Customer Reviews

Have a Little Faith

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

People like to make lists and talk about the 10 best of this or the essential list of that, but in my work I travel to, and live in, places that are the cultural, if not geographic, desert islands. No, I'm not talking about Nebraska. I'm talking places where they don't have compact disks. Which means that you have to bring your own (or at least you used to -- technology may obviate that need now). Anyway, many times I have been forced to pack a limited number of CDs which I knew that I would end up listening to multiple times. This disk has always made the cut.

It is a startling collection in many ways. The range of covers from John Philip Sousa to Ives to Muddy Waters to Dylan and Madonna is eclectic to say the least. This is real Americana. The instrumentation -- drums bass guitar accordion clarinet -- is similarly unique, and allows for some really unusual voicings. The ensemble playing in consistently intelligent and it up to the material. Just a really wonderful disk.

Bill Frisell is a traditionalist in the very best sense. This collection of songs by a diverse collection of American composers and songwriters transcends trendy eclecticism and restates what we often fail to remember: that America is still an extremely large and varied place. Blues, country, Tin Pan Alley and pop all come from the same well of American composing.

Wise enough to realize the past is not merely a thing to be obliterated in the search for "innovation" or "something entirely new" or worse, "alternative", Frisell builds upon that which has preceded us. Connections which are not at all obvious are highlighted on this disc. There is in fact a progression from Stephen Foster to Charles Ives to Muddy Waters to Sonny Rollins to John Hiatt and yes, to Madonna. Frisell understands that and illuminates and refreshes these examples of a particularly American esthetic.

In fact, this disc powerfully makes the statement that traditional forms are by no means exhausted and that fresh sensibilities can make valuable use of the past. Anyone interested in just how rich contemporary improvisational music can be needs to devote time to Bill Frisell and his entire body of work.

Even after listening to this album countless times over the last 7 years, I still am nowhere near sick of it. The title track (an instrumental cover (as all the songs on this album are) of a John Hiatt song) is possibly my favorite song ever recorded. It is so tranquil and emotional, as is all his playing. Take any opportunity you get to see this man in concert; he is a national treasure. If anyone is making "American" music now, it is Frisell. This is my favorite album of his, just above Nashville and Good Dog Happy Man.

Bill Frisell is so good at what i think jazz should be - creative, partially improvised reinterpretations of popular music. I love playing his version of Madonna's "Live to Tell" for people who don't listen to jazz, just to see them move from curiosity to recognition to delight to awe. And on this album, his reworkings of Copelands's Billy the Kid suite and the music of Charles Ives shows that a jazz sensibility can also be applied to classical music (in this case, uniquely American classical). This ain't the disco version of Beethoven!

Bill Frisell is one of the best musicians around these days, and this is one of his best works.

We come to CDs in various ways - friends, favorite artist's latest, reviews, radio/TV, store displays, et al. I came to this because of the title. Being a big John Hiatt fan, the title grabbed me (and the cover photo sucked me in next).
But was I in for a ride....guitar artistry meets almost every form of music and succeeds!! From Copeland to Muddy to Dylan (I must admit that only after reading the other reviews did I realize that there was a Madonna song - more power to Mr. Frisell!) And the title tune is done masterfully!
This was my introduction to Bill Frisell...and I have been a huge fan every since...and he continues to amaze me with his diversity, courage and style! Thank you!

For those who aren't familiar with Bill Frisell, he is an amazingly talented guitarist and composer. He is labeled as "jazz," but he does more than play "jazz." He plays music that trenscends genres. I own all of Bill's albums and all are VERY different and this album is most definitely different.

"Have A Little Faith" is Bill's cover album for lack of a better term. He performs songs by composer Aaron Copeland, Madonna, and Bob Dylan to name a few. The way he arranged the music is incredible and the musicians he chose for this outing was perfect. The music on this album is so vast it's hard to some in paragraph, but I'll try. He does the entire "Billy the Kid" suite on this album and I was just floored by his interpretation of this classical piece. I'm not going to go through all the songs, but I will say that with repeated listenings (of course because it's Bill Frisell) that this album is one of his best albums to date.

As far as guitar players are concerned, he's probably one of the best I have heard. His playing is characterized by volume swells, dissonance, harp-like harmonics, beautifully constructed lead melodies, and odd chordal voicings. I rank Frisell right up there with Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, and John Scofield. He is definitely in the same ranks as those guys, but for some reason his playing has a certain haunting or dark quality that makes me always want to investigate further.

Without a doubt in my mind, this album is brilliantly done. My hats are off to Mr. Frisell!

Bill Frisell is a musician's musician. His playing has emotional depth and technical brilliance in equal measure. Ferocious, serene, melancholic, playful... Bill travels through diverse musical territories unexplored by most of his contemporaries. A true original. His skills as a composer and arranger are equally stunning. This is one of his finest recordings. A gem.

If you want to know who this guy Bill Frisell is, why his guitar sound is utterly unique, this is the album you start with. No. I'll go further. You start with one track, the centerpiece of the album, 10 amazing minutes of Madonna's "Live to Tell." Beauty, dissonance, power, passion, kick-ass. THIS is Bill Frisell. The common thread of these selections is American Music, from Ives to Dylan, from John Hiatt to Charlie Parker, from "Billy Boy" to "Billy the Kid." PLUS a version of John Phillip Sousa's "Washington Post March" that is so rousing and enthusiastic I wished there was a whole album of this band covering Sousa marches. This is one of my rescue-from-a-fire discs, and for Frisell neophytes, you cannot do better than this one.

Cool not as in 'genre', but cool as in 'the deployment of large amounts of intelligence and skill in order to give the impression you are not trying very hard'.

I was lucky not to hear this earlier in life, because otherwise I might very well have taken a hammer to my left hand in frustration.

Baldassar Castiglione would approve.

Why do reviews of jazz albums so infrequently mention the sense of humor that often is reflected in the music, even with, say, Sonny Rollins or Sun Ra. Notwithstanding the truth of so much that is said in these comments on the music itself (and this is a fine CD), why so little mention of the sheer exuberant and hysterical joy of, especially, Don Byron (whose sense of humor as well as musicianship is illustrated in so many of his CD's),Guy Klusevsek, and Joey Baron. The accordion and clarinet harmonies and the modernized march drumbeat on Sousa's Washington Post March is truly laugh-out-loud funny. It's a gas!