Bill Frisell - Selected Recordings

[BlueMiles]

This is the first of the new ECM compilations I've checked out--not bad, it's a represents Frisell's earlier work.

[BlueMiles]

Frisell has certainly appeared frequently as a sideman, though to my surprise he is mostly shown as a leader on this collection. Most notable are the tracks from "Rambler." This may be the Frisell album I most need to hear/own, though I can now say I've heard three tracks. A front line of Frisell, Kenny Wheeler, and Bob Stewart (if this can really be construed a front line) creates interesting possibilities, and the three men fulfill the possibilities.

Two numbers from the Motian group (trio and quintet) might as well be Frisell tracks. "Mandeville," despite the composer credit to Motian, seems vintage Frisell circa the much-later "Gone Just Like a Train."

I do wish Marc Johnson's Bass Desires group had been represented. The pairing of Frisell and Scofield was a killer.

The CD closes with low-key and often sleepy numbers. "Kind of Gentle" (from Angel Song) is quite lovely. I'm not too thrilled with the Paul Bley number, and a long track by Gavin Bryars (who?) is an absolute bore. The number does not feature Frisell's playing, nor is it (strictly speaking) his composition. Frisell, in humble fashion, selected the piece for the compilation. Why, I don't know. This could be the most boring 10 minutes I've ever heard on a jazz record.

Still, the good far outweighs the dull. With a running time of 76+ minutes, you don't get cheated.

[Nate Dorward]

"Gavin Bryars (who?)" --noted composer, & had an earlier career as a free-improv bassist with Derek Bailey & Tony Oxley. "Sub Rosa" is based on a Frisell improvisation.

Frisell also makes a couple memorable appearances on Bryars' After the Requiem, notably the title track.

[LeMo]

"Gavin Bryars (who?)" --noted composer, & had an earlier career as a free-improv bassist with Derek Bailey & Tony Oxley. "Sub Rosa" is based on a Frisell improvisation.

Right. But even if the guy is highly regarded by some member of this board I agree with BlueMiles that his music as a composer is a total bore.

[Nate Dorward]

Well, I'm not going to argue much about Bryars as a composer--actually After the Requiem is the only disc of his I've liked. Though I'd like to hear the early works before he spun them out to CD length. "By the Vaar" is kinda nice (concerto for Charlie Haden) though very chocolatey.

[Other Steve]

Rambler, Frisell's second album, is still one of my absolute favorites, and Lookout for Hope ain't far behind.

The trio with Motian and Lovano did better work elsewhere (notably the first live set on Winter & Winter). ECM is set to release a new disc by the trio, I Have the Room Above Her, on February 8. I'm particularly interested in hearing this since if I'm not mistaken it'll be the first new representation of the group since Frisell's stylistic sea change (from scorch to twang).

The Bryars pieces are both lovely and boring; one needn't exclude the other. And I'll second the regret that something from the first Bass Desires record ("Samurai Hee-Haw," "Resolution" or "Black Is the Color..." in particular) wasn't included here.

Pretty sure my all-time favorite Frisell will always remain Power Tools, the impromptu trio with Melvin Gibbs and Ronald Shannon Jackson on Antilles.

[Ennis Snavely]

both lovely and boring...

That's what people say about me.

[BlueMiles]

Oh, it seems to me that Frisell had the "twang" way back--all the way to the first Motian album in 1981 (actually a quintet).

[Monte Smith]

"Gavin Bryars (who?)"

I've heard some bullshit compositions by Bryars, but "Jesus' Blood" is frigging heartbreaking--even the version ruined by the celeb inclusion of Tom Waits.

As for Frissell, I only regularly listen to his NASHVILLE album, which I quite like for I guess poppy reasons. Nice version of the country standard "(Don't They Know It's) The End of the World." I have that at my desk at work frequently.

I listened to the new record for a minute (first track) at a Border's. It seemed pretty.

[Captain Hate]

Rambler, Frisell's second album, is still one of my absolute favorites,

Pretty sure my all-time favorite Frisell will always remain Power Tools, the impromptu trio with Melvin Gibbs and Ronald Shannon Jackson on Antilles.I would agree with these sentiments plus I like his work with Naked City.

Glad OS had these statements here because I just couldn't let Monte kill a musical thread. :eek:

[Other Steve]

Oh, it seems to me that Frisell had the "twang" way back--all the way to the first Motian album in 1981 (actually a quintet). Oh, I'd certainly agree with that. I mighta shoulda said "full-blown" switch to twang, in that it's the scorch element seems to be mostly lacking in Frisell's post-Naked City work.

[Jonathan Sutton]

Live (in Seville) with Kermit Driscoll and Joey Baron has some quite tasty scorching on it.

[Jason Bivins]

I just saw that Songlines is releasing a recording of Frisell and strings (Hank Roberts, Eyvind Kang, and Jenny Scheinman), based on music he wrote for a Gerhard Richter retrospective. There are some interesting Frisell comments on the label website, where he claims that he didn't want to do any overdubbing or tweaking of this music in the studio, hoping to approximate the effect of brushstrokes on canvas (his own playing, he said, would function like "the guy with the squeegee").

[Brian Olewnick]

I've heard some bullshit compositions by Bryars, but "Jesus' Blood" is frigging heartbreaking--even the version ruined by the celeb inclusion of Tom Waits.


Early Bryars is fantastic, including "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" and "The Sinking of the Titanic" (both originally on Eno's Obscure label from around '75, the latter also represented on a great Disques du Crepuscule disc (recorded in a cistern) from 1990. His "Hommages", from the early 80s, is gorgeous too. After that, things get dicey, imho, though some nice things surface now and then, including parts of "A Man in a Room, Gambling".

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Wow!! Great album, and quite an eye-opener for somebody who hadn't heard any of this early Frisell. Much as I love what he's doing now, there was a road not taken back there that I would have liked to have seen him travel a little further!

The only track I'd heard before was the Wheeler-less cut from Angel Song, my least favorite track on the album, not counting that unbearable snooze by Bryars, the longest 10 minutes in the history of recorded music. Actually, I also heard the wonderful opening cut, Mandeville, but only once, just days before -- it's included on the Paul Motian Selected Recordings ECM which I purchased a couple of days ago, also a special album with a couple of tracks from an album I've been chasing forever, Dance, with Charles Brackeen & David Izenson.

I agree with BlueMiles that three cuts from Rambler are terrific, but I was also very taken with the one from Jan Garbarek's Wayfarer album. The solo piece, In Line, sounded great, as did the two pieces from Motian's It should've happened a long time ago (Motian selects a different track from that album), and three cuts from Lookout for Hope.

More after more listens. Essential for all you johnny-come-lately Frisell fans, like me.

[ribot_for_president]

The trio with Motian and Lovano did better work elsewhere (notably the first live set on Winter & Winter). ECM is set to release a new disc by the trio, I Have the Room Above Her, on February 8. I'm particularly interested in hearing this since if I'm not mistaken it'll be the first new representation of the group since Frisell's stylistic sea change (from scorch to twang).

Any word on whether this new one will be a live release as well? I caught the trio multiple times on their last two trips to the Vanguard and was pretty awed and amazed each time.

[ribot_for_president]

Oh, I'd certainly agree with that. I mighta shoulda said "full-blown" switch to twang, in that it's the scorch element seems to be mostly lacking in Frisell's post-Naked City work.

As much as I enjoy his work as a whole, this has been my chief complaint with his last handful of releases -- too locked into the "Americana"/twang sound, heavy on the echo and layering. It was refreshing to see him play with a much more "blusier" tone in the trio with Yahel & Blade.

[clarke68]

I've been a fan of Frisell ever since his earliest Nonesuch recordings, so this was my first taste of his ECM stuff. It's a bit spotty (but compilations nearly always are) but overall I like it, quite a bit more melodic than I expected.

The big surprise for me on this was highly underrated alto player Billy Drewes on the opening track 'Mandeville' from the Paul Motian album 'Psalms'. Motian brought the same band around to Yoshi's a couple years ago and Drewes blew me away then too...he's an amazing collective improviser, and he has an edge to his playing that I enjoy more than Joe Lovano's. He has quite a few albums to his credit, but sadly nothing under his own name.

Anyway, since I came to Frisell during his Downtown NY scorcher era, I was surprised to hear his 'Front-Porch Americana' sound stretching back this far.

Right. But even if the guy is highly regarded by some member of this board I agree with BlueMiles that his music as a composer is a total bore.Not boring...ambient. Music that's not meant to be listened to directly, like waves rolling in or the droning of an air conditioner. Okay, well, yeah...maybe that is boring.

I just saw that Songlines is releasing a recording of Frisell and strings (Hank Roberts, Eyvind Kang, and Jenny Scheinman), based on music he wrote for a Gerhard Richter retrospective.This CD was originally only available with the $125 'Richter 858 (http://store.yahoo.com/sfmoma/richter858.html)', the book that accompanied the show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Awesome to see that its becoming available by itself (especially as a DSD-encoded SACD!), although I found a guy on the internet last year who sent me a bootleg of one of the shows Frisell performed at the museum. It was interesting, didn't blow me away, but I'm going to dig it up and give it another listen later on today.

As much as I enjoy his work as a whole, this has been my chief complaint with his last handful of releases -- too locked into the "Americana"/twang soundI somewhat agree. I can't say I care much for his countryesqe playing, but I have a ton of respect for Frisell for bucking trends (and his fans' expectations) to stay true to his own musical vision.

Besides, if I loved all of his albums as much as I love 'Before We Were Born' and 'Have a Little Faith' I wouldn't have enough time/money to discover any other guitar players!

[BlueMiles]

I saw Frisell live two months ago. He did quite a bit of the Americana stuff, but I would not say it dominated the show. It was an excellent night of music by Frisell with his trio (Viktor Krauss-Kenny Wolleson). I believe this group will soon be documented on a live record.

I probably like Frisell best in the trio setting, including the trio led by Ginger Baker and including Charlie Haden. I would love to hear him work again with Kermit Driscoll and Joey Baron.

[ribot_for_president]

Seeing him in a duo with Joey Baron in Copenhagen is probably the best Frisell performance I've witnessed, followed closely by the aforementioned trio with Brian Blade & Sam Yahel at the Jazz Standard.

[BlueMiles]

I must say that the Frisell-Yahel-Blade trio sounds pretty intriguing.

I haven't been too thrilled with the last few Frisell releases--maybe because they're too dense with musicians/sounds.

[TheMonk]

Early Bryars is fantastic, including "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" and "The Sinking of the Titanic" (both originally on Eno's Obscure label from around '75, the latter also represented on a great Disques du Crepuscule disc (recorded in a cistern) from 1990. His "Hommages", from the early 80s, is gorgeous too. After that, things get dicey, imho, though some nice things surface now and then, including parts of "A Man in a Room, Gambling".

Let's say I had the chance to buy the Obscure and the Disques du Crepuscule editions. Which one would you recommend? Or both? :p


Ps: This is my first post in this forum (although I have been reading it for some time now). :o

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I must say that the Frisell-Yahel-Blade trio sounds pretty intriguing.

I haven't been too thrilled with the last few Frisell releases--maybe because they're too dense with musicians/sounds.


Try the recent East/ West live trio albums. They're both less busy and more like his "Have A Little Faith" period albums. (I've loved all the busy recent albums, especially "Unspeakable", but I think I can understand what you're talking about.)

[Lois Gilbert]

:cool: