As undeniably good as that album is, it can't possibly convey the beauty of Frisell's solo shows where, alone onstagein real time, and with nothing but a guitar, two amps, and a mixed bag of effectshe builds sound worlds as distinctive as his idiosyncratic approach to harmony and melody, and his skewed but somehow reverent interpretation of own compositions, and everything from jazz standard to roots Americana music.Ĭulled, as they are, from soundboard recordings, Frisell's Live Download Series also transcends the quality of the majority of bootlegs out there. But as thrilling as it is to hear a 1989 performance by Frisell and his quartet, performing music from Rambler (ECM, 1984), Lookout for Hope (ECM, 1988) and Before We Were Born (Elektra/Nonesuch, 1989), it's even more exciting to find the hidden gemspreviously unrecorded groups like Frisell's trio with organist Sam Yahel and drummer Brian Blade or very limited-run tours like a 2005 performance from London, England's The Barbican, where Frisell, violinist Jenny Scheinman and guitarist Greg Liesz delivered a stunning tribute to The Beatles' John Lennon.įrisell's sole solo album to date, Ghost Town (Nonesuch, 2000), was a studio concoction that relied on the guitarist's ability to overdub layers of instruments.
If only there was a way the pathological fan could hear all of it.įans of sonic guitar sculptor Bill Frisell can rejoice, as the Live Download Series is making available a growing catalog of high quality soundboard recordings of performances by groups that have been documented on commercial albums, like the guitarist's first quartet, with cellist Hank Roberts, bassist Kermit Driscoll and drummer Joey Baron the sextet responsible for one of Frisell's compositional high water marks, This Land (Elektra/Nonesuch, 1994) and his early 21st century trio, with bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Of course, it's not necessarily a problem, because regardless of the reason, it means that today's leader ends up touring in more combinations than could ever be documented through normal channelsand some of these special, one-time/one-tour projects yield tremendous goldeven leading to further collaboration. Special projects abound, or personnel changes for a tour are forced when members of a regular group are unavailable, the plight of the 21st century working musician being how to remain viable and available.
One of the biggest problems facing contemporary jazz musicians is that they often have far more projects on the go than could ever be recorded and released commercially by conventional record labelseven small and relatively responsive indie labels.
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