He graces the covers of the jazz magazines, wins best jazz guitarist in polls, and is one of the most in demand sidemen in the jazz world, yet he rarely plays a jazz cliche, a 16th note, or a jazz standard.
He is Bill Frisell and he doesn’t sound like any other guitarist.
His music is deep, simple, familiar, sophisticated, surprising, whole, inevitable, colorful, sometimes melancholy, always heartfelt.
Frisell seems to conjure music. I’ve seen this before. Jimi Hendrix, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny. He gets it. I don’t know if what he has can be taught or learned, but he can be studied and relished for his sheer musicality.
You want to listen to Frisell with open ears (always good actually), let yourself enter his world and be transported.
This sublime version of a song that most jazz players would never think to play, is a great example of being musical.
