siLLy puPPy BILL FRISELL is best known for his role as a jazz guitarist releasing dozens of albums since the early 80s and also incorporating aspects of both American country and folk. He’s also known for the effects he uses to eke out unique sounds of his instruments and one of those musicians who did the whole music college shtick with a large academic padding under his belt.

On his 18th album GHOST TOWN one would be hard-pressed to hear all these creds on board however. On this one we have FRISELL handling all instrumental duties as he strums away on electric and acoustic guitars, a 6-string banjo, bass and some loop effects. This music is slow and twangy with usually one stringed instrument harmonizing with another. It has an old time folk meets country feel from the roots of some early 20th century rural area and the tones of the respective instruments are quite pleasant.

My impression of this album is that it is way too mellow for its own good and that all the tracks start sounding the same after another and what this music reminds me of the most is the kind of soundtrack music that you would hear on one of the PBS documentaries, like the kind of Ken Burns where nice inoffensive music is rolling in the background while a narrator recounts the history of the steam engine or something. Overall i’m left underwhelmed by this one although this would work very well if you want some innocuous soundtrack music for doll making or something.

js It seems that over the years Bill Frisell has drifted further from the world of new jazz and fusion, and more into a one man genre of his own making, something that might best be called “Nostalgic Americana”. In this new ‘genre’, Frisell has positioned himself alongside such classic ‘twangy’ guitarists like Tommy Tedesco, Duane Eddy and Chet Atkins. So it is more or less within this style that Frisell presents his new CD, “When You Wish Upon a Star”, a collection of music from classic movies and TV shows, a trip down memory lane so to speak.

The music on here is a real mixed bag, tracks from “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Psycho”, “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “The Godfather” and “The Bad and the Beautiful” present sophisticated arrangements that Frisell’s small ensemble handles with sensitivity and modern creativity. Despite the small group, Bill’s cohorts do a great job with their orchestrations and manage to sound much fuller than five people. Special mention should go to the subtle wordless vocals of Petra Haden. On the negative side, there are other cuts that might seem trite or downright corny, for instance; “Bonanza”, "Moon River", “Happy Trails”, and a few others. After a while it becomes obvious that the real make or break for this CD is how attached one might be to movie themes and that whole attractive nostalgia that tends to surround classic movie culture. In short, those who might want to make a big bowl of popcorn and grab a box of Kleenexes for the inevitable misty eyes will find a lot to like here, “When You Wish Upon a Star” presents the perfect atmosphere for such rememberances, but if you are looking for some new jazz, you best mosy along pardner.

snobb Bill Frisell's solo albums for some years are competent,but quite predictable. Great musician found his own sound of semi-acoustic relaxed mid tempo fusion,heavily based on Americana.Usually if you liked it once you will like his every next album, they are so different from others (but so similar between each other).

The Intercontinentals are quite different album for Frisell - he's seriously uses world music there. But the difference is again ob very his own manner:album is very aerial,relaxed mid-tempo fusion again,even with some dose of Americana almost in every song. The main difference is his international band plays music,rooted in African,Eastern or South European tradition (heavily mixing it with so well known Frisell.

It's interesting,that even if the difference between The Intercontinentals and many other more classic Frisell's albums are quite obvious, you will need some listening just to get it. The main reason is possibly that so specific Frisell's musical techniques,when even not musical material is matter. Working with different musical material Frisell put his signature on final result,you can't make a mistake - it's Frisell's music first of all.Even if you will hear some funk or Brazilian vocals on one or another composition.

I believe Bill's journey to world music is really positive change - his music became too predictable last years,he really needed some new ideas and sounds. Happily,new material (of unusual for him origin) didn't change his music radically, just added some new spices in old good dish.