Building on his unusually tight rapport with bassist Thomas Morgan, best displayed on a pair of duet ECM releases (Small Town and Epistrophy), guitarist Bill Frisell unveils a new trio with Morgan and the versatile drummer Rudy Royston. Frisell and Royston first played together on a 1996 Ron Miles session, and Royston has joined the guitarist on a number of projects over the years, sometimes with Morgan also on board. After a couple of years on the road, Valentine is their first release as a trio, and it’s a winner. The lead off track, Boubacar Traore’s Baba Drame, is a longtime favorite of Frisell’s. The tune first appeared on his 2003 album The Intercontinentals, was on McCoy Tyner’s Guitars set with Frisell as guest, and was revisited on Frisell’s 2007 live album History, Mystery. Here it’s an occasion for intricate interplay. That’s pretty much the vibe all the way through this set. Frisell composed most of the music for this outing, relying on simple structures, and using the ingenuity of his bandmates to bring them to life. Particularly fine is the title track with its vaguely boppish melody and a jazzy arrangement that includes leaves space for a beautifully contoured bass solo and a series of solos traded by Frisell and Royston. Another deep pleasure is the somber and atmospheric Levees, originally composed for a film soundtrack and lovingly repurposed by the trio. Then there’s their reinvention of Billy Strayhorn’s timelessly beautiful A Flower is a Lovesome Thing, taken at just the right tempo to revel in the song’s melodic and harmonic contours. Morgan’s lovely solo is shadowed by gentle chords from Frisell and tender brush work by Royston. You wouldn’t think that the title song of the 1934 Western Wagon Wheels, co-written by Billy Hill and Peter DeRose would make a decent vehicle for improvisation, but it was a favorite of the Tommy Dorsey big band in the Forties, then famously recorded by Sonny Rollins for his 1957 Way Out West album. The version here is led off by Morgan with a straight-forward reading of the melody. Shimmering guitar by Frisell and a happy loping tempo by an understated Royston complete the picture. Frisell’s Aunt Mary is curious, with two minutes of gentle melody followed by a minute of unclassifiable electronic sound. Frisell has been playing What the World Needs Now is Love for years in concert settings, but this is the first time he’s recorded it. The Burt Bacharach and Hal David song was a massive hit for Jackie DeShannon in 1965. It’s clear from the trio’s approach to the song that David’s lyrics and message are as important as Bacharach’s typically inventive music. Following What the World Needs Now are Where Do We Go?, with Frisell’s one turn here on acoustic guitar on a mellow blues, and the gospel song We Shall Overcome performed with a simple and peaceful feeling. Together, they form a social justice trilogy to end the set. In discussing this band with David Hajdu for the liner notes, Frisell likens the experience to a dream where “you're on the edge of a cliff, and you know on a certain level that it's a dream, so you can just jump off ... All three of us could take big chances, and we'd always be rescued. It's about the trust that makes risks possible.” Is he talking about music, or life itself? Both, I’d say. Absolutely recommended.
Blue Note; Bill Frisell (el g; ac g on *) Thomas Morgan (b) Rudy Royston (d); Portland, OR, no dates specified; Baba Drame/ Hour Glass/ Valentine/ Levees/ Winter Always Turns to Spring/ Keep Your Eyes Open/ A Flower is a Lovesome Thing/ Electricity/ Wagon Wheels/ Aunt Mary/ What the World Needs Now is Love/ Where Do We Go?*/ We Shall Overcome; 65:33. www.bluenote.com
