Bill Frisell Quartet

Bill Frisell Quartet

ASIN: B000005J42

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
With his indelible, elastic tone, restless curiosity, and open-eared approach to music beyond the traditional corridors of jazz, guitarist Bill Frisell is among the most prolific and continually surprising improvisers alive. Quartet is built around a typically inventive, typically off-centered Frisell lineup including Ron Miles (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), Eyvind Kang (violin, tuba), and Curtis Fowlkes (trombone) who draw from a sonorous palette. By avoiding a conventional rhythm section and piano, Frisell and his confederates create a group sound with the intimacy of small jazz group while tapping the timbres of chamber music; the material (which includes pieces composed for a TV special built around friend Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons) is equally beyond category. --Sam Sutherland

Tracks:

Tales From The Far Side
Twenty Years
Stand Up, Sit Down
Convict 13
In Deep
Egg Radio
The Bacon Bunch
Prelude
Bob's Monsters
The Gallows
What?
Dead Ranch
Coffaro's Theme

Amazon.com essential recording

With his indelible, elastic tone, restless curiosity, and open-eared approach to music beyond the traditional corridors of jazz, guitarist Bill Frisell is among the most prolific and continually surprising improvisers alive. Quartet is built around a typically inventive, typically off-centered Frisell lineup including Ron Miles (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), Eyvind Kang (violin, tuba), and Curtis Fowlkes (trombone) who draw from a sonorous palette. By avoiding a conventional rhythm section and piano, Frisell and his confederates create a group sound with the intimacy of small jazz group while tapping the timbres of chamber music; the material (which includes pieces composed for a TV special built around friend Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons) is equally beyond category. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews:

good soundtrack to a dark acid trip.......2006-02-26

Is there anything that Bill Frisell can't play? He's done Jazz, Rock, Americana, World, Orchestral and every hybrid that could be created by cross pollinating these five flowers. Along the lines of 1993's "Have A Little Faith," this is an orchestral project combining elements of Jazz, Rock and Americana. Regardless of the quirky performances, "Bill Frisell Quartet" has a cartoonish sound since the music is played with trumpet, tuba, piccolo trumpet, violin, trombone and guitar. Indeed, this 1996 release sounds like a demented and dark animation score. Much of the music could be the soundtrack to a bad acid trip: dark, powerful, psychedelic and beautiful in an unsettling sort of way. While nightfall permeates the album, there is a surprising amount of comedic relief. 'In Deep' is a good ol' fashioned hoedown while 'Prelude' and 'What?' exercise Frisell's atmospheric minimalism. Enthusiasts of the "Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones" disc will enjoy hearing orchestrally arranged versions of 'Coffaro's Theme' 'Twenty Years' and 'Convict 13.' Being one of the strongest tracks, 'Egg Radio' has since become a staple of Frisell's live shows. While not the most accessible album in his discography, this release showcases Bill Frisell's compositional abilities.

A Frisell Masterpiece.......2001-12-01

This outing is on the outer fringes of eclecticism even by Bill's standard with this wild ensemble. The odd instrumentation succeeds in making extremely modern music that swings (without a drummer!), is humorous, tranquil, totally Bill. This date is still a fresh sound five years later into Bill's explorations of old-timey meets whatever. Even after Bill's more recent projects, if this album were coming out now, for the first time, it would sound like a wild new direction/addition to what he's been up to. A continually enjoyable listen.

Very Interesting!.......2000-09-20

This wonderful line-up works very well. The first cut is simply awesome and the rest are quite good. To try to compare Frisell to any other guitarist is pointless. He has a distinct sound and style. If you like guitar music though you must have some Frisell in your collection. This should not be you first Frisell purchase (Good Dog... is a great place to start) but if you like the unusually pairings on This Land and Have a Little Faith this one's for you.

A nice album.......2000-06-18

Charming music from the inventive Frisell, with the unusual lineup of guitar, trombone, violin and trumpet. Much of the music derives from a soundtrack to an animated Gary Larson cartoon special (Larson is a keen jazz guitarist & buddies with Frisell), & without having seen it I would still guess the music fits it perfectly, with its mixture of ponderous weirdness and surreal whimsy. -- Such a link might suggest one of the album's flaws: it's charming, beautiful, immaculately played, &c...but is it Frisell's most substantial work? I'd have to say not. Like a lot of Frisell's work (I hate to say it), this is so utterly _nice_ that I find myself hankering for a little more (and as you'll know if you've seen the man in concert, that niceness is 100% genuine--try sampling his bashful intro to the superb trio album _Live_ on Gramavision, for instance). Frisell _can_ be rawly impassioned--check out his work on Gavin Bryars' _After the Requiem_, for instance--but here I feel a little stifled by the album, for all its creativity.

a fantastic album.......1999-01-08

Truly amazing work from a truly amazing guitarist and composer. Here, Frisell plays with the odd quartet of guitar, violin, trumpet and trombone. This ensemble has to be heard to be believed! The album mostly features Frisell's soundtrack work, including the Gary Larson animation "Tales From The Far Side" - these tracks are amazing, particularly the atmospheric title track to the cartoon, and "Bob's Monsters". The foursome also have some pretty wild jams between tracks.

Average customer rating:

Late in the 20th Century, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Fugues | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005IZT
Release Date: 1992-05-27

Tracks:

Different Trains - Electric Counterpoint: Different Trains (excerpt)
Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, Vol. II: Stani, Mi Maytcho
The Gospel At Colonus Original Cast Album: How Shall I See You Through My Tears - The Gospel At Colonus
J. S Bach: The Well - Tempered Clavier, Book II: Prelude in E major
The Thin Blue Line - Original Soundtrack: Interrogation, Part One
Guitarra Portuguesa: Cancao Verdes Anos
The Rakes Progress: No Word From Tom
Winter Was Hard: Fratres
The President: Bring Yr Camera: Philip (excerpt)
Different Trains - Electric Counterpoint: Electric Counterpoint (3rd Movement) excerpt
World Saophone Quartet: Rhythm & Blues: For the Love of Money
Spy Vs Spy: John Zorn Plays Music Of Ornette Coleman: Good Old Days
AKIKO YANO: Highland
Before We Were Born
Gypsy Kings: Un Amor

Average customer rating:

Nonesuch At Carnegie
Randy Newman, Youssou N'Dour, John Adams, Caetano Veloso , Audra McDonald, Dawn Upshaw, Kronos Quartet, Gidon Kremer , Bill Frisell & the Intercontinentals, Taraf De Haidouks, Steve Reich , and Adam Guettel, Emmylou Harris Frederic Rzewski
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000M69DRS

Product Description

Promotional pre-release copy

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music