I can’t really see you, but I…but I can hear you, I can feel you…thank you.” [Bill Frisell speaking to audience before "Throughout"]

For some artists and record companies a “live” album is a contractual obligation: you put it out with little cost to fill space before the next studio work. Some of these records end up selling huge numbers; others keep the artist’s space in the record bin warm.

And, some live album’s such as 1995’s Gramavision (Rykodisc) Live by guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Kermit Driscoll, and drummer Joey Baron are a kind of ending. [Note: The trio for a time was known as The Bill Frisell Band but stopped recording as a trio soon after this was recorded in 1991, and this music therefore serves as a fitting tribute to the power of their association.]

Frisell/Driscoll/Baron Live is one of the few live recordings that holds up as a musical statement of its own, rather than as strictly serving as the “live greatest hits” type of affair that one finds in a lot of pop/rock live offerings.

With Live, Frisell/Driscoll/Baron not only document past collaborations but also offer new works which solidifies their respective reputations as live performers. This album may not appeal to newer Frisell converts who have come to him through his numerous “jazz meets Americana” works of recent years, but it will appeal to those listeners looking to release their inner guitar freak. In short, this album captures Frisell unleashed, the guitarist’s inner Hulk revealed.

Driscoll and Baron do more than keep up, and their abilities to shape and mold the soundscape allows Frisell’s guitar to float above and reach new heights of emotion and color. Within the live environment, the trio’s “songs” are less focused on definitive beginnings and endings, and more on the exploration within the moment. It is improvisational in ways that are both inviting and challenging. The music is at once brash, alien, technical, unique, and compelling; later it is humorous, reverential, poignant, moving, powerful, and emotional.

That is to say, this is an album that more than rocks with a vengeance. As an earlier offering in Frisell’s catalog it enters into ambient and avant garde territory, as well as serious explorations into the reaches of electric guitar. It is jazz as filtered through synapses exposed to Hendrix/Monk/Coltrane/Davis/Beck equally. It is jazz meets electric current. It is jazz with possibility explored.

Tracks:
1. Throughout (6:42)
2. Rag (5:17)
3. Crumb/No Moe[S. Rollins] (6:35)
4. Have a Little Faith in Me [J. Hiatt] (5:12)
5. Pip, Squeak/Goodbye (8:56)
6. Hello Nellie (8:13)
7. Strange Meeting (6:45)
8. Hangdog (3:25)
9. Child at Heart (10:39)
10. Again (5:50)
11. When We Go (3:49)
Total: 71:48
Recorded live at Teatro Lope de Vega, Sevilla, Spain. Produced by Hans Wendl.

And in the middle of all the joyous cacophony that Live reveals, Frisell/Driscoll/Baron drop in a cover of John Hiatt’s Have a Little Faith in Me that is astoundingly emotional, reverent, and revelatory. Five stars and recommended for those who want to explore their inner guitar freak, or perhaps annoy their neighbors with a purpose.

Sources
http://www.billfrisell.com/, www.allmusic.com

Cat Rating Scale
This one of those albums that scares and possibly emotionally scars Freddie and Chester for a given time period. Two paws down.



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Waking up