Bill Frisell, Guitar in the Space Age!

I wanted to do a short review for this album because I thought it was pretty great for an eclectic jazz guitar record. Bill Frisell is well known in the jazz and guitar world and has played with many of the elder statesmen of jazz. Heck, he is an elder statesmen of jazz. This album is all covers of tunes he learned and/or knew about in his formative years learning guitar. Because the tunes go way back its almost an exercise in American popular guitar music. And that's why I think its so great.

In some ways you have to be a baby boomer to consider this one of Frisell's best recordings. I wouldn't go that far and say that is one of his best I've ever heard but I do think its a masterful recording, particularly the arrangements of the tunes. He does them all as instrumentals and does service to the songs rather than improvising in jazz vocabulary.

His guitar tone throughout the album is magnificent. There's even a tune where he sounds just like B.B King. Surfer Girl sounds like the Beach Boys as I know them. Rumble is as rock and roll as ever. He pulls off the tunes well and the musicians playing with him are equal part to the guitar.

Playing pop, rock, blues, folk, and country Americana tunes isn't exactly jazz but if done in a certain way it gives off cool vibes. Now I might want to learn some of these old tunes for myself. Bill Frisell's a great guitarist and his jazz work is incredible. This album here is a much different kind of album that doesn't showcase his chops but instead tells a story about the songs that were popular in his time. I find the title of the album to be a great fit because these songs were all popular around the time the Americans landed on the moon. It goes way back man.

Great stuff!