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[WTD] Bill Frisell roadmap

Marchbanks said:
Angel Song - I liked very much

East West - my favourite so far, wonderful. Any other recommendations of Bill rocking out a bit with FX and a little distortion?
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Good Dog, Happy Man is a more varied record but tracks like Cold Cold Ground or Cadillac 1959 might ring your bell. He lets rip a bit on some tracks of Unspeakable as well. He almost sounds like John Scofield on White Fang and gets almost funky on Del Close.

I love Frisell when he plugs in the Line 6 looper.
 
kjb said:
He lets rip a bit on some tracks of Unspeakable as well. He almost sounds like John Scofield on White Fang and gets almost funky on Del Close.
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Yes, I liked those bits of cutting loose a lot. And a few seconds at the end of Stringbean that sound weirdly like Sonny Sharrock on the Jack Johnson Sessions. So that’s what John Scofield sounds like? Might need a Scofest next.
 
Marchbanks said:
Yes, I liked those bits of cutting loose a lot. And a few seconds at the end of Stringbean that sound weirdly like Sonny Sharrock on the Jack Johnson Sessions. So that’s what John Scofield sounds like? Might need a Scofest next.
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You could check out Grace Under Pressure - a Scofield record with Bill Frisell - as a start. It’s far from a favourite record but might let you know if Scofield is for you.

His range is nearly as broad as Frisell but tends more to a Gritty soul fusion as opposed to Frisell’s quute introverted pastoralism. I quite like his live trio record En Route and there are some good records with Joe Lovano and/ or Charlie Haden but I struggle with some of his more funky jam band sounding stuff.
 
Marchbanks said:
Er... so I should hope! Thanks for the list, I’ll certainly take a look a those.

I’m holding back from tackling Naked City for a while... I’m going to take it by surprise by coming from the Frith and Frisell directions simultaneously.

Thanks to gavreid and monkfish too, but the idea of working out how to play stuff from YouTube on my hifi fills me with ennui. I’ve had the theory explained by many well-meaning folk but it seems like too much faff to me, so that’s where I kiss the 21st century goodbye. I’ll stick to CDs and streaming. Those live downloads sound interesting as well.
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Just play the you tube videos on your smart phone, if you have one
 
I’m really enjoying the Buster Keaton ‘soundtrack’ albums, Go West and High Sign/One Week. Country Bill, rocky Bill and freaky Bill. I might even open a Discogs account so I can buy these.

BTW, if you have never seen Buster’s short film ‘The Railrodder’, made when he was nearly 70, it’s great. Downloadable from the Canadian Film Board site as well as watchable at the usual places. Or you could buy the DVD, like I did.
 
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Marchbanks said:
I’m really enjoying the Buster Keaton ‘soundtrack’ albums, Go West and High Sign/One Week. Country Bill, rocky Bill and freaky Bill. I might even open a Discogs account so I can buy these.

BTW, if you have never seen Buster’s short film ‘The Railrodder’, made when he was nearly 70, it’s great. Downloadable from the Canadian Film Board site as well as watchable at the usual places. Or you could buy the DVD, like I did.
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I saw him playing a live accompaniment to High Sign and One Week and a few other films at the Barbican quite a few years back. I remember it being excellent. A couple of the pieces on the Quartet record are soundtracks to a Keaton film - Convict13. I never got round to getting the CDs - I might follow you to discogs.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ve finally got round to buying five second-hand Bill CDs...

Go West
High Sign/One Week
Music IS
East/West
Where In the World

…which cost me £55 and should keep me going for a bit. I might pick up Lebroba too, though.
 
My favorite Frisell albums are The Intercontinentals and Unspeakable. Big Sur is pretty good too.

Also like the work he did on the recent Charles Lloyd albums.
 
I’m sitting outside in northern France with a glass of wine listening to Guitar In The Space Age. I kid you not, while Telstar was playing the ISS made a beautiful pass right over my head.

Bill is one powerful guy.
 
Marc Johnson - Bass Desires on ECM vinyl.
Outstanding guitar work by Bill and John Scofield, fantastic drums from Peter Erskine and Johnson’s bass will shake yer windows….
 
foxwelljsly said:
Have you heard Unspeakable yet? Listening now and thought this would be right up @Marchbanks street. Fabulous record.
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Yes, I’ve Billed up a fair bit since I started this thread… I listened to Unspeakable on Spotify a couple of months ago and thought that I really should get round to buying it. Fortunately, before I did I looked on my shelves and saw it already sitting there. It’s a different story with Small Town, I’m sure I’ve got the CD but can’t find it anywhere. All part of the fun of being an Old Person.
 
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