Just in case his quiet demeanor and general "nice guy-ness"
don't get the message across about guitarist Bill Frisell,
how about this: On his contribution to ECM's new :rarum
series, where artists were asked to compile their favorite
tracks from the label's vaults, Frisell chose to close with
a song on which he doesn't play. How's that for unassuming?
Granted, the track is a tribute to Frisell by the Gavin
Bryars Ensemble, a recasting of Frisell's song
"Throughout." But compare Frisell to Chick Corea, who liked
the idea of sharing his own performances so much that he'll
spread his out over two :rarum collections.
Frisell recorded only three albums for ECM before moving to
Elektra and then Nonesuch Records in the late 1980s, but
there is a wealth of material to choose from for his
collection thanks to his frequent appearances on discs by
Paul Motian, Paul Bley, Jan Garbarek and others. That
ubiquity gave Frisell 17 albums from which to select the 14
tracks on the disc. He chose equally from his own discs and
those of others. The one constant, of course, is his
guitar, an easily identified instrument that Frisell plays
with the expressiveness of a horn or a pedal steel guitar.
It is a tightly controlled yet nuanced sound, clean tones
that sustain in small pulses of echo and reverb. Frisell is
a jazz guitarist kind of like ECM is a jazz label. You can
start there to describe either, but both transcend such
parochial description.
The opening three tracks come from Frisell's work as part
of drummer Paul Motian's band and trio. On the opening
"Mandeville," Frisell joins saxophonist Joe Lovano in
dropping Motian's jaunty melody. Though it was recorded 20
years ago, Frisell's tone already sounds fully formed. He
slides a finger across the volume knob, phasing his notes
into and out of the song at the right moment.
"Introduction" and "India" from the Paul Motian Trio album
It should've happened a long time ago follow.
On the first track, Frisell goes it alone, setting the
scene for the tune to follow. There, he and Lovano play
another gorgeous Motian melody. "Paul writes some of the
most beautiful, simple, perfect melodies I've ever heard,"
Frisell writes in the liner notes. "'Introduction' is one
of them."
The fourth track introduces dissonance to the proceedings.
Frisell joins saxophonist Jan Garbarek's group for
"Singsong." Frisell's playing offers a smooth counterpoint
to the leader's angular lines on this 1983 track. Frisell
writes that while the group had played together extensively
on a tour before this date, Garbarek didn't allow the
playing of any new music until time to record. "He wanted
the music to take shape for the first time as we were
recording it," he writes. "I was really impressed by that
kind of courage."
From there Frisell dips into his own trio of discs for ECM.
He pulls one track from his first ECM disc, In
Line, and three each from Rambler and
Lookout For Hope. The title track from
In Line is a solo number that finds Frisell
accompanying himself. The album was intended as a solo
venture, but Frisell wasn't comfortable with the concept
and recorded some duets with bassist Arild Andersen. It's a
concept Frisell wouldn't revisit for 18 years, with his
first solo disc, Ghost Town.
The three tracks from Rambler are the first of
Frisell's own recorded with a band. They are somewhat
tentative and exploratory, Frisell mixing his signature
tone with something close to shredding on "Resistor."
Motian makes what was a rare support appearance at the time
behind the drums, while trumpeter Kenny Wheeler rivaled
Frisell as the center of these tunes. By the time of
Lookout for Hope, Frisell seems to have
settled into the sound and song structure templates that he
would explore for the next several years. Much has been
made of late about the influence of Americana music on
Frisell's playing, particularly on the pointed discs
Nashville and Gone, Just Like a
Train. But tracks like the haunting "Lonesome" from
his disc Lookout For Hope, which predate those
later collections by a decade, clearly show the guitarist
toying with folk and country textures. "People say this has
come into my playing in recent years. I think it's been
there all along,'' he writes in the liner notes.
The disc closes with two more tracks featuring Frisell as
sideman, and that tribute from Bryars. Frisell participates
in an all-star session including saxophonist Lee Konitz
and bassist Dave Holland for "Kind of Gentle" from Kenny
Wheeler's Angel Song disc. With Paul Bley,
Motian and saxophonist John Surman he plays on "Closer,"
from Bley's Fragments disc. On the former,
Frisell and Holland play off each other well, their
stringed excursions meshing well behind the lines from
Konitz and Wheeler. The latter Frisell says he chose not
because of his own playing so much as for the interaction
of the group. "As a guitar player, I find the piano
probably the most difficult instrument to play with," he
writes. "With Paul Bley you don't have to consider any of
this. Everything seems to work."
That last track, from Bryars, seems out of place only
because it doesn't include Frisell's guitar, what has
become by disc's end the thread that holds everything
together. Yet it makes perfect sense. Frisell's playing is
nothing if not complementary, and what better way to
complement his own work than with a tribute? Bryars molds
and shapes Frisell's original tune, maintaining the feel of
the original while taking it in new and interesting
directions. As Frisell writes, "I sometimes have dreams of
music like this. It was so inspiring to hear what could be
done with one of my simple tunes and showed me some
possibilities for what I might strive for in my own
writing."
It's clear he took that message to heart, taking his music
far and wide in the 18 years since he left ECM. Yet his
work now contains nearly all of the elements first aired on
these songs. As such, fans wanting to hear more of
Frisell's early work but who don't know where to start
would do well to seek this out. So, too, would those
looking for a primer from this prolific artist.
— 8 August 2002
