The allusion of the title East/West is an apt one; this live double-CD set is a study in contrasts.
Recorded just six months apart with two different trios, Bill Frisell really shows both sides of his musical personality.
The "East" disc was recorded in December of 2003 at the Village Vanguard with Frisell on guitar (acoustic and electric) and loops, Tony Sherr on acoustic bass and a bit of acoustic guitar, and Kenny Wollesen on drums and percussion.
The program here consists largely of well-known standards with a couple brief improvisations and a single Frisell composition.
The "West" disc was recorded at Yoshi's in May of 2004 and features Frisell (guitars, loops), Viktor Krauss (acoustic bass), and, well, Kenny Wollesen on drums (no other percussion), but this time the program is half Frisell compositions, a couple pop songs, and the traditional "Shenandoah." On the "East" disc, only three of the ten tunes are longer than five minutes, but on the "West" disc only one track is shorter than eight minutes! The preponderance of standards on the "East" disc keeps the players mostly on the inside tip, even eliciting laughter from some audience members when Frisell hits the intro to the old warhorse "People" (to which he replies, "you think I'm joking or what?").
They do loosen up a bit at the end, for a wonderful arrangement of Willie Nelson's "Crazy" with two acoustic guitars and looping aural detritus, and there's a fun gallop through "Tennessee Flat Top Box." The group improvisations also add a bit of spark.
Folks who discovered Frisell in the late '90s with albums like Nashville are going to love this set.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Heard It Through the GrapevineBarrett Strong, Norman Whitfield | Bill Frisell | Play | 08:00 | 18 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Blues for Los AngelesBill Frisell | Bill Frisell | Play | 11:09 | 25 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | ShenandoahTraditional | Bill Frisell | Play | 12:05 | 27 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | BoubacarBill Frisell | Bill Frisell | Play | 06:22 | 14 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Pipe DownBill Frisell | Bill Frisell | Play | 10:50 | 24 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | A Hard Rain's A-Gonna FallBob Dylan | Bill Frisell | Play | 11:47 | 27 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | My Man's Gone NowGeorge Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward | Bill Frisell | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | The Days of Wine and RosesHenry Mancini, Johnny Mercer | Bill Frisell | Play | 09:20 | 21 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | You Can RunBill Frisell, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen | Bill Frisell | Play | 00:51 | 1 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Ron CarterBill Frisell | Bill Frisell | Play | 04:44 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | InterludeBill Frisell, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen | Bill Frisell | Play | 01:39 | 3 MB | 0 MB |
| 12 | Goodnight IreneHuddie Ledbetter, John A. Lomax | Bill Frisell | Play | 08:57 | 20 MB | 0 MB |
| 13 | The VanguardBill Frisell, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen | Bill Frisell | Play | 04:44 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 14 | PeopleBob Merrill, Jule Styne | Bill Frisell | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 15 | CrazyWillie Nelson | Bill Frisell | Play | 04:16 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 16 | Tennessee Flat Top BoxJohnny Cash | Bill Frisell | Play | 02:36 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 105 mins | 242 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karina Benznicki | Production Supervisor |
| 2 | Adam Blomberg | Production Assistant |
| 3 | Greg Calbi | Mastering |
| 4 | Eli Cane | Production Coordination |
| 5 | Johnny Cash | Composer |
| 6 | Jonathan Chi | Assistant Engineer |
| 7 | Bob Dylan | Composer |
| 8 | Claudia Engelhart | Engineer |
| 9 | Jon Evans | Editing |
| 10 | Mantis Evar | Assistant Engineer |
| 11 | Bill Frisell | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Loop, Loops, Main Personnel, Primary Artist |
| 12 | Monica Frisell | Photography |
| 13 | George Gershwin | Composer |
| 14 | Ira Gershwin | Composer |
| 15 | Ralph Gibson | Photography, Portraits |
| 16 | DuBose Heyward | Composer |
| 17 | Viktor Krauss | Bass, Bass Instrument, Main Personnel |
| 18 | Martin Lane | Production Assistant |
| 19 | Huddie Ledbetter | Composer |
| 20 | John A. Lomax | Composer |
| 21 | Henry Mancini | Composer |
| 22 | Tucker Martine | Engineer, Mixing |
| 23 | Johnny Mercer | Composer |
| 24 | Bob Merrill | Composer |
| 25 | Willie Nelson | Composer |
| 26 | Tony Scherr | Bass, Bass Instrument, Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Main Personnel |
| 27 | Barrett Strong | Composer |
| 28 | Jule Styne | Composer |
| 29 | Lee Townsend | Audio Production, Editing, Producer |
| 30 | Traditional | Composer |
| 31 | Robert Edridge Waks | Editorial Coordinator |
| 32 | Norman Whitfield | Composer |
| 33 | Barbara de Wilde | Design |
| 34 | Kenny Wollesen | Composer, Drums, Main Personnel, Percussion |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |