From Amazon.com
Charming and Disarming
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Guitarist Bill Frisell has played on many excellent recordings ended over the past several years, and those who are familiar with his playing probably associate his name with a rather unique style of guitar playing that tends toward somewhat angular melodies--not with the kind of picking one associates with Nashville. But here he is, playing along with the likes of Jerry Douglass on dobro, and it sounds just fine, thank you. This is not quite bluegrass, not quite country, not quite jazz--but whatever it is, it is engaging and entertaining, and yes, it does sound like music from Nashville. Of the 14 cuts on the CD, 11 are Frisell originals, all instrumental. The other three cuts feature vocals by Robin Holcomb, and if you look beyond her slightly annoying vibrato, these cuts are fun, too. All in all, this is a really enjoyable recording, charming and disarming, unusual but not strange.
Gone, just like a country pie
Album Rating: (3 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I like this album a lot more than I did Frissell's Gone Just Like a Train. If your idea of country music is Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Dylan's Nashville Skyline and Van Morrison's Pay the Devil, you will like this album. I do not disagree with the reviewer who said that this was a record for the easy-listening country-jazz audience. This music fits in very well in my collection of Dylan, Van Morrison, Grateful Dead and Tom Waits. I listen to these kinds of artists, but when I want more of an instrumental country flavor this disc slides into the mix quite nicely.
Country Feng Shui
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: The essential elements that are needed to blend an amalgam rarely understood as eclectic music, are only available to gifted alchemist that have mastered and gone beyond that, which is commonly coined popular. Bill Frisell is such an alchemist, turning lead into gold with an intuitive knowledge and mastery of what is ear glitter.
If you are in need of a much deserved break from your quest from the labors of connoisseurship, placed this CD first in the 300 multi disc player, so that you don't forget it's geography when you press the decompress switch.
More Fretboard Magic as the Master Conquers the Unknown
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: In fact, I'm sure Frisell knew *exactly* what he was doing with this Who's Who of ace Nashvilleines, even if it was a totally new one on me. Heck, I thought I'd discovered a new 'secret' maestro to worship outside the roar of the crowd.
Apart from Frisell's album with Ginger Baker, this is the one I play to my fellow gigsters just to smirk when they go "Who IS that guy?"
A great sound, enhanced by non-pareil musicians: the incomparable Jerry Douglas whose dobro playing sets the standard for others to be judged by; the siren-voiced Robin Holcomb with an impeccable handling of Neil Young's 'One of These Days'; bassist Viktor Krauss and Adam Steffey in surprisingly muscular mandolin form.
I would not have placed this as Frisell's field of forte, but that wiley genius just keeps surprising and pleasing me with effortless and genial ownership of anything he works his fretboard magic on.
A brilliant piece of work!
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: I read the negative reviews of this record from the "Berklee jazz defenders of the faith" and it makes me sad. How can you not appreciate this collection of work? First, he's got the cream of the bluegrass crop on this record and every one of them delivers. Secondly, he doesn't make the mistake of trying to outplay them. In fact my only problem with this record is that he lays back a little too much. Bill Frisell is a musical alchemist worthy of high praise and we can only hope that he continues to redefine musical categories right in the face of the elitests who deride him.
Purchases
1 Gimme a Holler
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