Bill Frisell Trio at the Barns

by Rick Landers

Bill Frisell at the Barns - Photo credit: Michael G. Stewart

Guitarist Bill Frisell and his trio were framed in red curtains and white spotlights on stage at the Barns, the winter haven for artists who perform at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia. The Barns is an intimate affair on a wooded site, a short distance from the open air amphitheater of Wolf Trap.

Frisell is known as a master at orchestrating the sounds of his guitar in a manner that captures the essence of America. One only need to listen to his recent recording, Disfarmer, to be drawn in to the nuance and the depth of his recording.

This evening Bill is armed with a sunburst Telecaster and he caresses it, plucks it and tinkers with it to generate a sound scape that is both haunting and idiosyncratic before it builds its rhythm, while seeking a path that glides near the edge of melodic.

Frisell is joined on stage by violinist Eyvind Kang and percussionist, Rudy Royston. Kang creates subtle arrangements that complement Frisell’s compositions, injecting them with hints of other genre in an ambient fashion, while classically trained drummer Royston gives spark to the harmonic apparitions of Bill’s Telecaster.

Bill Frisell Trio violin master Eyvind Kang- Photo credit: Michael G. Stewart

Many of the tunes the trio selects for the evening are new and still unnamed. Yet, they evoke feelings from within. One, that is named is called “Night Crawling” and impresses on us a walk along the Appalachians, a military cadence not unlike the shuffle of Civil War soldiers along a beaten path. The Frisell Trio appeals to our emotions as it unfurls tunes and they blossom, including the standard “Tea for Two”. The group thumps with a Southern Rock tune that’s relic funk, a toe-tapper of a tune.

Near the end of the set, the audience rose as one seeking an encore with Frisell offering, “This is really encouraging for us. Thank you” before the Trio gifts the audience with a fine instrumental of the Little Anthony and the Imperials classic, “Going Out of My Head”. There’s a soft simplicity to the group’s music, with Frisell holding things together at center stage, quietly with a gentle humanity and majesty. The Bill Frisell Trio offered the folks at the Barns of Wolf Trap a show rich and deep in off-center, almost transient cerebral melodies mixed with a few standard tune that helped keep an even keel for those who prefer straight more accessible tracks.

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