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No offence... really curious... posts awaiting... thanks...
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10-30-2014 05:08 PM
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I'd first ask you who's not boring?
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For me Frisell is simply musical. I don't think of licks or chops, but melody and beauty. He never worries about soloing like so many other guitarist. He simply plays songs. Although he may seem simpler than other guitarist, there is a lot more going on than you might think.
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Let me first say that Bill Frissell is not my favorite guitarist. He is, however, one of the most consistently interesting guitarists. He is exploratory, often "without a net," which I do appreciate (but then I also am a Deadhead as well as a jazzhead,and like musicians taking the chance to go waaaaayyyy out). He seems to bring what Shunryu Suzuki referred to as "beginner's mind" to playing music, something Miles Davis also talked about doing (in different terms).
This is one of his more traditional sounding things- St. Louis Blues- on solo acoustic archtop guitar:
What he doesn't do is play in the swing groove very often and this seems to be one of the things that divides opinions about him. I think it's one of the things that keeps me from digging his music more, but I also enjoy his melodic and harmonic sense.
His tone is often not the stereotypical jazz guitar tone. That throws some people too, but I think there is far more acceptance of this given Scofield, Stern, Rosenwinkel, etc., who have pushed tone into different directions than an ES-175 and a Polytone.
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He's pretty much my favorite too. I like his creativity, playfulness, and originality.
Also there is a huge amount of variety in Frisell's music. If you are not digging the (more recent) western stuff, I would listen to the Paul Motion groups or the Marc Johnson groups. They are more jazz oriented, and would probably be more appreciated by someone with a jazz background.
He is not someone who is going to play a continuous stream of eight notes over Cherokee at 300 bpm, but that's something I find really boring. To each his own.
Try this. It's a straight ahead song. I would say it's far from boring:
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I just saw him in France (Nantes) playing his late repertory, very well made, some good moments but too "square" at my taste. Anyway he is one of the greatest jazz guitarist and musician I know, for the moment my favorite is the record "Monk on Motian" with Motian & Lovano, a masterpiece!
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I REALLY want to like Bill. He is here every summer and I never go. Next year for sure. Thing is I never like any of his stuff. Even as background music while I am cooking or something I will get bored and change it for something else. He is a great player.. just sooo not my cuppa. That is cool. Still respect him (and btw I think Premier Guitar has a new interview with him this month, probably for the new album).
The exception to this is the album he did with Dale Bruning. Mostly standard so when he deviates from the melody, since they are song you already have burned into your brain, you can still almost follow along.
After I had the album for a month I was listening to it during supper and I said to my wife "I LOVE this album"
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If you would like to see Bill Frisell's adaptability as a (side) player check these out:
Last edited by Dirk; 04-06-2018 at 07:11 AM.
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I really liked the double CD East/West, especially the CD with I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
Style wise, he is not a bopper, post-bopper, soul jazzer etc. etc. He is a baby boomer, ex-Berklee guitarist who grew up hearing hippie pop and rock. He plays newer eclectic styles, and lots of them. He plays traditional jazz tunes as well of course.
He is not a chops man, he plays his own way. If you see him live it becomes abundantly clear that he is improvising and living in the moment. He even surprises himself with what comes out sometimes, which the audience responds to positively.Last edited by fumblefingers; 11-02-2014 at 11:13 AM.
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All music is an acquired taste. It's not like any of us are born with the jazz gene or the bluegrass gene or the gamelan gene.
If you find Bill Frisell boring, it's says a lot about you, but nothing new about Bill.
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Thing is, Bill Frisell is so versatile and his playing incorporates bluegrass, blues, traditional jazz, etc.
Personally, I'm not so keen on the bluegrass end of things and much prefer what I would deem to be his more modern jazz style of playing. Thing is, I also hate putting labels on music too so I'm not being very helpful here.
The clip of Bill improvising in this video (at 1:36) however was the point at which I switched on to Bill's awesome playing. I still find this clip to be inspirational.
I would also say that, once you have perhaps worked on some transcriptions and begun to understand his technique and what he is doing it may be that your appreciation will deepen.
The Jazz guitar community regards Bill as one of the foremost players of his time and they all can't be wrong. Keep listening, it will be worth it.
Carl.
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I'd be curious what you all think of this:
When Musicians Surrender to Nostalgia - The Atlantic
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Why should we care what a political writer/editor says when he decides to write a record review?
Originally Posted by danwaineo
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You don't have to care. I was asking what you thought. Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
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Bill can find the stunning brilliance in a simple piece of music better than anyone I know. Yet he can also be so complex that I turn him off before I get a headache. In either case he is in complete command of his instrument and what he is trying to do -- always with an effortlessness that makes me green with envy.
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"Even when soloing over a basic, folky song, he gravitates to dissonance, builds elaborate superharmonic structures, and destabilizes the rhythm with a quirky, distinctive sense of timing and syncopation." Originally Posted by danwaineo
This was the best sentence in the article, imho. Many jazz standards are based on broadway show tunes. But I didn't really grow up listening to show tunes. I listened to pop, rock, folk, blues. Great stuff, but of course much simpler harmonically. Bill takes those tunes, and treats them sort of like how a bopper would treat a show tune. Begins with a familiar base, then builds his castles upon it. I think it's brilliant.
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One of the first solo transcripts my jazz tutor had me work on was Bill's solo on 'Turn Out The Stars'.
That exercise taught me more about Bill Frisell than a myriad of magazine articles. The man is a genius.
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"Even when soloing over a basic, folky song, he gravitates to dissonance, builds elaborate superharmonic structures, and destabilizes the rhythm with a quirky, distinctive sense of timing and syncopation."
his version of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" with Ron Carter is amazing.
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Bill took me a really long and hard time to get into. I never got it. He played really slow, really spacey. I was into guys like Kreisberg and Rosenwinkel, I liked hearing guys blow over crazy changes and play really fast lines. Eventually, I outgrew it, and got more into free stuff, soundscapes, something bigger than playing the same 32 bars over and over while some guy shows off all the cool shit they can do, you know? I slowly got into Bill, very recently. I really paid attention to his playing when I was learning this Mingus tune, Duke Ellington's Sound of Love. I heard a trio recording, lead by Paul Motian with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano playing the tune. And to this day, it's still probably the best recording of a ballad I've ever heard. Then I was learning Embraceable You, and found him doing a solo version on Youtube. That, again, blew my mind. I got pretty much his whole discography, and yeah, there's still some iffy stuff in there that I could say isn't my favorite, but honestly, the guy is one of two guitarists I can name (the other being Ben Monder), that can literally not play a single wrong note. Every single thing he plays makes total sense, and sounds beautiful. Whether it be a note, a chord, or just a sound effect. The guy is probably the best user of effects I can also think of, and is a master at getting the right sound for any occasion. That's why I like Bill.
Funny enough, I outgrew the kind of stuff I used to listen to before I liked guys like Bill. Now I really find guys like Kurt, Jonathan, etc, kind of boring after a while.
I'm together with Jeff, though. What don't you find boring?
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Wow!!!! Talk about a 180. I'm glad you found some stuff by Bill that you enjoy. I remember reading posts where you described Bill not being your cup of tea. Bill is one of my favorite players, and probably my biggest influence. Again, I'm glad your digging him now, much respect! Originally Posted by jtizzle
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What I love about Frisell is how it doesn't sound like he searches for ideas. It's more compositional in the sense, it doesn't sound like an improvised solo like how benson or martino sounds to me. I also love how he can make music sound wobbly by carefully placing his ideas.
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