Bill Frisell - A Portrait / documentary

Bill Frisell is widely credited as being one of the biggest influences on guitarists and the changing palette of guitar in the last few decades. A unique and masterful musician, prolific composer and bandleader, Grammy Award winner and Downbeat Guitarist of the Year for ten consecutive years, Frisell is recipient of countless accolades from critics and fans from all genres of music and corners of the globe. In a career that has thus far spanned hundreds of albums, with 45 in his own name, Frisell has managed to combine sonic mastery with jazz, country, folk, rock, blues, pop, avant-garde, and more, whilst always maintaining a uniquely identifiable sound.

This film paints a layered portrait of Frisell’s musical personality, conceptual ideas, and processes to provide not only a deeper understanding of the man, but also a how-and-why of high-level music creation. This is revealed through disarming, direct cinema-style footage of Frisell as he collaborates with a number of other significant artists, including Paul Motian, Joe Lovano, Joey Baron, Mike Gibbs, Jason Moran, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, artist Jim Woodring and others. Interwoven with these scenes and music performance is a type of musical investigation, as eminent artists including Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Jim Hall, Nels Cline, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter and John Zorn identify elements of his character, methods and technique that make Frisell’s playing unique.

Despite having already left an important stamp on music history, Frisell remains an eternal student, constantly self-challenging. Notoriously evasive of the limelight, Frisell is revealed to be a generous character of skill and depth. This film brings with full presence to the screen an anti-archetype of the guitar hero: a revered artist who rejects the conceit of showmanship and celebrity, who is not afraid to admit how much there is to learn, and as such remains relevant on the contemporary landscape, able to play across all genres and sound like a genre unto himself. This film is an important record of one of the significant artists of the late 20th / early 21st century.

 

film website: Bill Frisell: the film

 

The above documentary is now available for Blu-ray/DVD orders on the Bill Frisell: A Portrait website: HOME .

I sent an email to the site to see if the DVD contained any extras. I asked
"I was wondering if there will be any extra features on the Blu-Ray or DVD disc, such as other commentary, performance footage, etc.?" and got an answer from who I believe to be the director of the film. She said "No, unfortunately no extras. Finishing the film was complicated and costly enough with Music licence fees, permissions, etc. Perhaps one day in the future if someone decides to fund it."

Although I was hoping for some more performance footage, I placed my order. It'll be good to see the film, as the reviews I've seen have generally been good.

 

I definitely want to watch this. Thank you for posting it, starfieldroad!

 

Anyone else purchased one of these from the first batch? I believe I'm order number 54! Still waiting.

 

Awesome, thanks for posting! Looking forward to it.

 

Order Number: #00307. The website says the DVDs will ship in late January.

 

Just got a notice that my order has shipped!

 

Got a reply from Emma that they're still having problems with deliveries of the BluRay discs so even though I received a shipping notice, nothing has actually been shipped. She did give me a USPS tracking number which I check regularly but at the moment the tracking system is down. Most likely the fault of the FBI.

 

The Blu-ray has arrived here in NJ!

 

Mine arrived yesterday and I watched it last night. Interesting.

Bill is very humble, very talented, and realizes his limitations when it comes to putting his thoughts into words—and it shows! My initial thoughts are that I might have enjoyed more playing and less talking.

I just ordered the 2-cd album he made with Jim Hall; Hemispheres. I was not aware of it before this film.

 

I think the documentary touched on a lot of key people in Bill's life/career - it's certainly not a biopic (although it would have been nice to have a little bit of where he grew up, influences, etc.). The live footage leaves me wanting to see the complete performances, particularly the Motian/Lovano/Frisell shows at the Vanguard.
Overall, the documentary is a nice overview of some his more recent group activity.

 

In the middle of this movie portrait ,as I write.
This is Free on Amazon Prime.
It is a close up view of an American treasure.
Bill Frisell deserves every music lover's attention, IMO.

 

Great movie, bought the blu-ray. So many cool moments - love Frisell's guitars and how mortified he is to show them on camera. Joey Baron's stories are great. Agreed about seeing more of the Motian trio!

 

I need to watch this via Amazon Prime. Bill is one of my favorite guitarists...composers...musicians. That collage of album covers was full of greatness. His Quartet album is in my top ten favorite albums.

 

Just watched this, so good. I could listen to Bill play forever. Got to see him a bunch of times with Zorn and Naked Cuty, his quartet, duo with Lee Konitz.

 

Bill Frisell is great I like many of his albums.
Always adventurous

 

Funny that he says he does better before he knows what's going on. I saw him in a duo with Lee Konitz and they didn't have anything planned. Bill sort of shrugged and the two of them just started noodling off of each other. It eventually turned into an amazing version of Body & Soul.

I was sort of disheartened to hear that he and Joey weren't very fond of playing in Naked City. I loved that band and it was my introduction to Zorn, Frisell and my gateway to avant-garde jazz. Coming to Jazz from a Metal background it was the perfect place to start.

 

I felt that they were saying that Naked City took a lot of physical and mental energy, that was exhausting , and that they had reached as far as could go with the avant garde approach.
So they moved on.

 

I just rewatched that section of the doc and I didn't get at all that they were not fond of the Naked City experience. As mentioned, they were exhausted by it and no doubt they felt they were in foreign territory but I don't think it was a negative period for them. I think you can still hear aspects of the influence of that band in Bill's music for a few years after. It was not until he did "Nashville" that I felt he had truly worked the Zorn thing out of his system but some of that edge still lingers on here and there in his work.

 

I think they embraced it, but it wasn't their favorite thing. I guess I wanted them to say it was a blast, but I can see where it would be mentally and physically exhausting. The band ended because Zorn didn't see anywhere else to go with writing for that instrumentation. As I recall, the band was formed as a compositional exercise. Odd that it ended so 'quickly' when the Masada compositions have flowed freely for so many years.

I really really really really want him to revisit the Quartet. I know he likes to move around, but they only did the one album and it's just soooooo good. I was lucky enough to see them live twice and they played material that wasn't on the album. It's the kind of band that you want to hear play all your favorite tunes, just to see how they'd sound.

• Bill Frisell – electric and acoustic guitars

• Ron Miles – trumpet, piccolo trumpet

• Eyvind Kang – violin, tuba

• Curtis Fowlkes – trombone

 

I just took a buzz through Bill's discography...so much great music. Looks like I have about 65 of these...really need to catch up on the post Nonesuch era.

Bill Frisell discography - Wikipedia

 

whoa

Chantal Acda & Bill Frisell - Son (Live at Jazz Middelheim)
Glitterhouse Records



Glitterhouse present the live recording of a magic night -- the Dutch/Belgian chanteuse Chantal Acda in a duo-setting with Grammy award winning guitarist extraordinaire Bill Frisell. Captured in superb sound quality. Chantal Acda on the recording: "When I wrote the songs of my record, I dreamt to hear Bill's sounds on it. I thought this feeling would go away but it never did. So I decided to contact him to see if he would work with me and put the last pieces of the puzzle together on this record (Bounce Back, 2017). He liked the music so I flew to Seattle to record his wonderful guitar playing on the songs. Meeting him felt like coming home. And this connection was still so fresh in my memory when I arrived back to Belgium. We kept in touch by writing each other and sometimes he drew me funny faces. We were invited to play at the wonderful Jazz Middelheim festival and finally ended up on stage together. In the dressing room we quickly went through the songs but we kept all surprises for the stage. It was a wonderful experience for me. One of the highlights of my musical career. It wasn't meant to be recorded but it was. So listening back to these recordings we thought it would be nice to be able to share this with the people who were there but also the people who missed it and are curious to hear what happened. I truly hope you will enjoy these moments. These moments that will always stick with me."

Glitterhouse Records :: News

 

I love this documentary. Is there a list of the song snippets throughout the film?

 

I very much want Quartet and Gine Just Like a Train tj get vinyl releases. Two of his very best. Egg Radio on Quartet is the definitive/best take on that tune.