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June 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Stubs # 255 – Bill Frisell, Wellington, 2017

I could probably say that I never expected the chance to see Bill Frisell – at least not in New Zealand; so I was super excited to check him out when he appeared here as part of the Jazz Festival a couple of years back.

And in support of a very fine album with the musicians that played on it.

I’ve loved Frisell’s playing for the last quarter-century or more – he’s one of the greats to me. And one of the great examples of how you can be a shred-king without actually shredding; you can be one of the greatest guitarists in the world and be utterly ego-less (or at least present that way at the very least).

I wasn’t even remotely worried that some people there clearly expected fireworks, or didn’t know what to expect at all and most certainly hadn’t realised that he’s an in-the-moment player that doesn’t dig back to any ‘hits’ or moments from the past but was exploring the current ‘phase’ of his career (basically the album he’d just released). I was aware of it – it was hard not to spot and feel. But I wasn’t worried.

Instead I just sat there and loved every minute of it; felt thrilled and fortunate, so incredibly lucky. It’s happened a few times of course, more than I can count even – but I got to see one of the musicians that means the most to me – and he was (and is) still at the top of his game. His band was sublime as well.

I did my best to say all this and more.
Stubs is an occasional feature here at Off The Tracks – looking back through the ticket-stub box and remembering how the show went down.  

 

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with 2017), Bill Frisell, Frisell, Guitar, Jazz, Jazz Festival, Live Gig, Petra Haden, Stub, Stubs, Stubs # 255, Stubs # 255 – Bill Frisell, Stubs is an occasional feature here at Off The Tracks – looking back through the ticket-stub box and remembering how the show went down., Wellington, Wgtn, When You Wish Upon A Star. RSS 2.0 feed.
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Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

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