where You Live
(2:29)  9. How Many Miles?
(3:54) 10. Lush Life
(1:17) 11. Honest Man
(2:00) 12. Red River Valley
(1:40) 13. Curiosity
(3:12) 14. Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

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 sounds rooted in traditional American music, but in fact eight of the fourteen selections were composed by Frisell. The set leads off with three of his: "Everywhere" and "Fifty Years" both employ vocals in a traditional musical setting, and it is notable that the first sound is a cappella vocals. "God's Wing'd Horse" (words by Julie Miller) adds lyrics to the mix but, as the title implies, they sound as if they could easily be from a folk song. All three vocalists harmonize with only guitar accompaniment: Frisell solos a bit here, but solos are not the focus in this music. It is an ensemble sound above all.

Stephen Foster's "Hard Times" is the first of the traditional selections, beautifully rendered with only voices and guitars. "Red River Valley" strips the arrangement down to just the three voices; Frisell lays out completely, an impressive commitment to the vocal blend that is the heart of the group. Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" gets a very modern arrangement, the mournful subject intensified by new harmonies and a doleful vocal performance by Haden. The tunes that are neither traditional nor original are an interesting and varied lot. "Deep Dead Blue" is a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Frisell from their album Deep Dead Blue (Nonesuch Records, 1995). Petra sings her late bassist-composer father Charlie Haden's "There In A Dream," an atmospheric noir tune first heard on the Charlie Haden Quartet West's Now Is the Hour (Verve, 1996). 

Billy Strayhorn's classic "Lush Life" is the one unambiguously jazz entry. It's a beautiful, minimal duet performance by Frisell and Haden. Frisell fans should have learned long ago to keep an open mind. This album has arguably less of a guitar focus than any previous one. Yet it is suffused with his genre-free love of music, and his guitar-playing remains a foundation element. It's a beautiful group sound, with the name Harmony very well deserved. ~ Mark Sullivan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/harmony-bill-frisell-blue-note-records-review-by-mark-sullivan.php

Personnel: Bill Frisell: guitar; Petra Haden: voice; Hank Roberts: cello, voice; Luke Bergman: baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, voice.

Harmony

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Bill Frisell - Blues Dream

Styles: Guitar Jazz 
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:39
Size: 142,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:31)  1. Blues Dream
(6:45)  2. Ron Carter
(3:20)  3. Pretty Flowers Were Made for Blooming
(1:38)  4. Pretty Stars Were Made to Shine
(5:19)  5. Where Do We Go ?
(1:34)  6. Like Dreamers Do (Pt. One)
(2:36)  7. Like Dreamers Do (Pt. Two)
(4:18)  8. Outlaws
(7:03)  9. What Do We Do?
(0:48) 10. Episode
(2:39) 11. Soul Merchant
(6:14) 12. Greg Leisz
(2:26) 13. The Tractor
(1:30) 14. Fifty Years
(3:08) 15. Slow Dance
(4:46) 16. Things Will Never Be the Same
(3:04) 17. Dream On
(1:51) 18. Blues Dream (Reprise)

Blues Dream is another winsome album by Bill Frisell. On this Walker Arts Center-commissioned program, the composer-guitarist amalgamates elements and players from past projects to reiterate his bucolic synthesis of American root musics. The two-guitar, three-horn septet gives Frisell great flexibility in his trademark evocations of regional and ethnic dialects. Soloists like trumpeter Ron Miles and guitarist Greg Leisz continue to be fine foils. Certainly, Blues Dream will reinforce the media consensus that Frisell is an American original. However, this is a strangely antiseptic album. The immaculate mix is partly responsible. While the engineering makes a marvel of the burnished horns and the beckoning twang of Leisz’s steel and resonator guitars, it takes much of the bite out of Frisell’s rawest sounds and suspends each instrument in its own isolated space, diffusing the band’s punch. This reinforces the languor of much of the program. Many of Frisell’s tunes are built on materials that hover somewhere between a riff and a theme-they tend to moan, gasp and wheeze more often than they shout and holler. Without exception, each of Frisell’s 18 tunes contributes to the album’s dreamlike synergy of sound and sensibility. Yet Blues Dream is not a compelling album. Shadowy, but benign shapes-a shroudlike willow tree, a bunting-draped bandstand and a distant moonlit cabin-dominate this dream. It’s a pat atmosphere only occasionally disrupted by a busy loop or a blast of distortion from Frisell, or a raucous horn statement (trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and alto saxophonist Billy Drewes round out the section). While one can easily slip into Blues Dream, but nobody’s going to bolt upright in a cold sweat after hearing it. https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/bill-frisell-blues-dream/

Personnel: Bill Frisell – guitars; Greg Leisz – steel guitar, mandolin; Ron Miles – trumpet; Billy Drewes – alto sax; Curtis Fowlkes – trombone; David Piltch – bass; Kenny Wollesen – drums

Blues Dream

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Bill Frisell - Gone, Just Like a Train

Styles: Guitar Jazz 
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:56
Size: 161,9 MB
Art: Front

( 5:18)  1. Blues for Los Angeles
( 3:10)  2. Verona
( 4:38)  3. Godson Song
( 3:38)  4. Girl Asks Boy - Pt. 1
( 4:12)  5. Pleased to Meet You
(10:20)  6. Lookout for Hope
( 4:58)  7. Nature's Symphony
( 5:07)  8. Egg Radio
( 3:23)  9. Ballroom
( 2:19) 10. Girl Asks Boy - Pt. 2
( 2:51) 11. Sherlock Jr.
( 5:31) 12. Gone, Just Like a Train
( 5:50) 13. The Wife and Kid
( 3:24) 14. Raccoon Cat
( 4:18) 15. Lonesome
( 0:51) 16. Blues for Los Angeles "reprise"

Drawing from all over the musical spectrum, Frisell selects drummer Jim Keltner (best known for his records with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and other rock stars) and bassist Viktor Krauss (a fixture in Lyle Lovett's country band), and comes up with an immensely likable, easy-grooving CD that defies one to put a label on it. If anything, Frisell leans toward a drawling country twang heavily indebted to Chet Atkins in his guitar work here, but there is a freewheeling jazz sensibility at work on every track. Keltner contributes the heavy rock element with his emphatic strokes, occasionally pushing Frisell in that direction on the title track and the lengthy "Lookout for Hope." Yet Keltner is also capable of surprising subtlety, and Krauss provides firm, unflashy underpinning. Above all, this is thoughtful, free-thinking, ear-friendly jamming that was recorded in bustling Burbank, CA. but sounds as if it was laid down in a relaxed cabin in the hills. ~ Richard S.Ginell https://www.allmusic.com/album/gone-just-like-a-train-mw0000031842

Personnel: Bill Frisell – guitar; Viktor Krauss – bass; Jim Keltner – drums

Gone, Just Like a Train

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Bill Frisell - Good Dog, Happy Man

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:21
Size: 143,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:45)  1. Rain, Rain
(3:44)  2. Roscoe
(3:50)  3. Big Shoe
(8:52)  4. My Buffalo Girl
(6:10)  5. Shenandoah
(6:26)  6. Cadillac 1959
(5:17)  7. The Pioneers
(9:04)  8. Cold, Cold Ground
(5:31)  9. That Was Then
(4:21) 10. Monroe
(2:34) 11. Good Dog, Happy Man
(3:42) 12. Poem for Eva

Every note Bill Frisell plays or suggests offers an impressionistic soundtrack of the American vernacular. It is jazz only in the way improvisation is a reflection of sensibilities. But Frisell's music is really not just jazz. It swings over a wide swath of American musical forms: jazz, rock, grunge, blues, country, folk, bluegrass, even commercial orchestration. Call it a sort of 'sound Americana': peculiar, individual and unusually compelling. Good Dog Happy Man ideally documents another set of Frisell's colorful, commanding tone poems. It's something of a story in progress, one that took root in 1994's This Land and became clearer on 1997's Nashville and 1998's exquisite Gone, Just Like A Train (bassist Marc Johnson's outstanding Sounds of Summer Running probably counts too). Frisell, early in his two-decades career, offered a wholly individual sound, buffering a certain dissonance with a poetic melodicism. But, here he shows how he's evolved into one of the most melodic and memorable of stylists etching out something that is often pastoral, elegiac and, at times, oddly patriotic. These are the moods filmmakers co-opt for onscreen archetypes reaching pivotal moments and branded in all those TV ads for investment firms and prescription medicines. But Frisell keeps it honest. He sets the mood and offers the soundtrack. The listener is free to conceive his or her own impressions. 

Here, bassist Viktor Kruass (Allison's brother) and drummer/studio legend Jim Keltner return from last year's Gone trio aided by studio guitarist Greg Leisz on pedal steel, Dobro, steel guitar and mandolin and, in a welcome return, fellow Seattle resident Wayne Horvitz on organ. Frisell sticks mostly to electric or acoustic guitar and his 'meditations' are often buoyed by intriguing counterpoint: Horvitz's spikey organ comments on "My Buffalo Girl" and "Cadillac 1959," the brief primal utterances of "Roscoe" and the dream-team coupling with Ry Cooder on the lovely "Shenandoah." Frisell's melodies are quite often little more than sustained riffs, at once simple and perfectly structured and at other times, remotely familiar (for example, the Pretenders's "Back on the Chain Gang" is vaguely at the heart of "That Was Then"). Frisell is the only real notable soloist. As if in a Steve Reich construction, Frisell rarely strays far from the melody, or outside of the prevailing mood the unit conspires to create together. The point is the story reflections on feelings and meditations on moods. Darkness and light. A sense of honor with a sense of humor. It's hardly America as sketched by Louis L'Amour, Jim Thompson or a score of other American writers. Frisell isn't coming out of irony, bleakness, sarcasm or slight. Good Dog, Happy Man comes out of Frisell's evident love for things American and an encyclopedic grasp on expressing the ways Americans sense things. A triumph indeed. ~ Douglas Payne https://www.allaboutjazz.com/good-dog-happy-man-bill-frisell-nonesuch-records-review-by-douglas-payne.php?width=1920

Players: Bill Frisell: electric and acoustic guitars, loops and music boxes; Greg Leisz: pedal steel, Dobro, lap steel, Weissenborn, National steel guitar and mandolin; Wayne Horvitz: organ, piano, samples; Viktor Krauss: bass; Jim Keltner: drums and percussion; Ry Cooder: electric guitar, Ripley guitar on "Senandoah".

Good Dog, Happy Man

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Bill Frisell, Fred Hersch - Songs We Know

Styles: Guitar And Piano Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:51
Size: 131,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:05)  1. It Might as Well Be Spring
(4:44)  2. There Is No Greater Love
(6:03)  3. Someday My Prince Will Come
(3:44)  4. Softly as in a Morning Rise
(5:27)  5. Blue Monk
(5:53)  6. My One and Only Love
(5:29)  7. My Little Suede Shoes
(6:19)  8. Yesterdays
(5:07)  9. I Got Rhythm
(6:31) 10. Wave
(4:22) 11. What Is This Thing Called Love

Pairing two such superior soloists as guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Fred Hersch seems a most unlikely match. Despite having gigged together a couple times in the 1980s, the only thing the two seem to have in common is they both record for Nonesuch Records. As it turns out, it was Fred Hersch's idea to finally get the two together in the studio - and it couldn't have been a more inspired combination. The brilliant, eclectic Frisell is perhaps the most original guitarist of the last two or three decades and he's hardly ever combined his unique sound arsenal with a pianist. Hersch, on the other hand, has carved out a substantial body of work illustrating his sensitivity as a soloist and finesse as a superior accompanist (particularly for singers), yet he's almost never heard with a guitarist. The result is the marvelous new Songs We Know, a fine song cycle of contemporary jazz standards, played with a laid-back ease that only two such sharp and original stylists can bring to such well-known music. Frisell and Hersch concur that the session could have gone many different ways, but it was their mutual love for the standards, with their open palette of simplicity, history and potential for new interpretation that lead to the inspired sounds heard on Songs We Know. Both leaders have logged many miles playing these and other standards too: Frisell, as part of Paul Motian's trio with tenor giant Joe Lovano, and Hersch, through his recent Plays Monk and Plays Rogers & Hammerstein discs and, even more substantially, on his jazz-the-classics Angel recordings. But, together, Frisell and Hersch - like Bill Evans and Jim Hall did together before them bring to bear a fresh chemistry that is too rarely applied to such oft-played material. Hersch remains a melodic, sensitive even erudite explorer. And Frisell maintains his sense of humor and displays his ever-inspired internal logic. Together, they explore and experiment with the contours of each other's sound and style and arrive some place that neither might have approached on their own before. The eleven Songs We Know have many highlights. Chief among the pleasures to be heard here include the playful and unusually funky "There Is No Greater Love," where Frisell's textbook witticisms engage with Hersch's perky, almost abstract commentary. 

Likewise, Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave" is creative music at its most expressive: where Hersch's piano provides the soft undercurrent while Frisell's sprite, melodic tones carry the tide in, conveying the hypnotic beauty of the sea that Jobim intended. The two engage most spectacularly, and so nearly at odds, on "What is This Thing Called Love," where the metallic Frisell frolics in the warm cushions Hersch's block chords provide. Then, the pair commiserates romantically (a Hersch specialty) on the lullaby-like (a Frisell specialty) "Someday My Prince Will Come." For real fireworks, listen to how quickly the two depart from the corniness of "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" to explore a Monk-like tango of arched, deconstructed sonorities. Then, hear how their dissimilarities are unified on the dance-like "My Little Suede Shoes," where Frisell lays down a jig style head while Hersch's interacts brilliantly with lovely tango cadences. Songs We Know is a success - and, more notably, a singularly pleasurable listening experience because it's about more than songs. It's about sounds. 

Separately, these two stylists have crafted much music that is about the creation and interaction of sounds. Together, they have achieved something special, or what Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal calls in his excellent liner notes, "an example of how texture works to shape a performance as directly as melodic or rhythmic invention." Recorded in San Francisco last year, Songs We Know pins down the provocative sensitivity both Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell bring to creative music. But more importantly, it captures the wondrous result of two great minds spontaneously being expressed as one strong voice. It is a collection that calls out for more, hopefully an added set of the pair's originals. Until then, Songs We Know are songs creative music listeners will want to hear. ~ Douglas Payne https://www.allaboutjazz.com/songs-we-know-fred-hersch-nonesuch-records-review-by-douglas-payne.php?width=1920

Personnel:  Fred Hersch - piano; Bill Frisell - guitar

Songs We Know

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Bill Frisell - Selected Recordings

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:37
Size: 177,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:10)  1. Mandeville
(3:02)  2. Introduction
(7:25)  3. India
(4:22)  4. Singsong
(4:35)  5. In Line
(5:47)  6. Resistor
(4:49)  7. Music I Heard
(8:04)  8. Tone
(4:40)  9. Lonesome
(6:29) 10. Alien Prints
(2:28) 11. Hangdog
(4:44) 12. Kind Of Gentle
(5:01) 13. Closer
(9:54) 14. Sub Rosa

Whatever the musical context, guitarist Bill Frisell has always been a team player. From the edgy avant-garde of Naked City to the deeply melodic music of the Ginger Baker Trio and several wide-ranging groups of his own, he's proven repeatedly that he has the versatility and perceptiveness to fit into wildly different surroundings. His ECM work has for the most part been of the quiet, melodic sort. Since he last recorded under his own name for the label in 1987, he's forged onward with a more country/blues orientation on his own recordings. Some critics have slapped the term "Americana" on this new material, but Frisell dismisses the label: "People say this has come into my playing in recent years. I think it's been there all along." Perhaps so. Regardless, this set documents a fertile period during the '80s when Frisell was finding his own voice. In his solo recordings, Frisell prizes space and texture. The solo guitar piece "Introduction" (from the Paul Motian band recording Psalm ) has as much silence as sound. "In Line" (from Frisell's record of the same name) explores extremes of timbre and pitch overlaid on a solid, pulsing acoustic foundation. Then there's his work with saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Paul Motian. In trio or quintet settings, these players have a very rare kind of cohesion. Surely Lovano has developed his sound substantially since the '80s this material emphasizes his sure grasp of melody, but it lacks the deftness of tone and angularity of phrasing which he acquired in the '90s. But in some sense, the '80s were golden years for these players. They deliver some of their strongest, most memorable playing on these tunes. Frisell's work with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler (documented here on three tunes from 1984's Rambler ) has a sharper edge, more extreme in tone and color than the rest of the collection. Frisell plays here and there with effects to thicken atmospheric backgrounds and sharpen his crispy improvisations. You can hear the roots of his post-ECM music in the soft blues of "Lonesome" and the stretched, gossamer meanderings of "Alien Prints." Just in case you thought you had Frisell pinned down, he tosses out "Hangdog," a punchy, dissonant fragment from the same record, 1987's Lookout for Hope.  The luminaries: Paul Motian, Joe Lovano, Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, Kenny Wheeler, Joey Baron, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Paul Bley, John Surman. (Definitely in the big leagues.) The big surprise: Frisell on banjo on "Hangdog." He turns the instrument inside out and it works. (Note: this disc represents the fifth volume of :rarum, a series of artist-picked compilations from ECM Records. It comes with brief notes by the artists, an extensive biography, and discographical information.) ~ AAJ Staff https://www.allaboutjazz.com/rarum-selected-recordings-of-bill-frisell-bill-frisell-ecm-records-review-by-aaj-staff.php

Personnel: Bill Frisell: guitars, banjo, guitar synth; Joe Lovano: ts; Billy Drewes: as; Ed Schuller: b; Paul Motian: d; Jan Garbarek: ss; Eberhard Weber: b; Michael DiPasqua: d; Kenny Wheeler: tpt, ct; Bob Stewart: tuba; Jerome Harris: bg; Hank Roberts: cello; Kermit Driscoll: bg; Joe Baron: d; Lee Konitz: as; Dave Holland: b; Paul Bley: p; John Surman: ss; Jamie McCarthy: recorder; Roger Heaton: cl; Alexander Balanescu: v; Martin Allen: vb; John White: p; Gavin Bryars: b.

Selected Recordings

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Jerry Granelli - Dance Hall (Feat. Robben Ford, Bill Frisell, And J. Anthony Granelli)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:10
Size: 101.1 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[5:42] 1. Meet Me In The Morning
[6:06] 2. The Great Pretender
[8:41] 3. Boogie Stop Shuffle
[4:29] 4. Ain't That A Shame
[4:42] 5. Driva Man
[5:34] 6. This Bitter Earth
[5:19] 7. Never Gonna Break My Faith
[3:34] 8. Caldonia

Featuring guitar greats Robben Ford and Bill Frisell, the material on "Dance Hall" reflects Jerry Granelli’s deep gratitude to the artists who originally wrote and recorded these great songs, and at this point in his life the sheer joy of playing the drums. “The key was not doing covers, but finding songs that were personal to my journey. We kept it as open and spontaneous as possible; it’s about the joy of finding the freedom in the form.”

Dance Hall (Feat. Robben Ford, Bill Frisell, And J. Anthony Granelli) mc
Dance Hall (Feat. Robben Ford, Bill Frisell, And J. Anthony Granelli) zippy

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Jerry Granelli - A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:47
Size: 132.3 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 1992/2015
Art: Front

[7:39] 1. Wanderlust
[0:38] 2. Smoky Row
[5:02] 3. The Oyster Dance
[6:20] 4. Billie's Bounce
[9:26] 5. Coming Through Slaughter
[6:01] 6. In That Number
[5:06] 7. Prelude To Silence Shell Beach-Lincoln Park
[7:23] 8. I Put A Spell On You
[6:02] 9. Blues Connotation
[4:06] 10. Blues Connotation (Reprise)

Alto Saxophone – Kenny Garrett; Bass – Anthony Cox; Drums – Jerry Granelli; Electric Bass – J. Granelli; Guitar – Robben Ford; Guitar, Banjo – Bill Frisell; Soprano Saxophone – Denny Goodhew; Trombone – Julian Priester. Recorded at London Bridge Studio, Seattle, January – February, 1992.

Drummer Jerry Granelli offers a wide-ranging amalgam of styles and sounds on this 1993 date. The life of legendary (but unrecorded) jazz trumpeter Buddy Bolden is aurally covered through a ten-track, four-part set that sequences songs according to movements; Bolden's world, journey, memories, and an epilogue are the settings, with an interesting lineup that includes torrid alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, Bill Frisell playing banjo as well as guitar, trombonist Julian Priester, guitarist Robben Ford, and bassist Anthony Cox. It is not strictly traditional New Orleans jazz nor merely reflective or commemorative fare, but an aggressive musical commentary on the Bolden legend. ~Ron Wynn

A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing mc
A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing zippy

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Bill Frisell - Music Is

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:19
Size: 133.5 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[3:56] 1. Pretty Stars
[3:25] 2. Winslow Homer
[2:21] 3. Change In The Air
[2:43] 4. What Do You Want
[5:09] 5. Thankful
[4:44] 6. Ron Carter
[0:59] 7. Think About It
[4:59] 8. In Line
[6:32] 9. Rambler
[4:13] 10. The Pioneers
[5:39] 11. Monica Jane
[3:33] 12. Miss You
[2:55] 13. Go Happy Lucky
[2:05] 14. Kentucky Derby
[2:11] 15. Made To Shine
[2:47] 16. Rambler (Alternate Version)

The ridiculously prolific Bill Frisell — a guitarist known for his impressive jazz, surf, fusion, roots, Americana and folk-jazz chops—has released a slew of albums in recent years, including 2014's Guitar in the Space Age! and 2017's Small Town. What he hasn't done in a while, however, is release a full album of solo-guitar music. "Playing solo is always a challenge," Frisell says. "For me, music has all along been so much about playing with other people. Having a conversation. Call and response. Playing all by myself is a trip. I really have to change the way I think. In preparation for this recording, I played for a week at The Stone in New York. Each night I attempted new music that I'd never played before. I was purposely trying to keep myself a little off balance. Uncomfortable. Unsure. I didn't want to fall back on things that I knew were safe. My hope was to continue this process right on into the studio. I didn't want to have things be all planned out beforehand."

He tried to keep that light and spontaneous feeling when recording. The whole process—choosing the tunes, playing the gig, tracking in the studio—ended up feeling like an investigation into memory. There was no planned concept, but what materialized almost felt like an overview. The focus of Music IS is on the telling of musical stories from Frisell's original and inimitable perspective: some of the interpretations being naked, exposed and truly solo, while others are more orchestrated through overdubbed layering and the use of his unparalleled approach to looping.

Recorded in August 2017 at Tucker Martine's Flora Recording and Playback studio in Portland, Oregon, and produced by Lee Townsend, all of the compositions on Music Is were written by Frisell, some of them new—"Change in the Air," "Thankful," "What Do You Want," "Miss You" and "Go Happy Lucky"—others solo adaptations of classic original compositions, such as "Ron Carter," "Pretty Stars," "Monica Jane" and "The Pioneers." "In Line" and "Rambler" (here it above) are from Frisell's first two ECM albums.

"Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine are two of my longtime, closest, most trusted musical brothers," Frisell says. "We've been through thick and thin. They clear the way for me to just PLAY. When we got to the studio I brought a big pile of music and we went from there. Let one thing lead to the next. Trust the process. In the moment. We mixed as we went along. The composing, arranging, playing, recording, and mixing all became one thing."

Music Is mc
Music Is zippy

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Billy Hart - Oshumare

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:59
Size: 125,9 MB
Art: Front

( 6:17)  1. Duchess
( 7:44)  2. Waiting Inside
( 5:56)  3. Chance
( 7:27)  4. Lorca
( 4:45)  5. Cosmosis
(10:20)  6. Idgaf Suite
( 6:09)  7. May Dance
( 6:17)  8. Mad Monkey

Billy Hart is a perfect example of a drummer who has an impressively long list of sideman credits but has only recorded sporadically as a leader. One of the few sessions that he led in the 1980s was 1985's Oshumare, a Gramavision date that has one foot in fusion and the other in straight-ahead post-bop. Hart oversees an interesting blend of acoustic and electric instruments; Dave Holland is on upright bass, while the electric contributions come from Kenny Kirkland or Mark Gray on keyboards and Bill Frisell or Kevin Eubanks on electric guitar. Rounding out the cast which could almost be described an all-star cast are Branford Marsalis on tenor sax, Steve Coleman on alto sax, Didier Lockwood on violin, and Manolo Badrena on percussion. However, the use of the term all-star would be a slight exaggeration because not all of the musicians became major names in jazz although most of them did. But it is no exaggeration to say that Hart leads an impressive cast of players on this CD or that the material is generally solid; that is true of Hart's Latin-flavored "Lorca" as well as Frisell's mysterious "Waiting Outside" and Eubank's abstract "IDGAF Suite." Parts of Oshumare are essentially straight-ahead, especially Holland's fast-paced "Cosmosis." But this album cannot honestly be described as the work of a jazz purist. One minute Hart is straight-ahead, and the next he encourages Eubanks or Kirkland to take things in more of a fusion direction. And that speaks well of the drummer (who was 44 or 45 when this album was recorded), because it demonstrates that he is willing to listen to what younger musicians have to say. Oshumare makes listeners wish that Hart had recorded more albums as a leader in the 1980s. ~ Alex Henderson https://www.allmusic.com/album/oshumare-mw0000188147

Personnel includes: Billy Hart (drums); Branford Marsalis, Steve Coleman (saxophone); Didier Lockwood (violin); Bill Frisell (guitar); Dave Holland (bass); Kevin Eubanks, Kenny Kirkland (piano).

Oshumare

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Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan - Small Town

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:06
Size: 159,6 MB
Art: Front

(11:05)  1. It Should Have Happened a Long Time Ago
( 7:31)  2. Subconscious Lee
( 9:35)  3. Song for Andrew No. 1
( 5:08)  4. Wildwood Flower
( 8:57)  5. Small Town
( 6:41)  6. What a Party
(12:05)  7. Poet / Pearl
( 7:01)  8. Goldfinger

Small Town presents guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan in a program of duets, the poetic chemistry of their playing captured live at New York s hallowed Village Vanguard. Frisell made his debut as a leader for ECM in 1983 with the similarly intimate In Line. The guitarist's rich history with the label also includes multiple recordings by his iconic cooperative trio with Paul Motian and Joe Lovano, culminating in Time and Time Again in 2007. Small Town begins with a tribute to Motian in the form of a searching, 11-minute interpretation of the late drummer s composition It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago, the duo's counterpoint yielding a hushed power. Morgan has appeared on several ECM albums of late, as bassist of choice for Tomasz Stanko, Jakob Bro, David Virelles, Giovanni Guidi and Masabumi Kikuchi. Small Town sees Frisell and Morgan pay homage to jazz elder Lee Konitz with his Subconscious Lee, and there are several country/blues-accented Frisell originals, including the hauntingly melodic title track. The duo caps the set with an inimitable treatment of John Barry s famous James Bond theme Goldfinger. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Small-Town-Frisell-Thomas-Morgan/dp/B06XRJNC4K

Personnel:  Bill Frisell – guitar; Thomas Morgan – double bass

Small Town

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Joey Baron - We'll Soon Find Out

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:10
Size: 124,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:09)  1. Slow Charleston
(7:49)  2. Closer Than You Think
(5:52)  3. Junior
(6:25)  4. Time To Cry
(5:43)  5. Wisely
(3:35)  6. Bit O' Water
(7:04)  7. M
(4:22)  8. Equaled
(7:05)  9. Contact

Perhaps the core, and highly noticeable component here, is that traditional groove oriented, R&B induced music, while in the hands of musicians who respectively possess a distinctive voice enables the tried and true to be elevated to a higher plane. With drummer Joey Baron’s second “Songline/Tone Field” release titled We’ll Soon Find Out, these characteristics provide the winning edge, in an often huge way!  The opener, a composition titled “ Slow Charleston”, is indicative of what looms ahead. Here, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe’s searing vibrato and soul drenched lines surge onward while bassist Ron Carter and Baron implement slow fours with coy understatement amid a loose vibe. On “Junior”, Baron is a one-man percussion band as he employs complex Afro-Cuban rhythms in support of Blythe’s quite ferocity, linear themes and melodic interludes as guitarist Bill Frisell converges with funkified chords and unison lines. Whereas, “Widely” is a moving ballad of perhaps transcendental proportions as Frisell delves into some airy chord structures along with his now infamous injections of C&W style twang and poignant single note leads. Basically, We’ll Soon Find Out offers breezy passages, finger snapping rhythms, strong yet unobtrusive and quite thoughtful soloing in accordance with Baron’s conspicuous compositional pen. Yet within the hands of ordinary souls, the music and overall format might signify more of the norm; however, Baron, Frisell, Blythe and Carter shine forth with a candid demeanor while also providing a clinic of sorts - on the art of making good music that certainly strikes a memorable chord. ~ Glenn Astarita https://www.allaboutjazz.com/well-soon-find-out-joey-baron-songlines-recordings-review-by-glenn-astarita__4893.php
 

Personnel: Arthur Blythe: alto saxophone; Bill Frisell: guitars; Ron Carter: bass; Joey Baron: drums.

We'll Soon Find Out

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