Have A Little Faith By Bill Frisell

[crabgrass]

I really enjoy Frisell's soundtracks to Buster Keaton films... that and News For Lulu with Bill, Zorn and George Lewis.

[Rob C]

  Guy said:

  Rob C said:

Uh, why are people referring to the Motion trio in the past tense? Have I missed some news?

Because aside from their annual residency at the Village Vanguard and the occasional album, the group is no longer a "going concern".

Guy

That's more of a going concern than most bands!

[Guest Bill Barton]

Back to the "NPR Americana" tag...

Yes, that's pretty accurate as far as it goes, but there's way more to Frisell's playing than that.

I've heard him live in a number of different contexts.

His trio with David Finck and Joey Baron was a romping, stomping, damned near rock and roll extravaganza. Memories of the first time I heard this band are vivid. I was dating a woman who told me she was a jazz fan. Cool, I thought. I asked her to go to this show with me. On the way there in the car we were listening to some vintage hard bop, grooving along, all was copasetic. Maybe playing all that Horace Silver and Blakey was a mistake. She apparently was expecting something along those lines. I'll never forget that during the third tune she turns to me and says - rather loudly I might add - "I thought this was supposed to be a jazz concert, this guy sounds like Deep Purple to me!" Withering looks from surrounding concert-goers, my face turning Deep Purple, cringe, fidget, mentally vow never to invite another new date to a show, fantasize about gags... But I suppose that she had a point. Indeed, the music heard that night had more in common with rock of various stripes than it did with Wes Montgomery/Grant Green/Charlie Christian or any kind of hillbilly-ish Americana. It was resolutely in-your-face and pretty damned loud. And it was good.

Another gig with a totally different vibe was in Montreal a few years later. This was the band with slide guitarist David Tronzo, Kenny Wollesen on drums (on a very short leash in this context) and - I think - Finck again. I was - to put it bluntly - bored stiff throughout this couple of sets. All Things Considered segue music to the nth degree, boys and girls. Admittedly there were some lovely textures but it had virtually no dynamic range at all and seemed to all be at one loping, slow-to-medium tempo. Yawn...

The recent guest spot with Cuong Vu I already mentioned was another side as well. Frisell was at his most adventurous on this occasion. Vu and the maniacal electric bassist Stomu Takeishi are not known for playing it safe and Frisell rose to the occasion with some solos that were both passionate and searching. There was a truly jaw-dropping segment where Takeishi used what looked like a plain old tin can as a slide on his bass and in time-honored post-Hendrix fashion stood directly in front of his amplifier for some controlled feedback. He and Frisell were really locked in with entrainment during this portion. Analog dementia and wasn't it loverly... As Vu, Takeishi and Frisell all were outfitted with a plethora of the latest and greatest digital toys replete with flashing lights, pedals to push, dials to twist, stuff to tweak, stuff to tweak the stuff that tweaked the other stuff, etc. it was rather refreshing that fingers on strings, old-fashioned feedback and a tin can created some of the most interesting music.

And some Frisell-as-sideman recordings that I love:

Jerry Granelli - A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing

The pairing of Frisell with the urbanely bluesy Robben Ford on this one was an inspired idea. "On paper" the idea initially seemed a bit odd to me, but in practice it really gels. "I Put A Spell On You" is a highlight for me although there are plenty of them.

Hal Willner - Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus

This is a profoundly strange recording and one that has become more and more of a favorite after repeated listening over the years. Ya gotta love Mingus played on Harry Partch's instruments... Or not. There appear to be as many people who hate this album as there are who love it.

Hal Willner - Amarcord Nino Rota

Frisell's breathtakingly beautiful solo guitar interpretation of music from Juliet of the Spirits is evocative of both Rota and Fellini. This is a recording I return to time and time again. It doesn't hurt that there are also tasty Steve Lacy solo bits, masterful Jaki Byard (again solo), Muhal Richard Abrams, David Amram and Carla Bley at her Bley-est. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein too!

So, let's not be too hasty in attempting to file Frisell away in a neat little pigeonhole.

Edited February 22, 2008 by Bill Barton

[Guest bluenote82]

Motian isn't touring anymore....hmmm...I didn't hear about that one. I'm sure he's still playing out live in NYC, right?

Edited February 22, 2008 by bluenote82

[danasgoodstuff]

Love Have a Little Faith and most of those others mentioned above and Further East... But I've heard live gigs better than any official release, especially one with just Joey Baron.

[crabgrass]

This sounds interesting...

EARTH + BILL FRISELL/STEVE MOORE - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull (Southern Lord 90; USA) Earth's 2008 release, The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull, is built on lovely, languid melodies floating effortlessly amidst the band's eye-scratching drone-doom. The long-running Seattle metal experimentalists make music that is arguably the exact opposite of upbeat, but whether it's the presence of fresh blood in the form of Jazz guitar great Bill Frisell and Neo-Prog organist Steve Moore, or something more ineffable, the band is clearly following a new path. Bees Made Honey finds Earth releasing themselves from their sonic hermitage deep within our planet's burning molten core and soaring high above on a wave of lush swirling guitars and organs, stopping just shy of exiting the very realm from which they got their name. This album is monolithic in its beauty and strength.

[7/4]

  bluenote82 said:

Motian isn't touring anymore....hmmm...I didn't hear about that one. I'm sure he's still playing out live in NYC, right?

The drummer Paul Motian doesn't get on airplanes anymore.

[jimi089]

  bluenote82 said:

Motian isn't touring anymore....hmmm...I didn't hear about that one. I'm sure he's still playing out live in NYC, right?

Yep, local gigs in NYC only.

[7/4]

  The Danimal said:

  bluenote82 said:

Motian isn't touring anymore....hmmm...I didn't hear about that one. I'm sure he's still playing out live in NYC, right?

Yep, local gigs in NYC only.

That's right, he doesn't get on airplanes anymore.

[Guest bluenote82]

Want to hear something strange? Sure you do....

"This Land" was recorded before "Have A Little Faith," but "Have A Little Faith" was released before "This Land." That's kind of weird, I wonder what prompted the boys at Elektra/Nonesuch to do that?

[Nate Dorward]

Presumably because the repertoire on Have a Little Faith was likely to sell a little more briskly than the all-originals program on This Land.

Truthfully, I don't think any of Frisell's albums match his best sideman work or his best live performances; & ever since Nashville I've found him unlistenable.

[Guest bluenote82]

  Nate Dorward said:

Presumably because the repertoire on Have a Little Faith was likely to sell a little more briskly than the all-originals program on This Land.

Truthfully, I don't think any of Frisell's albums match his best sideman work or his best live performances; & ever since Nashville I've found him unlistenable.

I completely understand where you're coming from Nate, but I do love "Good Dog, Happy Man" and "Blues Dream," but I also love the one before "Nashville" called "Gone, Just Like A Train." Great albums in my opinion.

[7/4]

  Nate Dorward said:

Presumably because the repertoire on Have a Little Faith was likely to sell a little more briskly than the all-originals program on This Land.

Truthfully, I don't think any of Frisell's albums match his best sideman work or his best live performances; & ever since Nashville I've found him unlistenable.

I'm with Nate with the exception of Richter 858.