Renowned jazz guitarist Bill Frisell plays residency at Freight & Salvage
Renowned guitarist Bill Frisell comes to the Bay Area this week for a special residency, playing four shows with different ensembles at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage starting Thursday.
One of the most eclectic and creative guitarists to emerge in jazz since the '80s, Bill Frisell has traversed a vast terrain of music during his remarkable career. From his early days as go-to session recruit for atmospheric jazz label ECM, through his time as an important avant-garde player among New York's downtown deconstructionists, to his later wide-ranging exploration of pastoral Americana, Frisell's unmistakable tone, ear for melody, and prodigious gifts as an improviser have cemented his reputation as a modern guitar giant.
Frisell rose to prominence in the early '80s when fellow guitar great Pat Metheny was unable to make a recording session for famed drummer Paul Motian and recommended Frisell as a replacement. His inventive work on that 1982 album Psalms led to a long relationship with Motian (he and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano would play with the drummer regularly for the next three decades) and a position as the label's principle in-house guitarist. He would also release his earliest albums as a leader for ECM, recordings that ranged from spare solo and duet songs to full-band efforts. The guitarist also became an active member of the experimental downtown scene in Manhattan, establishing a connection with avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn that led to Frisell becoming a member of Zorn's explosive ADD punk-jazz ensemble Naked City.
Though Frisell would continue to work with the band into the '90s, he relocated to Seattle and began to pursue a delicate, country-tinged sound that found him light-years away from his acidic six-string freakouts with Naked City. The guitarist's explorations of Americana would dominate much of his output in the decades that followed starting with his acclaimed efforts Have a Little Faith and This Land. Frisell would also delve into soundtracks, providing the music for a surreal animated special based on the bizarre comics of "The Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson and recording songs to accompany the silent films of Buster Keaton that he performed live locally in conjunction with SFJAZZ.
Frisell has collaborated with such notable rock musicians and songwriters as drummer Ginger Baker, British vocal legend Marianne Faithful and celebrated tunesmith Elvis Costello over the years -- he even played on a 2008 album by fellow Seattle residents and pioneering drone-metal merchants Earth -- but mostly the guitarist has focused his creative partnerships with fellow jazz players including such luminaries as bassists Dave Holland, Greg Cohen and Ron Carter, the late drumming legend Elvin Jones, Bay Area violin virtuoso Jenny Scheinman, Brazilian guitarist/vocalist Vinicius Cantuária and saxophonist Charles Lloyd.
Almost a year after an acclaimed residency at the Great American Music Hall, Frisell returns to the Bay Area for this four-night stand at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley appearing with several of his current projects. On Thursday, he takes the stage for a solo performance, while Friday features him sharing the stage with regular collaborator violinist/vocalist Petra Haden for a series of duets. Saturday will spotlight one of Frisell's current trios with the guitar player supported by bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston. On Sunday, Frisell closes out the residency with a world premiere of new music for violin, viola, cello, guitar, bass and drums featuring that trio in combination with his 858 Quartet featuring violinist Scheinman, viola player Eyvind Kang and cellist and frequent collaborator Hank Roberts.
Bill Frisell Residency
Thursday-Sunday, April 18-21, 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Sunday) $22.50-$65; 4-day pass $171
Freight & Salvage
