BILL FRISELL
Of the celebrated triumvirate of John Scofield, Pat Metheny, and Bill Frisell—the most original and influential jazz guitarists of the past 50 years—none is more distinctive, or self-effacing, than Frisell, a true changeling of the guitar.
Frisell is a jazz-based musician, but his music crisscrosses genres, and his guitar playing isn’t bound to or limited by a specific technique. He’s a master illusionist, able to alter a song’s meaning far beyond its original intent with the aid of a Telecaster guitar, a modest effects chain, and, most importantly, his rich imagination.
In concert—as I heard at a 2014 Lincoln Center performance with singer-guitarist-songwriter Buddy Miller and vocalist-fiddler Carrie Rodriguez—Frisell creates virtual worlds in which his audience experiences interstellar vistas, country music–flecked nostalgia, and Hendrix-caliber experimentation.
Highlights of Frisell’s discography, which began with his 1983 ECM debut, In Line, include the 2005 Grammy Award–winning album Unspeakable (Elektra Nonesuch); the landmark sessions for bassist Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires (ECM) and Second Sight (ECM); and his work with saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer-leader Paul Motian, including One Time Out (Soul Note), On Broadway Volumes 1 and 2 (JMT), I Have the Room Above Her (ECM), and Time and Time Again (ECM).
Frisell’s current release, (Blue Note), finds the 68-year-old Maryland native leading a group that includes Petra Haden (vocals), Hank Roberts (cello, vocals), and Luke Bergman (guitars, vocals). With its focus on harmony vocals, the quartet performs such traditional songs as “Red River Valley,” “Lush Life,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times,” and a sublime version of Lerner and Loewe’s “On the
