This article is the first of a new type of post on our Music Scene blog – a review of a biography of a highly respected musician who has connections to The Berkshires. Lenox resident Eric Federer wrote the book review. Eric is a long-time music lover, including jazz, classical, alt-country, bluegrass, rock, and folk. He plays guitar and harmonica and dabbles in mandolin. If you are passionate about music and want to write an article for Music in the Berkshires, please contact us.
If you’re familiar with the work of Bill Frisell and already a fan, then I heartily recommend Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Artist Who Changed The Sound Of American Music by Philip Watson. Watson was deputy director at GQ and editor-at-large at Esquire. You can find his work in numerous publications, and he has interviewed musicians Nick Cave, Gil-Scott Heron, Elvis Costello, and D’Angelo, to name a few. The book’s title comes from a recurring dream that Frisell first had thirty years ago. He’s in a room and hears a sound that “was like an arrow shot between my eyes or a rocket ship traveling through my brain…It just included everything. It was all one thing. It was one sound.” (Perhaps a bit like the universal note in Pete Townshend’s Pure and Easy?)
“Beautiful Dreamer” is Watson’s first book and a weighty tome at over 500 pages. Watson exhaustively researched the book; IMHO, it is a riveting read. Salted throughout are eleven interesting and informative “Counterpoints,” listening sessions to Bill’s music and interviews with a broad range of music aficionados and musicians, including experimental folk artist Sam Amidon, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Paul Simon, Van Dyke Parks, and Rhiannon Giddens. Watson’s research is rigorous and informed by a keen and compassionate understanding of Frisell’s personality and the challenges and pressures of an artistic life and calling.
Bill Frisell, Photo by Monica Jane Frisell
As FreshGrass is upon us, it’s timely to note that Bill Frisell was the recipient of the FreshGrass Foundation’s first Composition Commission in 2016, which he and his band Harmony (Petra Hayden, vocals; Hank Roberts, cello; Luke Bergman, multiple instruments) played at FreshGrass in 2017.
The Foundation awarded Frisell the Commission citing his prowess and reputation as a “relentless explorer of American roots traditions, from jazz to blues to folk and beyond,” further stating: “He’s regarded by many as the most innovative guitarist in the world.” Bill and Harmony toured the country beginning in 2016 and played their final concert of the commissioned piece at FreshGrass.
If you’re unfamiliar with Bill’s music, I’m going to encourage your curiosity and hope you discover what I have: a unique and brilliant artist who has changed the way I experience music. I ask you to step beyond the confines of genre and embrace Bill’s eclectic musical genius. So, now it’s time for me to step back and let Bill do the “talking.”
I first heard Bill on the radio in 1988. My wife and I were heading off for a long weekend up north. I spun the radio dial and stumbled on some strange, seductive, and enchanting sounds. It turned out it was “Dumbo and Timothy” from Hal Willner’s Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, which includes performances by Ringo Starr, Tom Waits, Aaron Neville, The Replacements, and Bill Frisell.
Since then, I’ve seen Bill live with a trio at The Village Vanguard; with Sam Amidon at Solid Sound at MASS MoCA in 2015; performing the commissioned piece at FreshGrass in 2017; with Charles Lloyd and the Marvels (including Lucinda Williams) at the Berkeley Performance Center, Boston; and at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. The band and setlist are always different and full of great surprises, both in personnel and material.
As a guitarist and an ardent fan, I could easily geek out and dive into minutia, but that would be needlessly self-indulgent. Philip Watson might be on track to become the Walter Isaacson of music biography. I hope you’ll listen to Bill’s music and encourage you to read Mr. Watson’s book. Below are some more links to Bill’s performances so you can enjoy Bill’s ambient, kaleidoscopic style, fueled by a genius based on less is more.
Bill Frisell, “Verona” from Gone, Just Like a Train
Bill Frisell Group on Egg Radio
Bill Frisell, “The End Of The World” from Nashville
Bill Frisell, “Beautiful Dreamer” from Beautiful Dreamers
You can learn more about Bill by visiting his website.
Endnote: Bill Frisell will perform in Groton, MA, at the Groton Hill Music Center on Thursday, October 19, at 8:00 p.m.