Cornetist/composer Ron Miles delivered a spellbinding evening of music for an Outpost Performance Space fundraiser a few weeks ago with his trio, which includes guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Brian Blade. On his latest release, I Am a Man* (Yellowbird Records), Miles adds a couple of players to the trio. Meanwhile, Frisell’s latest release, Music IS* (Okeh/Sony Masterworks), goes in the opposite direction: it’s a solo effort. Both, unsurprisingly given the participants, are worthy of attention.
Ron Miles
I Am a Man (Yellowbird Records)
A review
There’s a humane righteousness (but never self-righteousness) in every note that exits Ron Miles’ cornet, served up with gospel-tinted uplift and optimism, and his latest release, I Am a Man (Yellowbird Records), is no exception. With the addition to the Miles/Frisell/Blade trio of pianist Jason Moran and bassist Thomas Morgan, Miles expands his musical palette to address, in seven original compositions, the spiritual and political implications of the album’s title, taken from the signs carried by striking black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. The title track opens the proceedings with a funky, abstracted, and eccentric blues that puts Miles’ finger gently but firmly in your chest to apprise you of the weight and significance of this phrase and its ongoing relevance. “Darken My Door” arises from a dream in which his then-future mother-in-law told him never to do that, only to have her daughter stand up for her man. The dreamy and dramatic opening resolves into what Miles calls a “chewy pop center,” full of gratitude for his future wife’s support, before waking from the dream in a sort of panic. “The Gift That Keeps on Giving” swings gently down the mainstream, with a nod to McCoy Tyner’s voicings from Moran and a admirable bass solo way up the instrument’s neck from Morgan. “Revolutionary Congregation” might well be titled “Hear My Complaint,” with the entire quintet climaxing in a swirling explosion of sound, and if you needed reminding of the strong spine in Miles’ sound, you’ll get it here. His lyricism is underscored in “Mother Juggler,” a love song to his mother that overflows with gratitude, pride, and wonder for her sacrifices and grit. The strutting blues “Jasper” brims with pride. The final track, with its loaded title, “Is There Room in Your Heart for a Man Like Me,” reflects Miles’ belief that the struggle for social justice is itself a holy thing and must be continuously pursued—just as this tune continuously pursues harmonic resolution without ever achieving it, or even, perhaps, expecting to. The song seems to say that we must resolve ourselves happily to irresolution and keep moving forward and upward, which would be easier if we could all ride on the cushion of air supplied by Blade throughout the entire album. I Am a Man brings together five virtuosi whose great gift, beyond their unabashed humanity, is their willingness and ability to work selflessly together to create a meaningful and moving work of art.
Bill Frisell
Music IS (Okeh/Sony Music Masterworks)
A review
Distinctive touch and tone, boundless musicality, bottomless curiosity, a childlike pleasure in what he discovers, and the willingness to get out of the music’s way and let it flow where it will make composer/guitarist Bill Frisell’s sound irresistible and immediately identifiable. His new solo release, Music Is, distills the essence of this delightfully eccentric musician. Frisell presents several tunes he’s previously recorded and some brand-new compositions culled from mounds of staff paper he’s produced, writing every morning after coffee. The 16 tunes, which run in length from 55 seconds to just over five minutes, are the star of the show, and Frisell allows them to shine, to speak for themselves without annotation. The opener, “Pretty Stars,” recast from 2001’s Blues Dream,* introduces Frisell’s inimitable 3-D soundscape with some pretty picking under the Western sky, and he allows the melody to coalesce out of it all near the end. You can almost hear him goofing on himself in “Winslow Homer,” also from Blues Dream, with its layered overdubs. The new “Thankful” is exactly that, an essay on gratitude, with exquisitely shaped overdubs perfectly placed. “Ron Carter,” another Blues Dream tune revisited, reminds you that Frisell keeps the rhythm flowing, never losing the pulse of the music, and showcases his nuanced touch. “Rambler,” the title track from his 1984 sophomore release,* appears twice, in radically different forms from the original. The first presentation uses looping to rub electronic textures against one another; the second presents a gentler solo rendition. “The Pioneers,” from 1999’s delightful Good Dog, Happy Man,* is here a heart-on-his-sleeve acoustic anthem that captures the composer’s respect for the spirit and endurance of these settlers. “Monica Jane” airs out demotic American music, opening it up so we can all have a look inside. Every tune on the album, which offers a healthy variety of sound and sentiment, is built on a strong spine that will support anything Frisell hangs on it, and what he chooses to hang will keep you engaged and frequently enthralled.
Bill Frisell’s traveling moose collection at the Outpost in February. Could these guys explain the mysterious quality of Frisell’s sound?
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© 2018 Mel Minter
I love the guitars behind Frisell in the picture at the top—like a painter’s brushes in a jar.