Bill Frisell

Here we have Bill Frisell going back to the music of the 1950s and 1960s, to the guitar-based music that first inspired him to bond with the instrument, to copy, replicate and then of course emerge with his own sound.

So it’s to instrumental covers of surf rock (Pipeline, Rumble) and to classic sixties pop tunes (Tired of Waiting for You, Surfer Girl), to that worrying grumble where country-meets-rock’n’roll (Rebel Rouser) and to a bit of blues (Messin’ With The Kid).

There’s something instantly wonderful about having Frisell just sitting back on genre-standards, a bit of Pipeline and Rumble – but of course it’s also not the case, he’s never just sitting back. And he’s always Bill Frisell. A clever guitar melodist, Baja bursts with flavour, he brings a sweet, subtle new chime to Turn, Turn, Turn and his Surfer Girl is just so lovely.

In and around the sentimentality we get that wry humour that Frisell does so well – and those gorgeous hues of Nashville meets jazz, the way in playing it straight he already makes for some strange new version of reinvention; that the dinky noodling of Cannonball Rag is obviously so much more than just dinky noodling and yet it is just exactly that too.

Kenny Wolleson’s drums are a highlight, all country slap and tickle, and the band of regulars (Greg Leisz’s delightful pedal steel and supporting guitar, Tony Scherr’s gentle-giant bass) know how to go along for the ride. They provide so much of the colour but never ever think of getting anywhere near stealing the show.

It’s a masterclass served up as near-folly, it’s a lovely little fan-letter from a baby-boomer enthralled – still – in the sound of so many classic pieces of music, but still able to wring new meaning from them, to see them in a new way, to hear them as no one else would. Tired of Waiting is swirling and nearly psychedelic and yet, as is the way with Frisell’s touch, there’s this stately grace, this almost genteel approach.

No one else does what he does – not the way he does it.

Guitar In The Space Age is dreamy and sublime. And utterly gorgeous. A record for guitar fans – obviously. But one that has no silly tricks, no harsh sounds, no exercises-only, it’s all warmth and love and kid-gloves and it shines and sparkles and it radiates with all the love that’s gone into its making.