History, Mystery

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DescriptionExcerpt

On this two-disc set, Frisell re-assembles material he composed for the theatre piece Mysterio Sympatico and NPR's Stories from the Heart of the Land. Performing with an octet, Frisell "plays electric guitar with serene assurance" (New York Times).

Description

Grammy Award–winning guitarist, composer, and bandleader Bill Frisell’s History, Mystery was released on May 13, 2008. After back-to-back trio albums, this two-disc set finds Frisell performing and recording again with a large band. 

History, Mystery features an octet of strings, horns, and rhythm section with some of Frisell’s closest collaborators—Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang, (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Ron Miles (cornet), Greg Tardy (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Tony Scherr (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums). History, Mystery debuts many recent Frisell compositions as well as a few of his arrangements of favorite pieces by other songwriters, ranging in style from soul pioneer Sam Cooke to jazzmen Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz. Producer Lee Townsend and engineer Shawn Pierce recorded the group in various combinations and contexts, live and in the studio.

The original compositions on the album were born from and inspired by collaborations with visual artist and fellow Seattle resident Jim Woodring. One such collaboration, “Mysterio Simpatico,” was premiered at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in June of 2002. The two later presented “Probability Cloud,” which appears in parts on the first disc, at Zankel Hall in New York in January of 2006. In a review of the performance, the New York Times wrote, “Both Mr. Frisell and Mr. Woodring make the familiar unfamiliar. In Mr. Frisell's compositions, cozy, archetypal Americana—country tunes, blues, waltzes—is slowed down, melted at the edges, eerily reharmonized or disassembled and contemplated part by part.”

Townsend says, “History, Mystery explores a fuller palette of orchestral colors and timbres than for any project Bill has done before. Thematic elements recur throughout the album, furthering its symphonic sensibility.”

In a career that spans more than 30 years and 100-plus recordings, Bill Frisell has been hailed by the Washington Post as “not only one of the most inventive jazz guitarists of his generation, but also one of the most versatile and prolific.” The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, “like Miles Davis and few others, his signature is built from pure sound and inflection; an anti-technique that is instantly identifiable.” Frisell’s recordings over the last decades span a wide range of musical influences, from Buster Keaton film scores (The High Sign / One Week, Go West), to Gary Larson cartoon soundtracks (Quartet), to original compositions for extended ensemble with horns (This Land, Blues Dream) and collaborations with the acclaimed rhythm section of bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer Jim Keltner (Gone, Just Like a Train and Good Dog, Happy Man). Other releases include an album with Nashville musicians (Nashville), the solo album Ghost Town, an album of his arrangements of songs by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach (The Sweetest Punch), a trio album with jazz legends Dave Holland and Elvin Jones, and a collection of American traditional songs and original compositions inspired by them entitled The Willies. Unspeakable, produced by Hal Willner, won a Grammy in 2005. DownBeat has cited his catalog, including more than 20 recordings for Nonesuch, as “the best recorded output of the decade.”

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Lee Townsend
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Shawn Pierce
Mastering Engineer: Greg Calbi
Recorded at Avast 2, Seattle; Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC; Hopkins Center, Hanover, New Hampshire; and Berklee Performance Center, Boston
Mixed at Avast 2, Seattle
Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York
Additional mixing and editing: Adam Muñoz
Production assistance:  Adam Blomberg
Assistant Engineers: Cathy Ferrante, Austin Sousa and Cameron Nicklaus
Live Sound: Claudia Engelhart

All compositions by Bill Frisell (Friz-Tone Music/BMI), except: “Baba Drame” by Boubacar Traore (Label Bleu/SACEM), “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke (ABKCO Music Inc/BMI), “Jacky-ing” by Thelonious Monk (Thelonious Music Corp/BMI), “Sub-Conscious Lee” by Lee Konitz (Konitz Music/BMI)

Design by Barbara deWilde
Cover photographs by Russell Lee

Nonesuch Selection Number

435964

Number of Discs in Set
2discs
ns_album_artistid
38
ns_album_id
727
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
Bill Frisell
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Bill Frisell, electric and acoustic guitars, loops
Ron Miles, cornet
Greg Tardy, tenor saxophone, clarinet
Jenny Scheinman, violin
Eyvind Kang, viola
Hank Roberts, cello
Tony Scherr, bass
Kenny Wollesen, drums

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597994377BUN
Label
MP3
Price
14.00
UPC
075597994353
  • 435964

News & Reviews

  • "This is my reaction to being assaulted by information," composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire says of his Nonesuch debut album, Owl Song, due December 15, featuring a trio with two musicians he has long admired, guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Herlin Riley. "This record is me wanting to create a safe space. Part of the challenge was: Can I create something that's oriented around open space, the way some of the records I love the most do?" You can hear "Owl Song 1" here now. The New York Times says: "Akinmusire has been making some of the most intimate, spellbinding music of his career." Pitchfork has called his work "music that seeks peace not just despite a world of unrest, but within it."

  • Ahead of the long-awaited world premiere of Omar, the opera composed by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, next Friday, Giddens has released her own recording of the song “Julie’s Aria” from the opera. The recording was made by Giddens with guitarist Bill Frisell and her frequent collaborator Francesco Turrisi. Omar is based on the life and autobiography of enslaved Muslim scholar Omar Ibn Said, who was forcefully brought to Charleston from Africa in 1807. “My work as a whole is about excavating and shining a light on pieces of history that not only need to be seen and heard," Giddens says, "but that can also add to the conversation about what’s going on now. This is a story that hasn’t been represented in the operatic world—or in any world.” Omar will also be performed by LA Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Buy Now

  • About This Album

    Grammy Award–winning guitarist, composer, and bandleader Bill Frisell’s History, Mystery was released on May 13, 2008. After back-to-back trio albums, this two-disc set finds Frisell performing and recording again with a large band. 

    History, Mystery features an octet of strings, horns, and rhythm section with some of Frisell’s closest collaborators—Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang, (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Ron Miles (cornet), Greg Tardy (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Tony Scherr (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums). History, Mystery debuts many recent Frisell compositions as well as a few of his arrangements of favorite pieces by other songwriters, ranging in style from soul pioneer Sam Cooke to jazzmen Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz. Producer Lee Townsend and engineer Shawn Pierce recorded the group in various combinations and contexts, live and in the studio.

    The original compositions on the album were born from and inspired by collaborations with visual artist and fellow Seattle resident Jim Woodring. One such collaboration, “Mysterio Simpatico,” was premiered at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in June of 2002. The two later presented “Probability Cloud,” which appears in parts on the first disc, at Zankel Hall in New York in January of 2006. In a review of the performance, the New York Times wrote, “Both Mr. Frisell and Mr. Woodring make the familiar unfamiliar. In Mr. Frisell's compositions, cozy, archetypal Americana—country tunes, blues, waltzes—is slowed down, melted at the edges, eerily reharmonized or disassembled and contemplated part by part.”

    Townsend says, “History, Mystery explores a fuller palette of orchestral colors and timbres than for any project Bill has done before. Thematic elements recur throughout the album, furthering its symphonic sensibility.”

    In a career that spans more than 30 years and 100-plus recordings, Bill Frisell has been hailed by the Washington Post as “not only one of the most inventive jazz guitarists of his generation, but also one of the most versatile and prolific.” The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, “like Miles Davis and few others, his signature is built from pure sound and inflection; an anti-technique that is instantly identifiable.” Frisell’s recordings over the last decades span a wide range of musical influences, from Buster Keaton film scores (The High Sign / One Week, Go West), to Gary Larson cartoon soundtracks (Quartet), to original compositions for extended ensemble with horns (This Land, Blues Dream) and collaborations with the acclaimed rhythm section of bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer Jim Keltner (Gone, Just Like a Train and Good Dog, Happy Man). Other releases include an album with Nashville musicians (Nashville), the solo album Ghost Town, an album of his arrangements of songs by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach (The Sweetest Punch), a trio album with jazz legends Dave Holland and Elvin Jones, and a collection of American traditional songs and original compositions inspired by them entitled The Willies. Unspeakable, produced by Hal Willner, won a Grammy in 2005. DownBeat has cited his catalog, including more than 20 recordings for Nonesuch, as “the best recorded output of the decade.”

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Bill Frisell, electric and acoustic guitars, loops
    Ron Miles, cornet
    Greg Tardy, tenor saxophone, clarinet
    Jenny Scheinman, violin
    Eyvind Kang, viola
    Hank Roberts, cello
    Tony Scherr, bass
    Kenny Wollesen, drums

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Lee Townsend
    Recording and Mixing Engineer: Shawn Pierce
    Mastering Engineer: Greg Calbi
    Recorded at Avast 2, Seattle; Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC; Hopkins Center, Hanover, New Hampshire; and Berklee Performance Center, Boston
    Mixed at Avast 2, Seattle
    Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York
    Additional mixing and editing: Adam Muñoz
    Production assistance:  Adam Blomberg
    Assistant Engineers: Cathy Ferrante, Austin Sousa and Cameron Nicklaus
    Live Sound: Claudia Engelhart

    All compositions by Bill Frisell (Friz-Tone Music/BMI), except: “Baba Drame” by Boubacar Traore (Label Bleu/SACEM), “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke (ABKCO Music Inc/BMI), “Jacky-ing” by Thelonious Monk (Thelonious Music Corp/BMI), “Sub-Conscious Lee” by Lee Konitz (Konitz Music/BMI)

    Design by Barbara deWilde
    Cover photographs by Russell Lee

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