A Talk with Bill Frisell Jazz guitarist-composer Bill Frisell discusses his craft
by Preston Jones
Bill Frisell's demeanor doesn't prepare you for his eclectic discography.
Soft-spoken and glacially contemplative, the 57-year-old guitarist/composer, who made his name in the field of jazz, has collaborated with everyone from U2 frontman Bono to noise maestro John Zorn, dabbling in a range of sounds that always push the envelope.
Bound only by his imagination, his sonic scope seems to know few limits.
Frisell's latest record, a 20-track, double-disc opus titled History, Mystery released in May, finds the artist embracing more of a classical sensibility, employing more strings and generally exploring an array of textures and colors.
The Star-Telegram briefly spoke with Frisell by phone at his Seattle home, as the avant-garde award winner (Frisell just picked up guitarist of the year honors at the 2008 Jazz Awards) discussed his craft and the public's persistent need for neat, tidy labels.
Star-Telegram: What specifically appeals to you about jazz?
Frisell: When I first started getting into it, what jazz meant to me was this place where anything was possible. You used whatever you had around you and made something with it. That's what I get from listening to all my heroes that I have that are in the jazz world -- Sonny Rollins or Thelonious Monk or Miles Davis -- they took their own life experience and just made something with it. So then for me ...whatever things came up in my life ...it just seems like jazz, it's a thing that I can use to filter all that information.
Star-Telegram: With the increased compartmentalization of music, does it seem as though people want to be clear about what they're hearing?
Frisell: I'm not even sure if that comes from listeners or comes more from the people that are selling the music [laughs]. It seems like when you sell it, you need to have a name for it, but when ...you really are listening, you're not thinking about what it's called. Whether you're playing or listening, if you're really deep into the music, you're just off into that world, you're not thinking, "Oh, this is jazz."
Star-Telegram: What's the primary engine for your creativity?
Frisell: It's just there -- something I can't help -- that I don't even know if I could explain. It's got to be something, just a normal, human thing -- it seems like something kind of out of my hands. I've been doing it for a long time -- I'm a stubborn person; when I got interested in music when I was young, part of it is being persistent, I just stayed with it. I guess other people move around from one thing to another, but I just kind of stuck with this one thing.
Star-Telegram: You've been around music from an early age. Can you imagine a life without it?
Frisell: That is hard to imagine, I don't know what I would do. It seems like it's sort of saved me somehow. Sometimes I think there are certain things human beings do that are coming from the same instinct, like drawing or painting or just doing anything, like building a table or something. There's a human ...just an instinct to do these things -- it's all coming from the same place. If I didn't do music, I'd have to do something like that.
