Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, and Paul Motian

When I first heard this disc, I found myself comparing it to other 'power trios' in which Bill has played.

The recording is similar, in my estimation, to the Holland-Jones-Frisell recording in that it is a power trio session that was "put together" for a recording. And of course, the new recording can't fairly be compared with Bill's touring trios (Frisell-Krauss-Wollesen, Frisell-Scherr-Wollesen, etc), simply because communication and familiarity with the tunes can run so deep there. Folkiness, Improvisations and segueways are a huge part of the trio with Scherr. And Krauss is just a TOTALLY different kind of bass player than Carter.

Frisell, Carter, and Motian work well together. I think I prefer this new disc to the one with Holland and Jones ... it just seems more, ..., um, "Bill-ish" somehow. Is it ok for me to say that without explaining why? (I'm not sure I could, without listening to 'em both a few more times.) I can't imagine Holland and Jones interpreting the new Frisell pieces the way that Motian does. Bill considers Motian like his mentor. I imagine that Bill and Paul are totally aware of the way that they each write tunes, and have been, for more than twenty years. Now that's some very deep stuff! And Ron has called Bill his favorite guitar player recently.

The bright tone on this disc is a little different for Bill but I love it. It's very Fender Telecaster-y and it seemed to me that Bill was finding some new phrasing and such as a result, but still remaining himself, somehow, as he always does.