Live
Bill Frisell Four ! Ronnie Scott’s 21/072023
The last time I saw Bill Frisell was 10 years ago reinterpreting John Lennon, suffice to say I was mesmerised. Tonight, ramped up by the acclaim of his current Blue Note album ‘Four’, he was ready to deliver a quiet storm.
He plays quieter than I remembered and his band likewise, lulled the audience into his secret world, a sonic, seductive space. The mesmeric opener had a modal Miles ‘All Blues’ feel mixed with Americana but his style can also shift at a metabolic rate. A quirky 12/8 groove from reactive drummer, Rudy Royston picked up the momentum as Greg Tardy started one of his serpentine tenor solos , gears were changing. Frisell’s tremeloed comping added filmic qualities to the blistering piano improv of Gerald Clayton, another deadly player. This is music to close your eyes to and drink it in.
Frisell has quietly gone about building his own mythic universe and by segueing the tunes, the nuances ebbed and flowed, bathed in swathes of dreamy tenderness.
He and the band positively teem with good ideas resulting in a genuinely unique cocktail of styles that are ceaselessly unpredictable. To my ears there’s a strong element of Gershwin adorned with petal like guitar shapes.
His repertoire came mainly from his third album which offered us fresh interpretations of originals from previous recordings, as well as new compositions. Suffice to say, the ensemble cameraderie is strong tonight and there is a reverential, hushed silence. There’s playfulness too, especially when Tandy’s clarinet appears and one thing for sure, BF is a generous bandleader with the bandwidth, so to speak - he’s the ultimate team player allowing others to shine especially on the penultimate tune, a rip roaring jazz blues. Here everyone puts in a gargantuan shift - solos wise.
Finishing of (before the encore) with Bacharach’s ‘What The World Needs Now’ was a nice touch showing the stark immediacy, subtly confident and refreshingly, open minded style that puts this artist in a league of his own. Tonight, in the perfect surroundings of Ronnie Scott’s stars aligned. He is without doubt, a real touch of class to be savoured.
Words Emrys Baird
