Editor Reviews:

Album Description:
Two CD set. Bill Frisell's History, Mystery is a series of short pieces, alternately elegant and playful, written by Frisell for an octet comprised of the guitarist himself and a group of longtime collaborators-friends. One evocative snippet melds into another to form a virtually seamless work that unfolds over the course of this double-disc package. It has an engrossingly theatrical quality, as if it were the score to some unseen play. Some of these tracks were originally written for Mysterio Sympatico, a 70-minute multi-media dialogue between Frisell and fellow Seattle based artist/comic book author Jim Woodring that premiered in 2002 at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, featuring Frisell's compositions and Woodring's surreal projections, and that has subsequently been reprised around the country.

Rating : - Frisell Montage
Overview:
In History, Mystery Bill Frisell combines elements of the many different styles and genres he has dabbled with over the years into one cohesive story telling album. You can hear elements of Appalachia (ala The Willies), string orchestrations (ala Unspeakable), ambient soundscapes (ala Floratone), great horn lines (Blues Dream), African jazz (ala the Intercontinentals) and quirky odd Friselldoms (ala The Rambler). Basically Bill has gone into his bag of tricks and combined the many magical things he can do into one dreamy CD. At first listen it's a bit much to take in and for fans who are not wild about violins, the string orchestrations might seem a bit too far from jazz. However, after several listens the clever crafting of the songs and the great interactions between the musicians reveal themselves. The overall mood of the album is somber, tragic, intense and dramatic.

Performers: Bill Frisell (electric & acoustic guitars & electronics), Ron Miles Cornet, Greg Tardy (tenor sax, clarinet), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Tony Scherr (bass), Kenny Wolleson (drums)

Song Highlights:
Probability Cloud - This song reminds me a lot of Miles Davis' performance of Manuel de Falla's "Will O Wisp" from Sketches from Spain. It has a bit of Spanish tango feel to it. The combined orchestration of strings and horns in the main melody line is beautifully done.

Struggle - Just a killer bass line melody with backing strings. This is perhaps the catchiest song on the CD. Frisell's harmonics over the time are perfectly placed to. Not too much, just a touch here, a note there, plenty of space to let it breath.

Baba Drame - Better than the original Frisell version from Intercontinentals. It sounds like the song was meant for a string section.

Struggle Part 2 - Completely different version of Struggle. Same song, different mood. This version is great because Frisell really lets loose and rocks out a killer guitar solo.

Waltz for Baltimore - Featrues lengthy passionate sax solo by Greg Tardy. Greg really gets all his frustrations out in this brilliant solo.

This might be remembered as Frisell's greatest album. I'm not ready to say it's my favorite, but its really growing on me, and I feel there's a lot of subtle things left for me to discover here.