The October edition of 'Listen Back' session is going to be introduced by Philip Watson.
He's going to walk us through Bill Frisell - Good Dog, Happy Man
Philip Watson is jazz writer for the Irish Times and an experienced journalist who has contributed a wide variety of articles to newspapers and magazines in Ireland and Britain. His biography of guitarist Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer, was published by Faber in 2022.
(philipwatson.info)
Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music
The definitive biography of guitar icon and Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Frisell.
Featuring exclusive listening sessions with: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
‘A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America’s true living cultural treasures.’
John Zorn
‘The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.’
Mojo
‘Outlines the subject’s life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.’
Irish Times
Bill Frisell Biography:
Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as "the best recorded output of the decade."
In recent years, Frisell has forged a distinctive and fruitful collaboration with the Blue Note label, releasing Harmony, Valentine and Four to great acclaim.
"Frisell has had a lot of practice putting high concept into a humble package. Long hailed as one of the most distinctive and original improvising guitarists of our time, he has also earned a reputation for teasing out thematic connections with his music... There’s a reason that Jazz at Lincoln Center had him program a series called Roots of Americana." - New York Times
Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012. He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, Meet the Composer among others. In 2016, he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors in 2013, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors. Bill is the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth, as well as an extensive biography by Philip Watson, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music.
Good Dog, Happy Man
Bill Frisell - electric and acoustic guitars, loops and music boxes
Greg Leisz - pedal steel, Dobro, lap steel, Weissenborn, National steel guitar and mandolin
Wayne Horvitz - organ, piano, samples
Viktor Krauss - bass
Jim Keltner - drums & percussion
special guest on Shenandoah:
Ry Cooder - guitar
produced by Lee Townsend
recording and mixing engineer: Judy Clapp
mastering engineer: Greg Calbi
Nonesuch Records 1999
Reviews:
"Bill Frisell makes such consistently great records that it would be easy to take the guitarist for granted. That would be sad, since no one refracts age-old Americana through a cutting-edge prism with the warm-hearted, fleet-minded individuality of Frisell. With "Good Dog, Happy Man," he has crafted one of his earthiest essays yet - a sort of funky follow-up to his sublime "Nashville" album from 1997. Backed by an ultra-hip band - pedal-steel artisan Greg Leisz, bassist Viktor Krauss, organ grinder Wayne Horvitz, and drum legend Jim Keltner - Frisell has forged originals whose folky melodies and big-sky grooves make them seem like old friends in snazzy new clothes. Tellingly, the outfit channels the traditional "Shenandoah" with Ry Cooder in tow, and its sepia-toned melancholy pairs perfectly with Frisell's dusty ballads, like the gem "Cadillac 1959."
- Billboard
"As a composer, Frisell seems to have located his center. Once as eclectic and mercurial as downtown New York contemporaries like John Zorn, he now devotes himself to building seamless and personal collages of 20th-century Americana. The only cover on Good Dog is a shimmering meditation on "Shenandoah," performed here as a duet with an exceptionally introspective Ry Cooder, but all these tracks are derived from folk and folk-jazz and blues sources. And all of them glow."
- LA Weekly
Wed 23 October
11.00 am
Rory Gallagher Music Library
City Library
Grand Parade
He's going to walk us through Bill Frisell - Good Dog, Happy Man
Philip Watson is jazz writer for the Irish Times and an experienced journalist who has contributed a wide variety of articles to newspapers and magazines in Ireland and Britain. His biography of guitarist Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer, was published by Faber in 2022.
(philipwatson.info)
Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music
The definitive biography of guitar icon and Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Frisell.
Featuring exclusive listening sessions with: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
‘A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America’s true living cultural treasures.’
John Zorn
‘The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.’
Mojo
‘Outlines the subject’s life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.’
Irish Times
Bill Frisell Biography:
Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as "the best recorded output of the decade."
In recent years, Frisell has forged a distinctive and fruitful collaboration with the Blue Note label, releasing Harmony, Valentine and Four to great acclaim.
"Frisell has had a lot of practice putting high concept into a humble package. Long hailed as one of the most distinctive and original improvising guitarists of our time, he has also earned a reputation for teasing out thematic connections with his music... There’s a reason that Jazz at Lincoln Center had him program a series called Roots of Americana." - New York Times
Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012. He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, Meet the Composer among others. In 2016, he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors in 2013, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors. Bill is the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth, as well as an extensive biography by Philip Watson, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music.
Good Dog, Happy Man
Bill Frisell - electric and acoustic guitars, loops and music boxes
Greg Leisz - pedal steel, Dobro, lap steel, Weissenborn, National steel guitar and mandolin
Wayne Horvitz - organ, piano, samples
Viktor Krauss - bass
Jim Keltner - drums & percussion
special guest on Shenandoah:
Ry Cooder - guitar
produced by Lee Townsend
recording and mixing engineer: Judy Clapp
mastering engineer: Greg Calbi
Nonesuch Records 1999
Reviews:
"Bill Frisell makes such consistently great records that it would be easy to take the guitarist for granted. That would be sad, since no one refracts age-old Americana through a cutting-edge prism with the warm-hearted, fleet-minded individuality of Frisell. With "Good Dog, Happy Man," he has crafted one of his earthiest essays yet - a sort of funky follow-up to his sublime "Nashville" album from 1997. Backed by an ultra-hip band - pedal-steel artisan Greg Leisz, bassist Viktor Krauss, organ grinder Wayne Horvitz, and drum legend Jim Keltner - Frisell has forged originals whose folky melodies and big-sky grooves make them seem like old friends in snazzy new clothes. Tellingly, the outfit channels the traditional "Shenandoah" with Ry Cooder in tow, and its sepia-toned melancholy pairs perfectly with Frisell's dusty ballads, like the gem "Cadillac 1959."
- Billboard
"As a composer, Frisell seems to have located his center. Once as eclectic and mercurial as downtown New York contemporaries like John Zorn, he now devotes himself to building seamless and personal collages of 20th-century Americana. The only cover on Good Dog is a shimmering meditation on "Shenandoah," performed here as a duet with an exceptionally introspective Ry Cooder, but all these tracks are derived from folk and folk-jazz and blues sources. And all of them glow."
- LA Weekly
Wed 23 October
11.00 am
Rory Gallagher Music Library
City Library
Grand Parade
Last edited:
