Bill Frisell: S/D, comment upon brilliantly

Here's a good live video. I saw this same trio in Somerville, MA around this time. Absolutely mindblowing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJrSJB3dVW4

For such an awesome guitar dude he played the oddest, ugliest guitars for a while.

Yeah, those Kleins were odd. He seems to have an endless supply of beautiful guitars these days.

Didn't he (or doesn't he) play an SG, too? Basically the total/tonal opposite of a Tele.

I think that was mostly back in the 80s before he switched to the Klein.

This old interview:

Another way that you’ve carved your own path is with your equipment. While the hollowbody is still the de facto jazz guitar, you’ve used an SG and even headless guitars at one point. Speaking of which, are you still using the Klein guitar?

No, I haven’t used that for a long time. I sent it back to get repaired years ago and it went away from me for quite a long time, so during that time I started getting back to mostly Fender stuff. I’ve been playing Telecasters a lot—different versions of it—and most recently I’ve also been playing Stratocasters.

Mexican- or American-made Fenders?

A bunch of them. I had a Mexican-made Thinline Tele. I changed all the parts on it and everything.

What swaps did you make?

Oh man, I’ve definitely gone off the deep end. Getting into Telecasters you start thinking, “What does this pickup sound like and what does that pickup sound like?” I have Lollar, Don Mare, Lindy Fralin, and Seymour Duncan pickups—the Antiquity model. I also use a Tom (TV) Jones Filter’Tron pickup in the neck position of a Nash Tele-style guitar. What’s kind of seductive is that it’s all still this basic Telecaster and I can get comfortable with the scale, size, and shape of the guitar to where it feels at home, but from one to another—putting certain pickups in certain guitars—there are amazing differences.

Any other guitars?

I also have a few Tele-style guitars that are put together or modified by J.W. Black. He also recently made me a Strat-style guitar that is very similar to my original ’63 Strat, which I played a lot, along with a Yanuziello guitar, on All We Are Saying. I also have a Rick Kelly Tele-style made out of pine from a piece of wood taken from Jim Jarmusch’s old loft on the Bowery. It’s got Lollar Charlie Christian pickups, and I used that one on a lot of things—Sign of Life, The Windmills of Your Mind. I Just got a Collings I35-LC, which is an incredible guitar.

A Halvorson/Frisell collab coming up on Tzadik:

Mary Halvorson: The Maid With The Flaxen Hair—A Tribute To Johnny Smith [#4024]
Mary Halvorson is one of the most acclaimed guitarists of her generation—a virtuoso improviser, distinctive composer, arranger and a deep student of the jazz guitar. Here she joins forces with living legend Bill Frisell to pay tribute to Johnny Smith, a guitarist who has been a huge influence on them both. Performing nine ballads associated with Smith and his classic composition Walk Don’t Run, this is an essential CD of soulful guitar duets by two of the most beloved and original guitarists in modern jazz. A beautiful CD of ballads like you have never heard them before!

count me in

Living legend Bill Frisell! I mean, he's 67.

thx for the recommendation on the documentary. enjoyed it immensely.

I might be missing something here, but Johnny Smith? if someone could disabuse my feeling he is a complete mediocrity - I'll check something out.

He wrote "Walk, Don't Run"!

just listened to some, i was being harsh!

but still he's no Kenny Burrell or Wes Montgomery, but few people are.

I'm enjoying his recent live album Epistrophy with Thomas Morgan on bass. Just very chill jazz workouts 9f various standards and covers. Frisell is at his best when he's free to explore.

love the new one HARMONY on blue note

ANOTHER new one?

man musicians sure release like crazy these days

Music IS holding up extremely well. I think it could be as good as anything else he's done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrjkSBdRNQI so pretty. someone upthread mentioned Pajo solo – this is right up in this alley

lovely

Currently obsessed with the Dave Holland and Elvin Jones trio record, after listening to this podcast: https://player.fm/series/tape-op-podcast/discussion-episode-34-rafiq-bhatia

The texture, the feel, everything. I don't mind the overdubs, along with the loop pedal stuff that was presumably done on the main takes (?) it's all very subtle and cool.

It looks like this didn't get very well-reviewed at the time, like this dumb AMG line: "Jones sounds at times utterly bored with his rhythm duties, desperate for a chance to stretch out." No way, he sounds totally tuned in. I find it constantly fascinating to hear him in this mode & dynamic.And don't forget about Elvin's Guitar Blues!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auXbk34S5Hc

Cool record, unspeakably bad album cover

The Frisell/Holland/Jones record I mean, not "Heavy Sounds", that's a great cover

Haha, very true, I didn't even notice the cover (thanks Spotify)

Watched this Paul Motian docu last week, which has some nice behind-the-scenes footage of his trio with Frisell in the Vanguard. Manfred Eicher is in there too. The Motian trio with Frisell and Lovano recorded quite a lot of records over the years. Frisell's playing is quite free compared to his own work, playing without a bassist, only the asynchronous drumming of Motian. I think the tribute albums to Monk and Bill Evans are some of the highlights.