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Bill Frisell w/trio set for 'The Egg.' The guitarist interviews with Albany Times Union

Albany Times Union's R.J. DeLuke writes….Guitarist Bill Frisell starts with jazz, but wanders full music spectrum. It’s not enough to say he's is a brilliant guitarist, an influence in music and a hero to other guitarists — even other great ones. He is that, but more.

He’s one of the great stylists, and has the ability to move across any genre, which he freely does. Frisell can eat up fusion music, carve up rock, swing like mad or play a country western tune with grace and respect. His distinctive sound is often ethereal, even over a high-voltage rock or fusion background. His harmonic twists and turns run in unexpected directions, opening portholes to unexpected worlds.

His newest recording, “Orchestras,” has his band backed on some cuts by the Umbria Jazz Orchestra and on others by the Brussels Philharmonic. His other albums cover a scope of variety and inventiveness any musician could of envious of. And his music associations have matched him with people like collaborators such as Paul Motian, Charles Lloyd, John Zorn, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, Charlie Haden, Elvis Costello, Ron Carter, McCoy Tyner, Bonnie Raitt, Ginger Baker and Marianne Faithful.

His show on Saturday at The Egg in Albany will be his recent touring trio, Rudy Royster on drums and Luke Burton on the bass. The music will come from different recordings and depend on Frisell’s in-the-moment moods.

“With these guys, I have such a long history. We don’t really have a fixed set list or anything. So, it’s more about what’s happening that day,” he said. “It’s all based in songs that we know but every gig sort of becomes its own story. I don’t really want the songs to be the same way. It’s like, depending on what happened that day or the way we’re feeling. We have the structure to fall back on, but we can talk about what’s been going on.”

He added, “I feel lucky that there’s an audience that’s willing to go along with that. The most exciting thing for me is when we’re off the edge of what we know and we’re in some sort of new territory. And I think that’s the most exciting thing for the audience, too, rather than just rehashing some worked-out thing.”

Born in Baltimore and raised in Colorado, Frisell didn’t begin with guitar as his main instrument. He played, and excelled at, the clarinet. He had a passion for the blues, but also listened to British rock and surf music that was of his generation.

“I watched, ‘Leave It to Beaver’ on TV and ‘Bonanza’ and stuff, you know? So, there’s a point where I can’t pretend. I wasn’t hanging out with Charlie Parker. I love Charlie Parker, but I have to acknowledge my own time and the things that I know,” he said.

But the guitar fascinated him. His mother was taking him to an appointment to get his glasses in fourth grade. Frisell even recalls the street in Denver.

“And I saw a grown man with a suit on, walking down the street carrying a guitar case. And I thought, ‘Man that is amazing. He’s going to work to do his job, and that’s what his job is — playing the guitar.’ I just thought, ‘Man, that’s like, the coolest thing you could possibly do.’”

Frisell saved up his money to get an electric guitar. A band director knew and was putting together a jazz band for an event. He decided to let Frisell play. “I just remember this feeling of panic, like having a dream where you have an instrument that you don’t have. I remember that very first moment of trying to play my guitar in that jazz band setting and not knowing what in the world I was doing,” he said, adding a self-effacing, “and it kind of felt that same way this morning when I picked it up. I never can quite get it.”

As he learned and went to music school, including Berklee College of Music in Boston, the great guitarist Jill Hall was an influence and even gave him some lessons. Sonny Rollins’ and Miles Davis’ approaches to improvising also were influential, among others.

“And in that first lesson, (Hall) was talking about Sonny Rollins and how to develop an idea or a motif or playing a melody,” explained Frisell. Rollins “set an example for me, the way he would use music from his childhood or his neighborhood, or what he was hearing on the street, or what he saw in a movie, or whatever was going on around him.”

“Miles would be a huge, gigantic inspiration as far as where he places things,” he said. “People talk about space and how what you don’t play is just as important as what you do play. Also, his openness, his sense of melody … I wish I could play the way he plays.”

Frisell isn’t just jazz, however. He’s anything he wants to be, and his talent matches his sense of adventure and inventiveness.

“I feel like I’m coming from jazz,” he noted. “But jazz is the place for me where the whole world opened up. It’s like, ‘Wow, you can do anything here.’ It’s not a style you have to fit into. It’s a world where there’s no limits.”

Frisell, soft spoken, thoughtful and generous of spirit in demeanor, keeps up his fierce exploration in his playing and in his composing.

“In my band, I never feel comfortable with even the idea of being the leader or out front or whatever. The people that I’m playing with are all leaders. … So when we play we’re just doing it all together.

“It’s just the nature of music,” he added. “It doesn’t stand still. Every note I play, it’s like it’s asking you, ‘OK, what’s the next note you’re going to play, and how are you going to play it?’ And, you know, you never finish music. It just keeps pulling you or pushing you forward.”

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