Edited by Jon Evans and Lee Townsend at San Pablo Recorders, Berkeley, CA.Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York Tracks 5 to 12: Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, New York City December 9-12, 2003.
Mixed at In the Pocket Studio, Forestville, CA Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, NYC. Publishing information: Track 5: SonyATV Acuff Rose Music BMI Track 6: Special Rider Music SESAC Track 7: New Hidden Valley Music Co. ASCAP Track 9.1: Friz-Tone Music BMI Track 10: Prestige Music Co. Most distinct are the tunes where Tony Scherr puts down his bass and does some acoustic guitar picking. Jazz fans will be quick to claim Mr. Earlier in his career, Mr. Frisell seemed like a jazz guitarist with a dry, reverbed tone and a taste for twangy, open spaces. But its more accurate today to say that Mr. Bill Frisell Further East Further West Rar Full Palate OfFrisell works within a self-defined genre in which the full palate of American musical styles are mixed and mashed, then extruded through the rather severe imagination of one extraordinary man. Recent albums have explored world music ( The Intercontinentals ), dissonant classical string music ( Richter 858 ), old-timey folk ( The Willies ), jazz ( With Dave Holland and Elvin Jones ), and country ( Nashville ). But all of this music contains a myriad of echoes -- thats the Frisell-ian shadow cast over all his sessions. These two double-discs -- both live recordings of Mr. Frisell with Kenny Wolleson on drums, Viktor Krauss joining on bass in the Bay Area club Yoshis and Tony Scherr on bass down the stairs at New Yorks Village Vanguard -- neatly summarize one mans singular musical voice. They are both indispensable to Frisell fans and a brilliant essay for novices on the wide-open possibilities of guitar music in 2005. Bill Frisell Further East Further West Rar Download From MrEastWest is a traditional CD, and Further EastFurther West is available only as a digital download from Mr. Frisells web site, but the choice between them is six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other, maybe a question of whether you want to hear the West Trio on a brilliant I Heard It Through the Grapevine ( West ) or the East Trio on Dylans Masters of War ( Further East ). The selections on the CD are slightly more jazz-traditional (My Mans Gone Now and The Days of Wine and Roses at the Vanguard), but the Further collection gives you out-there takes on Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Body and Soul. Across all four sets, youll hear Mr. Frisells alchemic artistry at its most direct. It is the most comprehensive survey of Mr. Frisells career currently available. The West Trio with Viktor Krauss operates more like a rock group, achieving a single sound that features Mr. Frisells echoing guitar atop a mostly locked-in pairing between Mr. Wolleson and Mr. Krauss. Shenandoah, on West, begins with guitar laying out a pastoral melody over an electric loop. The band enters majestically and in perfect synchronization, building intensity as the guitar solo moves from atmospheric embellishment toward distorted volume and blues energy. All the while, however, the musicians work toward one purpose and with one voice. Further West s version of the Frisell classic Lookout for Hope operates similarly: Krauss and Wolleson establish a powerful-elastic groove over which Bill weaves a hammock of melodyharmony invention. These performances do not smack of rock jam band conventions but, rather, of the dynamics of more traditional pop bands that blend in a way that typical jazz groups would rather not. Mr. Wolleson, who grooves so gently and effortlessly at Yoshis, is a different beast in the Vanguard basement, slip-sliding across Mr. Scherrs patterns rather than molding around them. Even on a relatively unjazzy workout like Masters of War, the trio plays with polyrhythmic counterpoint, and this in turn seems to inspire Mr. Ron Carter ( East ) is an utterly convincing original ballad originally recorded by a larger ensemble. Here, the trio makes a strong case that the contemporary guitar trio still has much ground for exploration, as Mr. Frisell uses every trick in his arsenal (harmonics, distortion, extra sustain, looping, phasing, you name it) to turn in a remarkably orchestrated jazz performance. More traditional but more transcendent are the two Bacharach tunes (People from East and What the World Needs Now from Further East ) that cast this trio in a Jim Hall mode -- delivering nuanced, impressionistic jazz readings of legitimate standards that deserve to be played much more often. If the East Trio plays more jazz (another: Sonny Rollins Paradox on Further East ), then it also strays the furthest. The Vanguard ( East ) is relatively atonal free jazz, and the solo-guitar-and-loop reading of Somewhere Over the Rainbow ( Further East ) is pastels on acid.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |