Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones

Nonesuch Records

Chris Dahlen

Bill Frisell is a leading guitarist in any genre, and one of the very few bright stars in jazz guitar: someone whose playing is rich in personality, gifted with talent, and absolutely unique in tone. His pedigree is far too long to go into here, but suffice it to say that he's stolen the show in dozens of sideman gigs and made an almost-spotless set of records under his own name, covering ambient, thrash jazz, standards, and lately, folk and country. Frisell is an innovator and a maverick, and at his best, almost unmatched in today's players.

You can always count on something new from Frisell's records. However, although his last few dates for Nonesuch have had interesting ideas and compositions, something has been lacking. The spontaneity of his earlier playing is deemphasized: his recent folk and country records have given him a reason to play more relaxed music, and he takes fewer solos. He knows when he's playing something pretty, and when a melody can carry itself without much molestation - and sometimes that's enough. On Blues Dream, he assembled a terrific band but gave them few chances to improvise; Good Man Happy Dog was gorgeous, but every song sounded a little too orderly. It's still good music. But it's not as challenging.

Drummer Michael Shrieve, who recorded with Frisell in the early '90s, made the suggestion for Frisell to record with Elvin Jones. Dave Holland, who has played with both men, was brought in to pull the trio together. I was a little anxious to hear what would happen. Frisell is obviously no slouch as an improviser and has already worked with many of jazz's legends - Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Julius Hemphill, Paul Bley - and yet. It's not the talent that I expected to be mismatched, but the approach. Jones made his name in the John Coltrane Quartet, playing some of the most beautiful and passionate improvisations of our time; he is one of the few living players who has made the earth move. After his work with Coltrane, he recorded comparatively inside hard bop dates for Blue Note that proved him to be a heavy drummer in any context. So when Frisell flew out to this session from his country home near Seattle, what would happen?

Shrieve had the right idea: the trio works. Holland and Jones can play quietly but they are never laid-back, and they push Frisell to his best. Their masterful in-the-pocket playing reminds us how great a straight line can sound, while laying the groundwork for Frisell's guitar antics. And sure enough, we get antics. Frisell plays texturally, but here, the textures are spontaneous. The acoustic guitar meshes with the rhythm section instead of leading it on "Convict 13" – the three men lope through the tune side-by-side. They play a straight blues on the opening track, "Outlaws," but stretch out on "Again," where Frisell's delay pedal - a gadget that allows him to sample himself live and play loops over his solos - lets him build his solo into blocks of sound. "Twenty Years," which has no improvisation, has never sounded prettier than with Holland and Jones playing behind the melody, and the set closer, "Smilin' Jones," is escatic, with Frisell's loops pushing the piece until it explodes.

For someone who made his name, not by respecting a melody or a tune but by ripping it up and slopping around the insides, it's disappointing when Frisell is careful. This record - no concept, no new compositions, just a session with two great musicians - proves that sometimes he just needs to dust off some songs and play.

Related resources

Bill Frisell's official site includes a biography, tour schedule, and news, as well as a discography with sound clips.

There are four complete songs from this album available in Real Audio format.

Everyone raves about Elvin Jones' work with John Coltrane, but his hard bop sessions with Blue Note are regrettably less well-known. You can hear three entire tracks from an Elvin Jones box set on the Mosaic Records site.