Bill Frisell, 6 April 2007
Bill played a fantastic solo set in Louisville, Kentucky last Friday night. Louisville is my hometown, and I was thrilled to see Bill there, as he has never played there before.
The show was in an old school that has been renovated into an art gallery and performance space. It's a nice venue, and the sound was excellent. Bill sat on an elevated stage in a large, low-ceilinged room with many lit candles on the stage behind him. Mmmmm, moody.
A couple of quirky things happened during the show, which were rather Frisellian and brought out the common layers of Billness that fans of Bill are all quite acquianted with. At one point in the show, when Bill first spoke in between tunes, an inebriated fellow held aloft a gourd-percussion instrument, and said something to the effect of "need a gourd player, Bill?" Bill pointed at his guitar and said something like, "no thanks, I already have one." And later on in the show, right during a performance of an acoustic number, the same guy conspicuously moved up front and center to take a cell-phone-camera pic of Bill, producing a loud "click." Bill stopped playing, waved, and said "... hi ..." and then continued the tune right where he had left off. Bill managed to make a couple of very awkward situations become funny.
Bill played his (I think it's a Fender custom shop?) sunburst Tele with the cream binding and the sorta-Gretsch-looking double-wide metal pickup near the neck, for most of the numbers. For about a third of the show, Bill played what looked to me like a Martin 000-15, 12 frets to the body, with a slotted peghead, and a mahogony top. It sounded gorgeous. Bill also had a small electric guitar on stage, but didn't play it. It was facing away from the audience, so I didn't see what it was. He had the normal effects, line 6 delay modeler, rat distortion, etc. He played thru a Fender twin reverb and a Fender blues deluxe reissue. Bill doesn't prefer the blues deluxe but settled for it as it was what the venue could get. He said he really liked it, though.
Man, a veritable mob surrounded the stage after the show. It looked like the biggest guitar-gear-head freakshow I've ever seen. But (Bill's sound guru) Claudia said it was nothing like what happens in the bay area lately.
I didn't take notes during the show. So, sorry about the lack of setlist here. Tunes were much the same that Bill has been playing for a good long while, and with some of the same new tunes he has been playing heavily for about the last 9 months: "A Change is Gonna Come," "Masters of War," "What the World Needs Now," "Jackie-ing," "Ventura," Misterioso," etc. No surprises in that department.
He gave these songs a nice sensitive reading in this solo context, that (in my opinion) made this show extra special. Bill didn't rely too heavily on the looping devices, except for atmosphere, but in just a couple of places, where he used them in a very musical way.
Towards the end of the night, Bill played an electric loopy improvisation, where he used rhythmic staccato chords in masterful way, with keen interweaving precision. It was a very cool thing, and it just seemed to work out luckily to utmost, um, ...effect. And during "Ventura," Bill looped the song form with clean electric sounds while he played a distorted solo over top of it. It was beautiful, with Bill never veering too far away from the melody.
It was wonderful to hear Bill play so much naked acoustic guitar with no effects. As cool as the music Bill makes on electric, with his bands and with his devices, I love what Bill can do with an acoustic guitar and no help. This show had just the right balance of acoustic and electric numbers. I hope Bill does more shows like this in the future. I wish y'all could've been there.
The show was in an old school that has been renovated into an art gallery and performance space. It's a nice venue, and the sound was excellent. Bill sat on an elevated stage in a large, low-ceilinged room with many lit candles on the stage behind him. Mmmmm, moody.
A couple of quirky things happened during the show, which were rather Frisellian and brought out the common layers of Billness that fans of Bill are all quite acquianted with. At one point in the show, when Bill first spoke in between tunes, an inebriated fellow held aloft a gourd-percussion instrument, and said something to the effect of "need a gourd player, Bill?" Bill pointed at his guitar and said something like, "no thanks, I already have one." And later on in the show, right during a performance of an acoustic number, the same guy conspicuously moved up front and center to take a cell-phone-camera pic of Bill, producing a loud "click." Bill stopped playing, waved, and said "... hi ..." and then continued the tune right where he had left off. Bill managed to make a couple of very awkward situations become funny.
Bill played his (I think it's a Fender custom shop?) sunburst Tele with the cream binding and the sorta-Gretsch-looking double-wide metal pickup near the neck, for most of the numbers. For about a third of the show, Bill played what looked to me like a Martin 000-15, 12 frets to the body, with a slotted peghead, and a mahogony top. It sounded gorgeous. Bill also had a small electric guitar on stage, but didn't play it. It was facing away from the audience, so I didn't see what it was. He had the normal effects, line 6 delay modeler, rat distortion, etc. He played thru a Fender twin reverb and a Fender blues deluxe reissue. Bill doesn't prefer the blues deluxe but settled for it as it was what the venue could get. He said he really liked it, though.
Man, a veritable mob surrounded the stage after the show. It looked like the biggest guitar-gear-head freakshow I've ever seen. But (Bill's sound guru) Claudia said it was nothing like what happens in the bay area lately.
I didn't take notes during the show. So, sorry about the lack of setlist here. Tunes were much the same that Bill has been playing for a good long while, and with some of the same new tunes he has been playing heavily for about the last 9 months: "A Change is Gonna Come," "Masters of War," "What the World Needs Now," "Jackie-ing," "Ventura," Misterioso," etc. No surprises in that department.
He gave these songs a nice sensitive reading in this solo context, that (in my opinion) made this show extra special. Bill didn't rely too heavily on the looping devices, except for atmosphere, but in just a couple of places, where he used them in a very musical way.
Towards the end of the night, Bill played an electric loopy improvisation, where he used rhythmic staccato chords in masterful way, with keen interweaving precision. It was a very cool thing, and it just seemed to work out luckily to utmost, um, ...effect. And during "Ventura," Bill looped the song form with clean electric sounds while he played a distorted solo over top of it. It was beautiful, with Bill never veering too far away from the melody.
It was wonderful to hear Bill play so much naked acoustic guitar with no effects. As cool as the music Bill makes on electric, with his bands and with his devices, I love what Bill can do with an acoustic guitar and no help. This show had just the right balance of acoustic and electric numbers. I hope Bill does more shows like this in the future. I wish y'all could've been there.
Labels: Music Review
posted by Martin Lane at
1:32 PM
ADD ME ON FACEBOOK
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home