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Bill Frisell. Been listening to him since 1985. I am so sick of him... Can't stop being amazed and amused.
I read about Frisell and there have been comparisons with Miles Davis- prolific, wide range of interests and styles that come out, lots of different personnel in his act and recordings. But Frisell is industrious, always reassembling ensembles differently. He seems to always revisit and rework his music, and he explores all different facets and genres of the music offered around the world, at least those he encounters. He does a few Bob Dylan covers, a couple Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke, has done a Madonna Tune, has a very disturbing rendition of Unchained Melody... He performs and records music to accompany films, soundtracks and live viewings of silent movies. His band does what the old time piano and organ players would do in the movie theaters back in the day. Movie soundtracks include , ALL HAT,
Walk the Line, Finding Forrester, Million Dollar Hotel (With Bono, Eno, Lanois and others)....
He's recorded and performed with with McCoy Tyner, Jim Hall, Norah Jones, Loudon Wainwright III, Burt Bacharach, Lucinda Williams, Paul Simon, Ginger Baker, William S. Burroughs, Buddy Miller, Elvis Costello, Rickie Lee Jones, Suzanne Vega. His music is used for bumper music on public radio a lot. He lives next door to Gary Larson, artist/cartoonist author of The Far Side. He has done the music for two animated Far Side TV specials. He's doing something about "The Great Flood " of 1927 in the southern US, he has performed at the Walker Art Center a couple dozen times. Won grammy nomination for The Intercontinentals, won a grammy for Unspeakable. Plays well with others, but I really love the trio performing live. Seen them all over. I have planned vacations based on where Frisell is going to be playing, and he plays all the time. Can't see where and when he ever records or sees his family and dog. Always touring. Always mixing up the ensembles. Been to about 50 Frisell shows. I am so tired of him and his incredible creativity and work ethic.
Went to a "Master Jazz Guitar" seminar with Frisell in January. Someone asked him about his early influences and he referred to his first guitar teacher teaching him how to tap his foot.
Man, it made me regress back to day one and I had to learn to tap my foot all over again.
I tried to get Frisell to visit Fargo, North Dakota when I was living there a while back. Fargo has a jazz society that gets about four interesting jazz artists to visit each year. There are three colleges in Fargo-Moorhead, each with a nice fine arts program that brings in quite a lot of diverse performers and shows and exposes the people of the town to the art, music, and dance from all over.
I couldn't come up with the $10,000 guarantee the Rosebud agency that represents Frisell required. The local concert event promoter didn't think he could muster up the cash either.
So sick of Frisell.
But, that Poem for Eva piece in the video was profound in one of those past moments when your life molts and you shed the old skin and move on- I was walking my dogs in the late winter, late for work already, and the dogs were pulling me in two directions away from where I planned to go. The sunshine hit my eyes, and the absurdity of the moment caught me, and I laughed and breathed the crisp fresh air, while Poem for Eva accompanied my ears via headphones and old personal cassette stereo weighed down my belt.
About the time I got into Frisell, that's when I got into a/b pedals.
So tired of the guy.
He can hold his own with Elliot Fisk and Bassekou Kouyaté in string duels.
One of his teachers, Dale Bruning, also taught Synchro back in the day....
I am not sick of Synchro....
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They don't call me Mr. Ishi for nothing.... They don't call me Mr. Ishi at all....
I'll go for NY band Television's Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd on their 1977 debut album Marquee Moon, and on live recordings form that era.
I won't say Verlaine and Lloyd are my all-time favorites, but they would make my top 10 list. From same era (OK a few years later, I'd also add Bob Stinson of the Replacements. The Mats were just all that and their music holds up today.
But, my all time favorite guitarist is the guy I'm going to see tomorrow night, and as listed by Bobkat above. the one, the only Jeff Beck.
I started listening to JB back in the mid-to-late 70s - first album I'd ever heard was his live album with Jan Hammer. Amazing stuff.
Then, I discovered his earlier stuff with the Yardbirds and then with Rod Stewart and on Beck-Ola. Amazing blues and nothing like the jazzy guitar he played on Truth or Wired.
Then even later, I found Guitar Shop, then Crazy Legs (where I first learned about Gene Vincent).
Beck is the most talented and diverse guitarist I've seen. And having seen him play with others, he's amazingly humble (or at least comes across that way).
So, here's a clip of what I'll see tomorrow night with JB and the lovely Imelda May:
Ishtar! Of course, I will second that Bill Frisell emotion! He's amazing. "Poem for Eva" is one of my all-time favorites (all versions of it). (Incidentally, he doesn't live next door to Larson anymore -- he's in Ballard, a different neighborhood here in Seattle).
In the jazz zone, I'd also have to mention Pat Metheny.
Someone mentioned Duane Eddy and I guess every guitar player of my generation loved him. I hadn't really listened to him much for many years, but I bought a compilation CD of his stuff recently and was surprised at the fact that every time the tune went wild, it was a SAXOPHONE that played the hot bit!
From same era (OK a few years later, I'd also add Bob Stinson of the Replacements. The Mats were just all that and their music holds up today.
I couldn't agree more, The Replacements were a great, unpredictable band until Stinson left. My fave band of the 80s, actually. I must have listened to Let It Be (thats' a Replacements album, folks) a hundred times. Everything about it, from the throwaway Kiss cover to the raw emotion of Sixteen Blue, is perfect. Not Jeff Beck perfect. Just another kind of perfect.
Steve Cropper for his "less is more" approach, and playing so tight in the pocket. Sometimes it's not all about the notes you choose to play. Sometimes it's about the notes you choose not to play.
On one end of the spectrum: Neil Young. Not the most technically proficient, perhaps, but for me, when he's really digging in on one of his grunged out extended jam solos, he taps into something few people can touch. On the other end of the spectrum: Hank Garland. I could listen to him all day long. As a matter of fact, I have.
Although I have Many Favorites,I would have to say that for the sheer listening pleasure of one Man and his guitar,it would have to be Django Reinhardt.
Im still attempting to play This song that he made famous many years ago,Chet and Mark knopfler did a good job at it, but these 3 guys right here "killed" it!
Whoa!This is a toughy.Robert Johnson,Son House,Scotty Moore,Mr.Chet,Brian Setzer,SVR,Jack White.Personal fav. Jimi Hendrix...even Beck,Townsend & Clapton have said in a round-a-bout way they were a little envious of his playing.
Brian Setzer, Chet atkins ,James Burton .Brian being my currert fav and because he combines Chet ,Les Paul, James and jazz playing along with his own ideas into one heck of a party on the guitar every time he plays !!!!
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