Harmony
Studio album by
Bill Frisell
Released4 October 2019
StudioFlora Recording & Playback, Portland, OR
GenreJazz
Length46:42
LabelBlue Note
ProducerLee Townsend
Bill Frisell chronology
Music IS
(2018)		 Harmony
(2019)		 Valentine
(2020)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
The Absolute Sound[2]
All About Jazz[3]
AllMusic[4]
Exclaim!7/10[5]
Jazz Forum[6]
Jazz Journal[7]
PopMatters6/10[8]
Mojo[9]
The Times[10]
Tom HullB+[11]

Harmony is a studio album by American jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. The album was released on 4 October 2019 by Blue Note.[8]

Background

This is his debut record for Blue Note label. The album features Frisell on guitar, Petra Haden on voice, Hank Roberts on cello and voice, and Luke Bergman, on acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, bass, and voice.[12] The record consists of 14 tracks of which eight are Frisell's originals with the rest being folk, country, jazz, and pop songbook standards. The origin of the Harmony traces back to 2016 when the "innovative grass roots" organisation FreshGrass gave Frisell a $25,000 commission to create new music. The album was recorded in Flora Recording and Playback studio in Portland, Oregon and produced by Frisell's long-time collaborator Lee Townsend. The release of the album was supported by an international tour that started in Sweden.[13]

Reception

At Metacritic, that assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on four reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[1]

Mike Joyce of JazzTimes wrote, "Suffice to say, Harmony is bound to delight many fans who’ve followed the guitarist’s singular and increasingly curious path over the last few decades, even if it lacks the lighthearted tone associated with some of his most engaging sessions. Of course, because Frisell has never been overly concerned with genre distinctions, an innate sense of whimsy still informs his tune choices and original contributions."[14] In his review for Relix, Jeff Tamarkin stated, "Harmony, which doubles as the name of the band and marks his debut for Blue Note, found its tone and direction when Frisell realized that Roberts and Bergman also sang, and that the three band members’ voices blended in a particularly charming, precise and radiant way..."[15] Paul de Barros writing for The Seattle Times called the album, "a wide-ranging mix of spectral harmonic clouds, sweet-as-pie bluegrass and astonishingly intricate vocal jazz."[16]

Ed Enright of DownBeat commented, "Throughout the album, Haden’s ethereal lead vocals and the trio’s quietly powerful harmonies bring new dimensions to Frisell’s music, magnifying the pensive beauty and perpetual patience that mark his guitar playing."[17] Ian Lomax of Jazz Journal said that, "Bill Frisell continues to innovate and surprise."[7] AllMusic's Mark Deming commented, "HARMONY sometimes feels so ethereal that it could blow away in a strong breeze, but there's a strength in the quiet of these sessions, and the best moments are nothing short of magic. If you're looking for music that will suit a quiet night with intelligence and style, you should certainly give HARMONY a listen."[4] All About Jazz review by Mark Sullivan stated, "This album has arguably less of a guitar focus than any previous one. Yet it is suffused with his genre-free love of music, and his guitar-playing remains a foundation element. It's a beautiful group sound, with the name Harmony very well deserved."[3] Derk Richardson of The Absolute Sound commented, "Bill Frisell makes his Blue Note label debut as a leader not by emphasizing his guitar but rather by celebrating the human voice."[2]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Everywhere"Bill Frisell5:35
2."God's Wing'd Horse"Bill Frisell, Julie Miller4:07
3."Fifty Years"Bill Frisell4:06
4."Hard Times"Stephen Foster3:56
5."Deep Dead Blue"Elvis Costello, Bill Frisell3:07
6."There in a Dream"Charlie Haden, Jesse Harris4:40
7."Lonesome"Bill Frisell3:20
8."On the Street Where You Live"Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe2:28
9."How Many Miles?"Bill Frisell3:23
10."Lush Life"Billy Strayhorn3:54
11."Honest Man"Bill Frisell1:17
12."Red River Valley"Traditional2:00
13."Curiosity"Bill Frisell1:40
14."Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"Pete Seeger3:09
Total length:46:42

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 "Harmony by Bill Frisell". Metacritic. 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 Richardson, Derk (3 January 2020). "Bill Frisell: Harmony". The Absolute Sound. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 Sullivan, Mark (September 27, 2019). "Bill Frisell: Harmony album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 Deming, Mark (2019). "Harmony - Bill Frisell | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Josiah (2 October 2019). "Bill Frisell Harmony". Exclaim!. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  6. ↑ Domagała, Adam (2019). "Harmony | Jazz Forum". Jazz Forum. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. 1 2 Lomax, Ian (20 November 2019). "Bill Frisell: Harmony | Jazz Journal". Jazz Journal. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  8. 1 2 Layman, Will (9 April 2020). "'Harmony' Is About As Bill Frisell As a Bill Frisell Recording Can Be". PopMatters. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Mojo - November 2019 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming". Mojo. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  10. ↑ Pearson, Chris (1 November 2019). "Bill Frisell: Harmony review — guitarist respectfully revives exquisite Americana". The Times. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Tom Hull: Grade List: Bill Frisell". Tom Hull. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Bill Frisell to Release His Blue Note Debut "Harmony" on Oct. 4". Blue Note. August 23, 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  13. ↑ Shipton, Alyn (29 January 2020). "BILL FRISELL INTERVIEW: "I HEAR A SONG AND HAVE TO ASK MYSELF IF IT'S REMEMBERED OR NEW"". Jazzwise. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  14. ↑ Joyce, Mike (4 October 2019). "Bill Frisell: Harmony (Blue Note)". JazzTimes. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  15. ↑ Tamarkin, Jeff (19 November 2019). "Bill Frisell: Harmony". Relix. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  16. ↑ de Barros, Paul (28 February 2020). "Jazz guitarist and former Seattleite Bill Frisell comes back to town with quartet HARMONY and a bluegrass sound". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  17. ↑ Enright, Ed (October 2019). "Blue Note Harmony". DownBeat. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
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