I don't think I'll be able to order my thoughts on Bill Frisell's show last night at the Square Room with Greg Leisz, so here are some quick notes:
• Frisell opts for clarity over fluidity--except for a couple of passages at the beginning and end, he used almost no effects, just a raw, naked amplification, and he makes each note distinct. He also doesn't make playing guitar look easy. He's playing difficult material, and it shows. It's an intense and intelligent approach to guitar.
• I never would have thought about how closely related John Fahey and Chet Atkins are until last night. Frisell seems to draw on both as an influence, not least in the way he makes no distinctions among jazz, country, blues, and pop.
• This particular set-up--Frisell on electric guitar, Leisz on lap and pedal steel--does hedge Frisell's cerebral approach. Even when he plays songs that have some amount of sentimentality built in--like Hank Williams' "Lost Highway"--his clean, precise picking sometimes feels like an exercise. Leisz' swooning lap on those pieces adds a mournful, emotive quality.
• Frisell, who lives in Seattle, told a story about the last time he was in Knoxville, with a combo led by Jack DeJohnette a coupl of years ago. He was walking down Gay Street and saw a bar--presumable either the Downtown Grill & Brewery or Bistro--where a bluegrass band was playing. He got excited, figuring he was near the cradle of bluegrass and had stumbled across a real local old-fashioned bluegrass group. Turns out they were from Seattle.
• Frisell opts for clarity over fluidity--except for a couple of passages at the beginning and end, he used almost no effects, just a raw, naked amplification, and he makes each note distinct. He also doesn't make playing guitar look easy. He's playing difficult material, and it shows. It's an intense and intelligent approach to guitar.
• I never would have thought about how closely related John Fahey and Chet Atkins are until last night. Frisell seems to draw on both as an influence, not least in the way he makes no distinctions among jazz, country, blues, and pop.
• This particular set-up--Frisell on electric guitar, Leisz on lap and pedal steel--does hedge Frisell's cerebral approach. Even when he plays songs that have some amount of sentimentality built in--like Hank Williams' "Lost Highway"--his clean, precise picking sometimes feels like an exercise. Leisz' swooning lap on those pieces adds a mournful, emotive quality.
• Frisell, who lives in Seattle, told a story about the last time he was in Knoxville, with a combo led by Jack DeJohnette a coupl of years ago. He was walking down Gay Street and saw a bar--presumable either the Downtown Grill & Brewery or Bistro--where a bluegrass band was playing. He got excited, figuring he was near the cradle of bluegrass and had stumbled across a real local old-fashioned bluegrass group. Turns out they were from Seattle.
