Bill Frisell plays Subconscious-Lee (What Is This Thing Called Love contrafact)

[brent.h]

I like how Bill's comping is just re-stating parts of the melody. All the other players play so much of the melody in their solos, too. Very enjoyable performance.

About 220bpm

Here's the original. About 240bpm

[Christian Miller]

I like how Bill's comping is just re-stating parts of the melody. All the other players play so much of the melody in their solos, too. Very enjoyable performance.

About 220bpm

Here's the original. About 240bpm

Maybe he got that idea from monk

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[brent.h]

Yeah I just read about how he was quite influenced by Monk.

I noticed something when he re-states the melody in fragments... it seems to not only remind the listeners where we are in the tune, but a sort of push-pull effect surfaces. The 'pull' of the restatement grounds the solos so that it's relatable (and we hear it in relation to the melody), yet the 'push' of the restatement spurs the players to play in quite unexpected ways and not rely on typical language/bop devices.

Maybe I'm reaching and over-inferring.

[Christian Miller]

Yeah I just read about how he quite infuenced by Monk.

I noticed something when he re-states the melody in fragments... it seems to not only remind the listeners where we are in the tune, but a sort of push-pull effect surfaces. The 'pull' of the restatement grounds the solos so that it's relatable (and we hear it in relation to the melody), yet the 'push' of the restatement spurs the players to play in quite unexpected ways and not rely on typical language/bop devices.

Maybe I'm reaching and over-inferring.

No, I think those are great observations.

[Jonah]

Yeah I just read about how he was quite influenced by Monk.

I noticed something when he re-states the melody in fragments... it seems to not only remind the listeners where we are in the tune, but a sort of push-pull effect surfaces. The 'pull' of the restatement grounds the solos so that it's relatable (and we hear it in relation to the melody), yet the 'push' of the restatement spurs the players to play in quite unexpected ways and not rely on typical language/bop devices.

Maybe I'm reaching and over-inferring.

Great points indeed. Here he really marks 'where we are in the tune' and 'pushes the band forward (or rather to certain direction)'

I love Bill's comping in general. He is never really much conventional to guitar styles (though often uses simple basic shapes). Even when he comps a singer or another guitar he still does the sporadic phrases/intervals chords approach.
I think what makes him convincing is that he comps in phrases mostly.

I mean phrases not only an actual melodic line but it can be a couple of syncopated intervals for example but they sound like a phrase.

He also often goes together/against the soloist: mostly counter direction (the soloist goes up and Bills goes down), or the same direction - kind of doubling some fragments of solo which creates intensity.

But it phrases... even his sparse color dissonances mostly sound as a fragment of some phrase..

Because most important is where and how he does it: he often plays it like a line with a pick up notes to resolution and in this way he outlines important pivots of the form like cadences/resolutions/climaxes.

And he has very convincing, 'old school' timing, very human time feel... - which I would rather call 'the breathing'.
Once he begins to play it is like you can feel already the whole tune in its integrity.

So he can just play one phrase here, one after a few bars and so on... and even without other comping instrument you can really hear the harmonic and metric frame of the song.

It is actually because he is always within general time flow of the tune... it is very hard to do it like he does if you try to be precise or detalize changes too much. You really have to be in the flow and just focus on pivot moments to which you approach and from which you move on further... it can be actually just a few for the whole song. But enough if you feel it integral.

[brent.h]

...

I mean phrases not only an actual melodic line but it can be a couple of syncopated intervals for example but they sound like a phrase.

He also often goes together/against the soloist: mostly counter direction (the soloist goes up and Bills goes down), or the same direction - kind of doubling some fragments of solo which creates intensity.

But it phrases... even his sparse color dissonances mostly sound as a fragment of some phrase..

Because most important is where and how he does it: he often plays it like a line with a pick up notes to resolution and in this way he outlines important pivots of the form like cadences/resolutions/climaxes.

And he has very convincing, 'old school' timing, very human time feel... - which I would rather call 'the breathing'.
Once he begins to play it is like you can feel already the whole tune in its integrity.

So he can just play one phrase here, one after a few bars and so on... and even without other comping instrument you can really hear the harmonic and metric frame of the song.

ok
what is this sorcery
where do i learn it

[Jonah]

ok
what is this sorcery
where do i learn it

I like this video where he plays with John Pizzarelli. They start at about 15:30

You can see that John plays clear comping, or some kind of chord-melody at places but mostly it is clearly separated btw comping and soloing.

With Bill it is like he plays in the same manner all the way through.
When he plays a solo or a melody - his line is not quite a line but like 'sonority cloud' that comes and fades aways and then another one comes...
you do not hear typical 'jazz licks' in his solos (even if the notes are exactly some licks)

When he comps - you always hear some snatches of original tune. And it is also like clouds... you know a loud forms some figure and then disappears... and then another cloud.

But you can also hear clearly that these 'figures' that appear out of the clouds describe the harmony and time very distinctly: basically he creates tension and resolves in proper moment. And for the rest he is wandering around.
And he uses original melody as vehicle, it is very simple actually. If original tune is spacious enough and has all the harmonic info, and you play it in proper register. It creates a good comping counterpoint

[brent.h]

And it is also like clouds... you know a loud forms some figure and then disappears... and then another cloud.

Apt.

And I just noticed this: the younger guy is playing an older style, the older guy is playing a more modern style.

[spencer096]

I like this video where he plays with John Pizzarelli. They start at about 15:30

You can see that John plays clear comping, or some kind of chord-melody at places but mostly it is clearly separated btw comping and soloing.

With Bill it is like he plays in the same manner all the way through.
When he plays a solo or a melody - his line is not quite a line but like 'sonority cloud' that comes and fades aways and then another one comes...
you do not hear typical 'jazz licks' in his solos (even if the notes are exactly some licks)

When he comps - you always hear some snatches of original tune. And it is also like clouds... you know a loud forms some figure and then disappears... and then another cloud.

But you can also hear clearly that these 'figures' that appear out of the clouds describe the harmony and time very distinctly: basically he creates tension and resolves in proper moment. And for the rest he is wandering around.
And he uses original melody as vehicle, it is very simple actually. If original tune is spacious enough and has all the harmonic info, and you play it in proper register. It creates a good comping counterpoint

id never heard this before…I’m not a frisell fan typically but absolutely loved him here.

[Average Joe]

At the risk of derailing - what would be some good albums if I love his playing in this setting? I like him in pretty much anything, but his Americana, surf, etc releases are less my thing than the clips posted in this thread.

[Mick-7]

At the risk of derailing - what would be some good albums if I love his playing in this setting? I like him in pretty much anything, but his Americana, surf, etc releases are less my thing than the clips posted in this thread.

You may like this one, he and Dale Bruning playing standards:

Dale Bruning with Bill Frisell - Reunion (Full Album) - YouTube

He play entirely or mostly his own compositions on his own albums, his live albums have more standards, for example:

[Jonah]

At the risk of derailing - what would be some good albums if I love his playing in this setting? I like him in pretty much anything, but his Americana, surf, etc releases are less my thing than the clips posted in this thread.

I think Bill has a 'new wave' in carrier approximately since 2015-2016.
I always respected him but was never a fan, but I got attracted to his playing since he started collaboration with Thomas Morgan and then he began to play more and more in small groups, it was not always stadards but I like that the texture became more fluid, more jazzy, less 'country-rock-fusion determined;

I also feel like he often treats an album as a conception, invites musicians from various styles, they make arrangements... and for it is ofter a bit controversal: it seems like the cover pretends to be almost a symphony, but the contents is mostly just a nice pop stuff.
All the best of his unique musicality opens up to me in a flexible live interaction in small sgroups, or when he plays alone..

So I would suggest from earlier albums East West, and duo album with Fred Hirsch. From later period duo with Thomas Morgan (I do not remember the title)

But now (and especially after covid) performances in the internet became more interesting for me than albums.

Check at least New York, New York at the end of this concert

[JazzPadd]

This is a great thread. Bill Frisell has always been one of my favorite guitarists, especially the Monk tunes and his approach to the jazz standards, or those sets with John Lovano and others. The points made about melody are crucial, IMHO, to getting at his approach.

When I returned to guitar after a long detour through world music, I came across a video, it was something like "The Guitar Artistry of Bill Frisell" and I think it was done around the time he was playing with Paul Motian but I'm not sure. He demonstrates "Days of Wine and Roses" (which he still includes in his live sets once in a while and one of the reasons why I've never tired of hearing that tune). He starts with just the melody alone, it's subtly expressive but just the melody and more or less straight forward in time. Then he adds a bass note here and there, then an in-between note, some voice leading, harmonics, open strings, building up an arrangement in real time in a way that every time it sounded fresh, but during which the melody reigned supreme, it was almost like the melody is inviolable.

During corona, when live playing more or less shut down for the better part of two years, I caught an interview with Bill Frisell, in which he was asked what he is working on while not playing with others. He mentioned "Someone to Watch Over Me." I hadn't heard his take on it, but in lockdown I devoted several months to working out a solo version. It's a tune with descending strands of melody, and it was so instructive to work within that.

This close adherence to melody, even in his comping as noted in the beginning of this thread, really gets at what others have noted above as one of his core characteristics. At one point in that video, he repeats it, imploring us to focus on "melody, melody, melody." I think maybe that's the key, it's as if the melody is always there even when it isn't there. It's that approach, playing off of the melody more so or rather than playing off of the changes, that's what spoke to me most for playing jazz after a very long hiatus. As soon as I heard him doing that, I put away everything else and started working on tunes from the melody.

He is also a very guitaristic player, approaching the guitar on its own terms and working with its distinctive limitations, seeing the guitar as a kind of minimalist instrument, rather than trying to import into playing guitar the maximalist sounds from how horn players or pianists approach music. And he seems to be relishing in those things that make a guitar in some ways unique, harmonics, open strings, strumming, bending to some extent, etc.

Some of his playing at times seems reminiscent of Gabor Szabo, another of my favorite players, their tone in places even though Szabo is mostly on acoustic, and in selection of tunes. Two very different players on some level, but there's a kind of a kindred, almost airy sound they have, and at times I'm wondering if it's a coincidence, or an homage, or unintentional. In any case, these are just my thoughts, and I'm looking forward to reading more of your thoughts.

[Christian Miller]

I think Bill has a 'new wave' in carrier approximately since 2015-2016.
I always respected him but was never a fan, but I got attracted to his playing since he started collaboration with Thomas Morgan and then he began to play more and more in small groups, it was not always stadards but I like that the texture became more fluid, more jazzy, less 'country-rock-fusion determined;

I also feel like he often treats an album as a conception, invites musicians from various styles, they make arrangements... and for it is ofter a bit controversal: it seems like the cover pretends to be almost a symphony, but the contents is mostly just a nice pop stuff.
All the best of his unique musicality opens up to me in a flexible live interaction in small sgroups, or when he plays alone..

So I would suggest from earlier albums East West, and duo album with Fred Hirsch. From later period duo with Thomas Morgan (I do not remember the title)

But now (and especially after covid) performances in the internet became more interesting for me than albums.

Check at least New York, New York at the end of this concert

Yeah a lot of his recent output has been rather mainstream. I mean, really nice, but you wouldn’t think he’d been so avant garde in the early days with Zorn etc.

I like him in those ad hoc settings too


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[alltunes]

Another nice collaboration:

[Cunamara]

I like this video where he plays with John Pizzarelli. They start at about 15:30

This is my favorite video with Bill, thanks for including it in the thread. I really enjoy how he and JP have such a different approaches to playing and yet quickly find a way to play together that sounds coherent and unified. They are both flexible musicians. The difference in time feel is interesting: JP is deeply rooted in the swing groove and always rhythmically correct; Bill is seemingly rubato (sometimes it sounds to me that he is subdividing intently and choosing things like the 3rd 16th of the beat rather than playing rubato as such; Bob Weir does this too) and yet can swing with John without giving up his own identity. They find some really wonderful counterpoint moments, especially on "Days Of Wine And Roses."

[enalnitram]

At the risk of derailing - what would be some good albums if I love his playing in this setting? I like him in pretty much anything, but his Americana, surf, etc releases are less my thing than the clips posted in this thread.

Jim Hall & Bill Frisell - Hemispheres
Bill Frisell, Ron Carter & Paul Motian
Bill Frisell with Dave Holland & Elvin Jones
Fred Hersch & Bill Frisell - Songs We Know
Dale Bruning Trio - Just Between Us
Ron Miles - Heaven
Ron Carter - Orfeu

[Bob_Ross]

Bill is seemingly rubato (sometimes it sounds to me that he is subdividing intently and choosing things like the 3rd 16th of the beat rather than playing rubato as such; Bob Weir does this too)

I must confess this is the first time I have ever heard the names Bill Frisell and Bob Weir mentioned in the same sentence!

[Cunamara]

ok
what is this sorcery
where do i learn it

Part of it is he knows the guide tones (3rds and 7ths) for every chord in the progression. Utilizing those will get you a long way towards that. Knowing the melody at all times also. And he sprinkles in extensions and tensions as well.

[Cunamara]

I must confess this is the first time I have ever heard the names Bill Frisell and Bob Weir mentioned in the same sentence!

They both played with Phil (not at the same time):

[Flat]

My wife and I got to see him just last night at the Blue Note Los Angeles!! My first time there. Very nice club. Great kitchen. A bit tightly packed and definitely not cheap. But a great room with really good sound, at least in my opinion.

Luke Berman on bass, Tim Angulo on drums. Really a nice rhythm section. I had never heard of either of them. They played well together, imho. Nice camaraderie.

The trio played non-stop for 80 minutes or so. Did Bill's popular take on Shenandoah, then came back and did a Dylan tune for the encore (maybe Blowing in the Wind?). Played Imagine at one point. He did other tunes I well recognized at the time, but I didn't take notes. Some tunes seemed to start as one tune and morph into another.