Valentine grows out of two years of performances by the Bill Frisell Trio, wrapping up with a two-week engagement at New York City’s Village Vanguard. Over this time, guitarist Frisell, bassist Thomas Morgan, and drummer Rudy Royston performed Frisell’s originals […]
In September 2017, deservedly celebrated jazz guitarist Bill Frisell brought his project titled “Harmony” to the ArtsCenter in Carrboro, North Carolina. It was a concert of staggering beauty, with Frisell and his collaborators melding divergent forms of American music. Rather […]
Before setting off for some festivals, workshops, a profile, and some work time on the farm, I want to share some new music coming your way in the next few weeks. I have been listening to these new releases a […]
Heading to last September’s three-day FreshGrass festival in North Adams, Massachusetts, I was most excited about getting a chance to see guitarist Bill Frisell perform his musical work titled Harmony. I had never seen Frisell live, and he was masterful, […]
In the midst of touring and playing reimagined folk songs at FreshGrass with Harmony, Bill Frisell released something in a different vein. On Sept. 15, Hurricane Harvey Relief dropped on the inventive jazz guitarist’s site. All proceeds, including the royalties […]
“Let Bill sing!” someone shouted from the audience, and Bill Frisell smiled. He, cellist Hank Roberts, baritone guitarist Luke Bergman, and vocalist Petra Haden had just reemerged on the Carrboro ArtsCenter stage for an encore. It’s true, Frisell had a […]
In 2016, innovative and adventurous guitarist Bill Frisell gave a world premiere performance at the Strand in San Francisco of new music written for the FreshGrass Commission, a composing gig given annually to an artist whose work reflects the FreshGrass mission […]
Five decades after “Angel of the Morning” became a Top 10 hit for Merrilee Rush, Chip Taylor gets “the same chill” when he sings it as he did when he wrote it in the 1960s. “I never wrote it as […]
If there was ever a time to present a collection of expanded, reworked and new American music, it was several days after the 58th United States presidential election. Premiering a program resulting from the inaugural FreshGrass Composition Commission he was awarded by […]
When I talked with Bill Frisell this summer, he was still piecing together the melodic ideas and snippets that he will cohere into a solid composition for a premiere this November 12 at the Strand Theater in San Francisco. The […]
