Bill Frisell’s newest album, Orchestras, is a double set that pairs the guitarist and his seasoned trio with both the Brussels Symphony and the Italian jazz ensemble Umbria. The trio improvises as the ensembles play arrangements that allow them to move with – and react to – the Trio.
Jazz guitar with orchestrations stirs memories going back to his late-’60s high school years in Denver, when he heard Wes Montgomery playing “Bumpin’ on Sunset,” orchestrated and arranged by Claus Ogerman.
“That was a huge turning point for me, hearing Wes at that moment, when I was really fired up about music but hadn’t heard much jazz.”
Before his unexpected death, Montgomery was set to headline a 1968 Newport Jazz Festival tour stop in Denver. Frisell attended anyway, and discovered vibraphonist Gary Burton’s innovative jazz-rock quartet with Larry Coryell. “My mind was blown… wide open,” he says.
On Burton-Coryell albums, he discovered composer/conductor/arranger Michael Gibbs.
“He had written a lot of music they were playing and there was a sound – the harmonies and the melodies and stuff I’d never heard.”
While studying at Berklee a few years later, Frisell learned that Gibbs was teaching there. So, he studied with him and played in a band organized by Gibbs. They became friends who then toured Europe and worked together in New York.
“You see how long the hook (is), and what a huge impact he’s had on my life – my sense of melody and harmony.”
That led to Orchestras. A Belgian jazz promoter proposed the Brussels Philharmonic to Frisell, while an Italian jazz promoter suggested Umbria. Frisell and his trio would play his standards and new material, enhanced by Gibbs’ flexible arrangements.
“He listens to me a lot, and I listen to him a lot. And then just trusting, being able to take a chance. There was no fear involved. It’s not like, ‘Oh, God, we’re gonna make a mistake!’ None of that stuff – just an invitation to go for it.”
The pandemic caused multiple postponements. Once things cleared, Frisell, the trio, and Gibbs did the sessions in a similar time frame.
I’m so lucky with Blue Note that they’re so supportive of whatever I’ve got goin’ on,” he said. “They wanted to put the whole thing out.”
Frisell favorites “Monica Jane,” “Strange Meeting,” and others were augmented by new material including “Lush Life,” bassist Ron Carter’s “Doom,” and “Nocturne Vulgaire.”
He happily recalls recording live with the Brussels orchestra and conductor Alexander Hanson.
“We were completely free. I remember the first rehearsal, and we didn’t have any charts. There were no rules, so we could (enter) this amazing wonderland and just go whichever way we wanted.
“I felt like (Hanson) was so in tune with the way we were playing, phrasing, his sense of rhythm and ability to translate that to that large group was really great. That doesn’t always happen. It’s another thing that just lined up in a good way.”
Umbria gave them a more jazz-centric setting with leader Manuela Morbidini.
“It wasn’t like he was conducting, so it was much more intimate, where the whole band is just listening,” Frisell recalled. “So it’s more like playing in a small group. “
Frisell’s crystalline tone derives from his skill and choices in gear, along with foregoing most of the effects pedals he uses so skillfully in other settings.
“When I travel, I carry my guitar and a few pedals,” he said. “I don’t take an amp. I usually rent a Deluxe Reverb reissue; I need just my guitar with a little bit of reverb. I used tremolo only a couple times.”
He used a Strymon Flint Reverb pedal, noting, “If I only had one pedal, that would be it.”
On the album’s closing rendition of “We Shall Overcome,” he used a Jam Rattler pedal for fuzztone.
In Brussels, he relied on a single-cut solidbody made for him by former Fender Master Builder J.W. Black. The neck pickup is a Lindy Fralin humbucker with staggered polepieces. Recording with Umbria, he used a Collings I-30 with humbuckers that he’s particularly fond of.
His strings are D’Addario Chromes from .011 through .052, with one twist. “The normal set has a wound G, but on Telecasters I usually change it to an unwound .020 G.”
Orchestras is a celebration of his collaboration and friendship with Gibbs, who is now 86.
“I always feel if I play a chord or a note, he’s hearing this sort of halo. It has a way of expanding everything that I play.”
This article originally appeared in VG’s July 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
