Bill Frisell & Greg Leisz * 2/14/07 * Bellingham
26/Nov/2007 |
Americana
Guitarist Bill Frisell and pedal steel player Greg Leisz playing selections from Frisell's vast repertoire and a few surprising covers in the intimate setting of Bellingham, Washington's Nightlight Lounge on Valentine's Day, 2007. Recorded by DJ Fundi on a minidisk, front row, stage left.
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"Quaint yet bracingly stimulating, guitarists Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz have developed a rapport that appears to envelope all the good things about instrumental duets. They back each other up, present fascinating melodic passages, echo each other's lines, push each other to the outside of a tune and then rein each other in -- these two do everything except flashy solos. And in a setting such as Largo that demands audience focus (Frisell's L.A. gigs often are not on a mainstream routing map), Frisell may have found the best place possible to present his eclectic yet often hushed music.
Their program of largely improvised music displayed an indebtedness to 1930s country, '60s rock, '70s experimentalism and a few periods in between, with Frisell alternating between electric and acoustic guitars while Leisz played several guitars held on the lap and played flat with a slide.
After starting with sounds that alternated between church bells and derivations of a busy phone signal, Frisell switched his guitar to a more standard sound, allowing Leisz to sweep in on pedal steel and provide a Hawaiian cowboy texture. Each piece had its own exotic combination of flavors -- a little distortion, a rumbling reverb, a very bright use of the dobro -- as the men countered each other's moves with gentleness and elegance.
Frisell's album, "The Willies," his 16th for Nonesuch, is a trio date that explores old-time country and bluegrass. It's not far from Frisell's bailiwick -- even though he was once named artist of the year by jazz publication Down Beat -- and it should be a stunner on par with his "Nashville" disc. Leisz, whose resume includes stints in the bands of Dave Alvin and k.d. lang plus countless L.A. sessions, joined Frisell's quintet for 1999's "Good Dog, Happy Man" and his presence here certainly accounted for the abundance of country flavorings. It has long been a mystery why Leisz, who plays so many instruments so well, hasn't been inked to a solo deal, even if only for one record like, say, the L.A. studio legend of the 1950s and '60s, Lloyd Glenn. The time is clearly right for Leisz to take the spotlight."
--Excerpted from a 2002 concert review published by Variety.
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