Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan share their freakish musical telepathy
Anyone who saw Bill Frisell at Sydney Conservatorium’s jazz festival would have marvelled at the telepathy he shares with bass player Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston.
Their majestic 90 minute set covered a range of styles and genres, from the unique bop of Thelonius Monk to Americana and heavy-hitting pop tunes like John Barry’s You Only Live Twice.
Now German prestige record label ECM has released an album, Epistrophy, featuring Frisell and Morgan’s beautiful double bass lines in duo. This follows on from their highly acclaimed Small Town offering from 2017.
The album takes its title from one of Monk’s quirky piano tunes, redolent with his unexpected turns of phrase, weird harmonies and bent timings, which Frisell with his Fender Telecaster and box of effects pulls off with apparent consummate ease.
Morgan seems to sense what Frisell is going to do even before Frisell himself knows it on all nine tracks, which were recorded live at New York’s Village Vanguard club, home of such jazz icons as John Coltrane, Sidney Bechet and Bill Evans among many others.
An example of Frisell’s magpie-like mind is the coupling of the Carter Family folk tear-jerker Wildwood Flower with the Drifters’ 1950s pop classic Save The Last Dance. This is followed by the cool jazz of Mumbo Jumbo the late Paul Motian, a drummer with whom Frisell played for many years.
ALCHEMY
Monk gets another outing with Pannonica and the traditional American tune Red River Valley is given the Frisell makeover.
This man simply cannot play an ugly note — his articulation and precision is amazing as he mixes harmonics with rich chords, effortless runs and tasteful use of loops, layers and delays.
His full alchemy is on display when it comes to You Only Live Twice in which he turns the famous descending phrase into a beautiful, mysterious prelude, accompanied by Morgan’s skipping, sometimes ecstatic bass riffs.
You can pick up Epistrophy for a bargain $18.39 at JB Hi-Fi.
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