Like his buddy Pat Metheny, guitarist Bill Frisell has carved out a unique space, putting his distinctive style into nearly any context and still coming out sounding only like himself. Rooted in jazz, fascinated by Americana, wielding a watery, crystalline tone that can burst into a distorted growl when needed, and completely comfortable in any situation, whether solidly traditional or off-the-wall experimental, Frisell is at his best when he folds the many things he loves into one place. Hence his latest album In My Dreams.
Here Frisell combines two different bands into one: his current rhythm section of drummer Rudy Royston and bassist Thomas Morgan, and his on-and-off-again string trio of violinist Jenny Scheinman, violist Eyvind Kang, and cellist Hank Roberts, with whom he has a musical relationship stretching back forty years. With everybody having interacted with Frisell or each other numerous times over the decades, there’s no hesitancy or awkwardness here – the six musicians lock in as if they’ve been performing in this configuration for a century. With what seems like one brain guiding everyone’s limbs, there are no flamboyant showcases, no spotlight shining on one player at the expense of the others.
Thus Frisell leads the shimmering “When We Go” and the Middle Eastern-flavored take on Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan,” with the string section creating lush backgrounds behind him, but never showboats. The arco instruments carry the melodies for the knotty “Curtis (a year and a day)” and a new cover of the leader’s beloved Stephen Foster classic “Hard Times,” but the guitarist provides the canvas on which Scheinman, Kang, and Roberts paint. Royston comes to the fore on the live “Again,” introducing the tune with a rumbling solo, and his skittering rhythm drives the performance – the most avant-garde on the record – without calling attention to its practitioner. Everyone selflessly folds their instrumentation into the tunes, including the boss.
The musical meld Frisell calls together here is as egoless as it comes – every note, performed, arranged, or composed, flows in service to a single vision. And a gorgeous vision it is, too – once again Frisell brings his unique talent to lead a band without looking like he’s leading a band to the floor of another extraordinary project. Like the journey of the sun across the sky, In My Dreams moves with deliberate intent, a steady presence that nourishes life as it moves.
