Customer Reviews

Good Dog Happy Man

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I had to post this in response to the knucklehead that posted the "this guy's is a charlatan" review below. I am not a huge Frisell fan by any means, but the guy definitely has his own style, which is a lot more than I can say for most 'jazz' guitarists, who all play the same cliched licks they learned from their teachers at Berklee, GIT, or wherever they went to 'jazz school', with the same old cliched 'jazz guitar' tone that they all use. I am a guitarist myself (20 years+). I love all kinds of guitar playing, including jazz guitar, but I HATE snobby jazz guitarists that think if it aint blowing lightning quick bop runs over complicated chord changes, then it aint jazz and it sucks. I think Miles disproved that years ago, thank God. It's not all about how many notes you can play, despite what some swell headed jazz guy may think.


Anyway, this is a nice atmospheric and laid back album. Delay, looping and subtle 'whammy bar' bends give Frisell's guitar an otherworldy sound, while acoustic instruments bring it back down to Earth. Is it jazz? No, so what???? It's heartfelt music, it's what comes out of Frisell's soul. He's not trying to make music to impress YOU, jazz guitar guy.

Sorry for the rant, but snobby musicians really tee me off...

Most folks who can swim stay on the surface. Those who have discovered the joy of escaping gravity, and the freedom of breathing to a different beat, find a blissful release in getting beneath it all. If there were speakers in Hanalei Bay, this is what I would play.

Every time I listen to one of Bill's albums I want to share it with a friend. I'm always tempted, but I avoid the thought, "this is my favorite." I'm not comfortable with the whole notion of 'favorite' because it implies I can't enjoy anything else quite as much. But, as I'm listening this evening, boy am I tempted to give in.

So, what's so special about this one? It's loaded with the accessible essence of his music...the ability to push simplicity beyond elegance, and to reach a musical sensibility that is majestic and moving. You get a hint of his ability to deconstruct a melody without having to resolve what was once familiar. You delight to his fleeting references to the familiar without loosing touch with the gentle tension of discovery. You are bouyed by his chameleon like ability to fuse with his ensemble of stellar session players, ever changing and ever excellent.

So friend, I want to share this album with you. And I trust you will want to share it with a friend, as well. Dive in, the water's fine. No suit required.

This is my first exposure to the world of Bill Frisell. From what I've read he's a musician of many hats: from jazz to rock to country. On this outing he very definitely mines a country groove.

Frisell is an accomplished guitarist, but there's nothing flashy about his playing. Rather than trying to dazzle the listener with lightning-fast fretwork, he invokes a style reminiscent of Ry Cooder on a 12-song set of mid-tempo songs. [In fact, Ry Cooder guests on the traditional "Shenandoah"--the only track on the album not a Frisell original.]

Throughout the album Frisell's guitar is augmented by session drummer extraordinaire Jim Keltner, bassist Viktor Krauss, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz and Greg Leisz on pedal steel, Dobro and mandolin.

This recording session has a laid-back, impromptu feel to it and the playing is impeccable. However, while this makes for enjoyable listening, it also makes you wish that maybe once or twice they'd kick things into high gear. As it is, it makes for pleasant enough background music, but doesn't necessarily encourage repeated listenings.

I'm fairly new to Frisell World, but I know what I like, and I've been carting this CD around with me wherever I go because I've not yet grown tired of hearing it. It's rootsy, yet unique. It's emotional, yet unsentimental. It's accessible, yet mysterious. It's familiar, yet unpretentious.

This is strictly instrumental music but Frisell is otherwise difficult to classify. He combines elements from nearly every popular form but this particular set sounds more jazz-blues-country-rock than anything else. (Even that is really too restrictive and not necessarily accurate.) This is not fusion. It is laid-back music that is easy on the ears and has been described as just a cut above Muzak. I think that's somewhat harsh but I do find myself listening to this cd while writing or reading or driving or staring out the window at the rain. It has also been said that Frisell plays the guitar like Miles Davis plays the trumpet. That's reasonable but don't infer from it that he composes or innovates like Miles Davis. Frisell uses a tape loop technique developed by Robert Fripp (King Crimson's guitar player) and Brian Eno, who would likely describe Frisell's music as mildly ambient. Jim Keltner is, as he always has been, superbly supportive and Greg Leisz's contribution is nearly perfect.

I've been a fan of Frisell's music since the beginning with In Line. Almost all of it is worth exploring. For newcomers: maybe start with Gone like a train, then go through earlier period, maybe Lookout for hope up through This Land and Have a little faith, and then end up thru the Buster Keaton soundtracks to Nashville and here with the latest. You'll see an evolutionary process here, and all the truest artists (Miles, Jarrett, Metheny, Waits, etc.) go thru this. Not all listeners can keep up. Some are left asking "What happened to the ___ I once knew and loved?" But this latest outing is fairly smooth transition from Train. Just even more minimalistic in its focus on the song, the simple melody. It is decidedly less 'modern' than his earlier stuff. Almost hymnal at times; like traditional american music. Frisell is at the front of a new distinctively American music that is traditional at its core. The harsh criticisms purveyed by some writers in this forum are not from open minded music listeners but rather technicians. They don't "get" this. Maybe you will.

Bill Frisell has had prolific recording career both as a leader and as a sideman. He has done a lot of brilliant stuff, and certainly some that is more important that Good Dog/Happy Man in terms of pathbreaking originality.

However, I don't think he has made a more sublime album of music than this one. From the effusive opening chord of Rain, Rain to the fading notes of Poem for Eva, this is a understated work of beauty and genius. Every chord, every pause, every lick that Frisell plays seems carefully considered and placed at exactly the right moment. Yet this disc is far from "muzak," as one reviewer suggested. As often as not, Frisell's playing on this disc is subtly subversive, creating microcosms of dissonce that often lurk just beneath the surface vibe of warmth and consonance. The resulting understated, yet definitely perceivable, tension on many of the tracks adds immeasurably to the disc's depth and replayability.

As always on Frisell discs, the supporting musicians do a fine job as well, particularly the very talented Greg Leisz.

As for the reviewer that complained that Frisell does not have the jazz chops of some of the other jazz greats, I think he mistakes Frisell's musical choices for lack of skill on the insturment. Having seen Frisell live both as a solo artist and with the Paul Motian trio, I can attest to the fact that Frisell can, in fact, play "straight jazz" with intelligence, technique, and even swing. Check out his playing on "News for Lulu" with John Zorn if you want to hear that side of his musical persona. But if you want to hear the softer, more accessible side of this great player, you need look no further than Good Dog/Happy Man

This album saved my life. Literally. I was having an emotional breakdown when it was released. A terrible breakup and a 14-hour-a-day job were contributing factors. This album, a generous amount of malt whiskey, and a stay in a monastery helped steer me right. The ensemble playing is so sympathetic. Everyone plays brilliantly. The compositions have an almost Americana Sufi quality -- drones for days. Greg Leisz should share double billing with Frisell. It is as much his album as Frisell's. His lap steel and pedal steel work in "The Pioneers," and "Poem for Eva" will have you pounding the floor, confronting your demons and weeping for humanity. They are that beautiful. In spirit if not technique, this is the new Chet Atkins. I own over 20 Frisell albums and this remains the special one. Forget five stars. It deserves 10.

If you are a musician, like I am, or a fan of jazzinstrumentalism, also like I am, then often you listen for technicalprowess and ingenuity. Fireworks will always thrill. Dig back through Bill's discography and you will find plenty, however he has never been a Farlow, Martino or Montgomery. Frisell has evolved over the years, finding more and more lyrical strength in Americana, bluegrass, country and other roots music. But there is a distinction: though he has become more lyrical _through_ Americana, he has not become more lyrical by _being_ Americana. He exercises an enormous breadth of talent on his own, and more notably others' records. His work with Don Byron is fantastic and his duet with Fred Hersch is quite stunning--and much, much more modern jazz. I evolved with Bill, pretty much. I first found him through his work on Ginger Baker's albums. On those albums, he was fiery and dissonant and all blues-rock-free-jazz madness. But I kept going back to the one or two songs that were less so, and much more a precursor of what was to come. Frankly, I couldn't figure out why I liked these songs that were so, well, "cowboy." I bought several of Frisell's albums after this, one of which turned out to be Nashville, which on first listen was way too country for me. Never one to give up, I listened to it again. And again. And then I stopped forcing myself to listen and begin doing so by choice, and then by compulsion. I played my instrument along with it--and found the composition alternately campfire-three-chord simple or deftly sophisticated. My point is this: do not buy this album if you want some Fourth of July display of jazz acumen. It's not here. Rather, this is an album that lends itself equally to a concentrated listening--to hear the tragic subtlety of Frisell twisting a note slightly flat against a wash of delay or reverberation, his unique and solid use of open strings (not flashy, but foundation-building), a marvelous talent for seemingly simple, yet aching composition--or just putting it on while you have company over. If you cannot listen to this record repeatedly and not find wonder in each new listen, well, I'd hate to be discouraging to anyone, but you're not hearing the point of the album.

Bill Frisell continues to amaze me. I've been playing the guitar for 14 years, and it hasn't been until this last year that I've been getting into Bill's music. This isn't the first album I heard by Bill. The first album I heard by him was "Where In The World?" which was a little too weird for me, but I still enjoyed it. On this album he is totally the opposite. He plays with such melody and he's in such demand of his instrument that it makes you wonder "Why was Bill making music like that?" Although, his earlier albums from ECM are quite good (e.g. Rambler, Lookout for Hope), they don't really hold a candle to his later albums like this one and "The Intercontintenals." I think this is by far Bill's best album and I think anyone who likes the guitar should definitely check him out.

And for those jazz shredders out there who haven't heard him, don't expect to hear him play 20 notes at a time at light speed. That isn't what Bill Frisell does. His playing is more textural. He stays away from jazz cliches and what's happening now. I also think that he has the most unique guitar style I've ever heard.

Check out these albums along with "Good Dog, Happy Dog":

Rambler
Lookout for Hope
Where in the World?
Gone, Just Like A Train
The Intercontinentals