Bill Friesell: A Portrait

Bill Frisell: A Portrait

USA 2017

Films on artists are always a problem ... because you and I get really tired of the ego side of things that most of these are about, and when you see a "portrait" on Bill Frisell, it's interesting that it's not tiring ... you get calmed down, and all you can do, is enjoy the music and how he delivers it, and hearing some folks talk about playing with him, is kinda exciting ... and then, wondering how they approach this, from a jazz style, probably more from an improvisation style than a jazz or rock ideas or idioms, which also show up in many of the moments ... and best of all, sometimes Bill's reaction to it ... and not knowing what they did until it was over.

Through his words, and playing, this documentary comes alive, and it becomes special in many ways ... and this is one person that lives for the live music and its "nature" and is not concerned with any other aspects of it that we know about, however his mind flies a lot, and the likelyhood is that he creates a musical escape off a visual, and what some folks might consider was/is an inner quiet space ... and it is obvious that he has learned to work with it, but above all, and a comment that shows up in an interview with Emma Franz, is that he does not play his instrument facing the audience, and this is an important thing ... his "clue" is about listening to his band so he can "reply" and add to the music at that very second, and facing the audience sometimes, means you are concentrating on the players and their playing, not the audience ... and you know this is a problem with fan oriented music and top ten ... you face them, not your musicians, which they consider disrespectful!

Interesting here is that three of his interviewers were musicians themselves ... Jim Hall, Paul Motian and John Abercrombie ... and they all provide a nice touch here and there to the music while talking about.

And the other funny comment is that at the start someone makes a comment that the music is not like a lot of contemporary music that must have this and that and some emotional jumps ... basically, there is no "drama" here and in the end, you see a man that is not about the usual things that we think inspire an artist, writer or painter ... he's just a quiet, and nice guy ... and everyone likes him.

Really telling what this is about and why he doesn't face the audience, is one of the ending pieces ... and his communication with the drummer, a veritable lesson in music to many people ... one is working with the other, and this drummer knows how to add something to help bring Bill to his next step and moment ... and it is truly exceptional.

I think you have to be a music lover, in order to appreciate this ... because it is a very nice look at improvisation and how you work on and with it ... and in one moment he just says to a cello player, go ahead and play and I will just add to it ... and he proceeds to do so ... and you would never have imagined that this was not setup or composed! 

I think this is something that he learned in his days with some ECM folks, many of whom are/were masters of improvisation, and a style that most listeners can not handle very well ... to the point that some online boards in their particular subjects consider this kind of work "meandering" and having no value musically at all ... to me, one of the saddest comments that comes from a pop music background and not a MUSIC background, and seeing Bill do this with an orchestra, and in this example, with a cello player, just shows that for him, music is not just about the notes, and I'm guessing it is about the visual side of things that his mind follows in creating these moments ... I doubt that this is the case in a live format, where the listening value and working with value is way more important, since there is no time for "visual", however, some one else's playing may incur a visual that allows you to follow, and you can assume that Bill catches this quickly ... and in that ending sequence, you can tell that listening and working with that drummer, is what this is all about.

A really nice and unusual look at someone's music, and youo get the desire to see more of these ... specially from ECM artists and the more unusual jazz artists ... because what carries them, is not what we think more often than not.

Lovely work, and really well done.

5 GIBLOONS

Directed by Emma Franz

Written by Emma Franz

Cinematography by Emma Franz

With Joey Baron, Brian Camello, Neals Cline, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Frisell, Michael Gibbs, Jim Hall, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon and others