Music's Clark Kent
Revered American guitarist Bill Frisell
Guitar legend Bill Frisell wakes up every day and tries to play a better song. Despite strumming the guitar for more than 50 years, and being likened to Miles Davis for his command of a single instrument, the 67-year-old is incredibly self-effacing.
‘‘It still feels like I’m just at the very beginning,’’ says Frisell, who has produced more than 200 recordings and more than 25 albums of his own.
Firmly entrenched as a visionary presence in American music, his eyebrows spike as he speaks softly by Skype from a Seattle hotel room. Frisell has been called ‘‘the Clark Kent of guitar’’ as his onstage and offstage personas are worlds apart.
Shy and modest in person, he creates fireworks on stage. ‘‘I know I’ve been playing a long time, but everything that is before me is still as hard to get to, so you just have to start out every day and try your best. In that way, it still feels the same as it did at the beginning. You’re never there, you’re just trying to get there.’’
Talking about his first trip to New Zealand to headline the 2017 Wellington Jazz Festival, Frisell and his band will play songs from his recent album, Wish Upon A Star, which features music from films and TV shows that have touched the musician over his life.
Living in Denver, he was just 11 years old when he drove with his family to nearby Boulder to watch a free screening of the revolutionary film, To Kill A Mockingbird, not long after the black freedom fighter, Martin Luther King, had addressed his church in Denver.
Songs from To Kill A Mockingbird are on the album, along with the title track, which Frisell first heard Jiminy Cricket (played by Cliff Edwards) sing in the Disney film, Pinocchio. ‘‘That song has been in my bloodstream for as long as I can remember.’’
Of Frisell’s music, The New York Times said: ‘‘It’s hard to find a more fruitful meditation on American music than in the compositions of guitarist Bill Frisell. Mixing rock and country with jazz and blues, he’s found what connects them: improvisation and a sense of play.
‘‘Unlike other pastichists, who tend to duck passion, Mr Frisell plays up the pleasure in the music and also takes on another oftenavoided subject, tenderness.’’
One of the most sought-after guitar players in contemporary music, Frisell is revered for his versatility, and over the past decade, for his compositions and role as a band leader.
When we speak, his latest album, Small Town, has just come out that day, which he produced with the jazz bassist, Thomas Morgan, recording it live at the iconic Village Vanguard Jazz Club. How many albums are now in his catalogue?
‘‘It’s an incredible thing,’’ Frisell reflects shyly. ‘‘In a way, it feels like one giant album. Of course, there are different branches. But in my own mind, it’s like one continuous story happening with the music.’’
The New York jazz club is significant, as the musician first went there in 1969, not long after he graduated from high school. Back then, he was ‘‘cleaning houses to feed himself’’, playing guitar at night.
The club’s history is extraordinary – Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Dinah Washington have performed there, while jazz greats like Kevin Burrell and Stan Getz recorded live albums in the dark haven. ‘‘I never dreamed that quite a few years later I would play in that room,’’ Frisell smiles.
While he and his wife have recently relocated from Seattle to New York, a hectic tour schedule means his many guitars are still in boxes, along with most of his possessions.
Why New York? Because his friends are there. And by friends, he means the jazz heavyweights he grew up listening to, who inspired him to play the guitar and venture into jazz music in the late 1960s.
Living his formative years in Denver, Frisell built his first guitar at the age of four and later played in high school bands, belting out pop and soul classics.
He spent his after-school earnings buying Ron Carter’s jazz album – one of his greatest musical inspirations who he now produces albums with. One of the first concerts he attended was listening to Charles Lloyd – another early musical inspiration who now joins him on stage.
‘‘Yesterday I was recording with Paul Simon who I was listening to when I first bought a guitar. It’s crazy.
‘‘Really just playing with my friends in front of an audience is an amazing thing, and that’s where I feel my true voice, and everything makes sense.’’
Over the past decade, Frisell has gained prominence for his compositions and recordings, and songs spanning a wide range of musical influences. His Grammynominated album, The Intercontinentals, blends his own brand of American roots music and his unmistakable improvisational style with the influences of Brazilian, Greek and Malian sounds.
He has worked with artists and filmmakers, and been influenced by the eccentric American photographer, Mike Disfarmer, who inspired him to produce a whole album, Disfarmer.
His catalogue over the past decade includes original Buster Keaton silent film scores, adaptions of compositions for Gary Larson cartoons, a Nashville album and a collection of American traditional songs and original compositions entitled The Willies. He has played the guitar for Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Lou Reed.
Right now, Frisell is excited about his visit to Wellington. But there is one thing that feels more like a nightmare than the usual beautiful dream.
Of Donald Trump’s reign, he says: ‘‘I can’t even believe it’s happening. I don’t even know what to say. I feel like I’m dreaming and that I’ll wake up.
‘‘I still believe that people are good. The only thing I know is to keep doing what I do to the best I do and hopefully we’ll get through this.’’
Performing as part of the Wellington Jazz Festival, Bill Frisell, featuring Petra Haden, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston will feature at The Opera House on Wednesday, June 7. For more information, see jazzfestival.co.nz.
"Yesterday I was recording with Paul Simon who I was listening to when I first bought a guitar. It’s crazy." Bill Frisell