My review of Emma Franz's documentary film, Bill Frisell: A Portrait, premiering this week at SXSW, today at All About Jazz.
Not long after the film Bill Frisell: A Portrait begins to roll, Bonnie Raitt - one of the many high profile names that lend their thoughts about one of the most influential guitarists and composers of the past forty years to the film, in this guitarist/singer/songwriter's case, having enlisted him as a guest on her last two albums (2012's Grammy Award-winning Slipstream and 2016 follow-up Dig in Deep - describes Frisell as ..."a unifying force amongst so many different musicians. I don't know that many people, in as wide a range of styles of music, that have as much respect for anybody as they do for Bill. He's universally loved."
Not long afterwards, producer Hal Willner - with whom Frisell has worked on many projects, including the guitarist's own Grammy-winning Unspeakable (Nonesuch, 2004) - expands upon the profound respect, admiration and love that he and many other share when it comes to Frisell and his music.
So, it's clear that Bill Frisell is a guitarist, composer and multiple bandleader who may be the nicest, most admirable guy - not just in jazz, but in music, period. But Bill Frisell: A Portrait - Emma Franz's captivating two-hour documentary about an artist who, at a healthy-looking age 65, is a long way from finished but, with hundreds of recorded appearances and a personal discography of nearly forty albums, is long overdue this kind of detailed look--reveals so much about Frisell the musician and the man. A deep thinker who nevertheless tries, when he plays and composes, not to think too much, Frisell may also be one of the most humble, generous and honest artists on any scene, and the beauty of Franz's film is that it comes about as close to capturing just who he is as anyone who has had the pleasure of getting to know him to even a small degree will know.
Continue reading here...
Bookmarks