Music for the Films of Buster Keaton: The High Sign / One Week

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Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Frisell’s trio engages in virtual dialogue with film pioneer Buster Keaton, scoring his legendary silent films. “It was like Buster has become part of the band,” says Frisell. “We could feel what it was like to be part of a work of genius.”

Description

“The most inventive and compelling guitarist to emerge in more than a decade” (Oakland Tribune), composer/guitarist/bandleader Bill Frisell trains his unique compositional lens on the silent film works of 1920s comedic phenom Buster Keaton, forging Music for the Films of Buster Keaton: Go West and The High Sign / One Week, two remarkable recordings representing the sixth and seventh additions to Frisell's Nonesuch catalog.

Music for the Films of Buster Keaton provides a deeper look at Frisell’s longstanding fascination with Americana (also explored in his earlier Nonesuch releases This Land and Have a Little Faith). In a musical storytelling of the rises, falls and comedic/tragic mishaps of Buster Keaton’s most memorable screen personae, the voice of Frisell’s signature guitar presides conversing, pondering, scheming over vignettes of fluctuating rhythms, tempos and moods, weaving the particular atmosphere of placid tumult so intrinsic to Keaton’s work and life. After a New York City performance accompanying the films, the New York Times said, “Mr. Frisell’s scores perfectly balance the need to be abstract and the need to be literal ... [He has] recurring motifs that suggest the new American possibility of the time, motifs redolent of the sort of optimism heard in some country music, blues and jazz.”

Both Go West and The High Sign / One Week feature the Bill Frisell band, a tightly knit trio in which longtime collaborators Kermit Driscoll (bass) and Joey Baron (drums) flank Frisell’s inimitable fretwork, exhibiting a level of communication for which Frisell’s ensembles are renowned. Formed in 1986, the band often conspired with such notable talents as clarinetist Don Byron, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, and accordionist Guy Klucevsek, among others.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Lee Townsend
Recorded at Möbius Music, San Francisco
Recording Engineer: Oliver DiCocco
Assistant Engineer: Christian Jones
Mixed at Different Fur Recording, San Francisco
Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
Assistant Engineer: Mark Slagle
Mastered by Greg Calibi at Masterdisk, New York

Design by John Gall
Photograph courtesy the Douris Corporation and the Rohauer Corporation

Nonesuch Selection Number

79351

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
38
ns_album_id
89
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
Bill Frisell
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Bill Frisell, acoustic and electric guitars
Kermit Driscoll, acoustic and electric basses
Joey Baron, drums and percussion

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
Price
0.00
UPC
075597935127BUN
Label
MP3
Price
11.00
UPC
603497074068
  • Music for the Films of Buster Keaton: The High Sign / One Week
    by

  • 79351

News & Reviews

  • In celebration of Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label has partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, an extremely limited quantity of 100 box sets containing newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive, out now. You can take a quick look inside here. Designed by the Grammy-winning team at SMOG Design, each box comprises twenty 12" x 12" prints, numbered and signed by the photographer. Artists featured are Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres, who wrote a note for the box.

  • For Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label has partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, 100 box sets of 20 newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive, due September 13. Here, Wilson shares stories from the photo sessions behind the images in the box, with Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres.

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  • About This Album

    “The most inventive and compelling guitarist to emerge in more than a decade” (Oakland Tribune), composer/guitarist/bandleader Bill Frisell trains his unique compositional lens on the silent film works of 1920s comedic phenom Buster Keaton, forging Music for the Films of Buster Keaton: Go West and The High Sign / One Week, two remarkable recordings representing the sixth and seventh additions to Frisell's Nonesuch catalog.

    Music for the Films of Buster Keaton provides a deeper look at Frisell’s longstanding fascination with Americana (also explored in his earlier Nonesuch releases This Land and Have a Little Faith). In a musical storytelling of the rises, falls and comedic/tragic mishaps of Buster Keaton’s most memorable screen personae, the voice of Frisell’s signature guitar presides conversing, pondering, scheming over vignettes of fluctuating rhythms, tempos and moods, weaving the particular atmosphere of placid tumult so intrinsic to Keaton’s work and life. After a New York City performance accompanying the films, the New York Times said, “Mr. Frisell’s scores perfectly balance the need to be abstract and the need to be literal ... [He has] recurring motifs that suggest the new American possibility of the time, motifs redolent of the sort of optimism heard in some country music, blues and jazz.”

    Both Go West and The High Sign / One Week feature the Bill Frisell band, a tightly knit trio in which longtime collaborators Kermit Driscoll (bass) and Joey Baron (drums) flank Frisell’s inimitable fretwork, exhibiting a level of communication for which Frisell’s ensembles are renowned. Formed in 1986, the band often conspired with such notable talents as clarinetist Don Byron, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, and accordionist Guy Klucevsek, among others.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Bill Frisell, acoustic and electric guitars
    Kermit Driscoll, acoustic and electric basses
    Joey Baron, drums and percussion

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Lee Townsend
    Recorded at Möbius Music, San Francisco
    Recording Engineer: Oliver DiCocco
    Assistant Engineer: Christian Jones
    Mixed at Different Fur Recording, San Francisco
    Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
    Assistant Engineer: Mark Slagle
    Mastered by Greg Calibi at Masterdisk, New York

    Design by John Gall
    Photograph courtesy the Douris Corporation and the Rohauer Corporation

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