Blues Dream

Bill Frisell

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 30, 2001)
• Original Release Date: January 16, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000056K1Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,024 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
For those who have been wondering where Mr. Bill's musical wanderings would lead him in the wake of his first solo CD, Ghost Town, Blues Dream provides the ambitious answer. Nearly all Frisell's fascinations are here: the pastoralism of Have a Little Faith, a Nashville tinge, and the cinematic sounds of Quartet. There's also the electronic loop atmospheres of his ECM and early Elektra years and the alternating Ellingtonian and Salvation Army horns of his quintet period. All of this melded into 18 new compositions commissioned by the Walker Arts Center.

A textural richness comes courtesy of Greg Leisz's various guitars backing Frisell's own guitar and a stunning integration of three horns: Curtis Fowlkes's trombone, Ron Miles's trumpet, and Billy Drewes's saxophones. As you listen to this string of broad-shouldered pieces, tributes to greats like Ron Carter, and strangely blues-inflected soundscapes, it's apparent that the solos of Ghost Town can operate as a sort of sketch or "cartoon" for this, the full painting; or a short that is then expanded into a feature. Frisell's career is taking on the aspect of a well-crafted movie or novel that explores different story lines before bringing them together for the finale (and this might be the prelude to the finale). --Michael Ross

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another sonic journey, August 17, 2001

By	Charles Calvert "charliecal" (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm not exactly sure why Bill Frisell is one of the best jazz musicians playing right now, but he is. He seems to understand that jazz isn't significant simply because it inherits the sounds that Duke, Miles, Satchmo or Coltrane produced. Their work was very important, of course, but jazz is also about working with popular music, the current zeitgeist, and letting good musicians take it someplace special. Unlike many jazz musicians, Frisell's music doesn't sound like it comes out of the popular music of the 40s and 50s; it sounds like it comes out of the popular music of the last twenty or thirty years. There is a heavy blues influence, of course, but there is also a country music influence, and a Hendrix influence, and maybe even something from the outside rock music made by musicians like Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew. The end result is a series of sonic dreams that sound like they belong to this century and to living generations. They are sometimes funky, often beautiful, occasionally even a bit corny, but almost always satisfying.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ghostly Americana, August 30, 2001

By	Dirk Hugo (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

Bill Frisell's consistent recorded output over the last two decades has established his reputation as one of the most atmospheric of guitarists. His more recent infatuation with musical Americana has come to full fruition on "Blues Dream", which deftly blurs whatever distinctions occur between what are conveniently termed Blues, Jazz and Country. The result is an extremely listenable album that ignores any notion of genre autonomy, rather seeking to establish a mood that incorporates all the unique musical aspects that American contemporary life has embraced over the last century. So Bluegrass rhythms sit alongside avant-garde horn motifs, which bounce off abrasive slide-guitar excursions - a curious hybrid held together by it's geographical roots.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice consolidation, March 2, 2001

By	George Grella "Urbane citizen" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This records confirms what now appears as the inevitable direction Frisell has been moving in since "Nashville," and here is the destination. That is seems as such is a bit disappointing, since so much of the pleasure of his records is the surprise they bring. The surprise here is that the style and sound is familiar, and if that is a criticism, it is only such because Frisell is such an enchating artist.

There is the obvious consolidation of sound: the rootsy, pedal-steel shimmer from "Good Dog, Happy Man" has been joined to the atmospheric horn accompaniment of "Quartet," and it sounds great. The material is direct in the line of Americana, both traditional and newly-minted, that the guitarist has been mining since "Nashville," and with great sucess on "Ghost Town." He's really gone beyond jazz to make American instrumental music, and nice it is. If you're familiar with and enjoy his recent work, you'll enjoy this too, and if you're curious about the man and his music, this is almost as good as a recent 'best of.'