Bill Frisell on genre

 In an interview posted at Grammy.com centered around his new album and other topics of the day, Bill Frisell touches on one of my recurring topics, and unsurprisingly, we are in total agreement.

 

On Harmony, you interpreted songs ranging from Pete Seeger to Lerner and Loewe. On Valentine, you draw from a similar well — there's a Hal David and Burt Bacharach song sharing space with a traditional hymn. To you, how does American folk music connect to the Great American Songbook?

I've always had a problem with how we put [them in separate categories]. I know we need words to describe things and we have to talk about the music, but when we put these labels and names on it it always has the effect of making it smaller than what it really is. To me, they're all part of one thing, whether it’s Beethoven or Monk or Robert Johnson or Jimi Hendrix or Morton Feldman. It's all music and it all fits together in my imagination.

Number 1 for February 26, 2020 - Bill Frisell's Harmony at the Regattabar

Bill Frisell was in quiet, beautiful mode which is always a good thing. But the key functions of this group were turned over to the vocalizing of Petra Haden, Hank Roberts (also on cello) and Luke Bergman (also playing guitar.) Soloing was at a minimum. Roberts took one or two, I don't believe Frisell took one at all, mostly laying down lush accompaniment via his Telecaster and his array of magic boxes, leaning towards his country and folk influences, along with his taste or 60's pop songs.

Not to discount her own considerable talents, but in this context, Haden is not only channeling the legacy of her jazz legend father, but also that of her grandparents who led a popular family singing group (including young Charlie) in the early days of radio with songs like Red River Valley, done here a cappella.

This was applied to a first rate selection of songs – among them Stephen Foster's Hard Times, Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn, the Skeeter Davis hit The End of the World, On the Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady, David Bowie's Space Oddity (you know that any show that segues from Red River Valley into Space Oddity is right on in my book,) and the encore of Shenandoah, not only a folk standard, but a favorite of Frisell's idol and teacher Johnny Smith.

And despite living in and around Cambridge, Massachusetts for more than thirty years now, I believe this is the first time I've been led in a sing-along of We Shall Overcome.