Songs We Know

Submitted by nonesuch on
genre
Jazz
Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Guitarist Frisell and pianist Fred Hersch explore American Songbook classics. Says New York’s Daily News, “Their romanticism is edged with a contemporary tartness ... They remap and reinvigorate standards like ‘I Got Rhythm’ in sly, appealing, and often hilarious ways.”

Description

The album by pianist Fred Hersch and guitarist Bill Frisell, Songs We Know, is a stirring collection of standards. Recorded in 1997 in San Francisco, the session highlights the coming together of two of the most distinctive stylists of our time.

Hersch, whose work “has developed an intensity of intelligence and emotional directness unparalleled among his peers” (The New Yorker) and Frisell, who was deemed “the most significant and widely imitated guitarist to emerge in jazz since the beginning of the 1980s” (New York Times), teamed up for a session that became what Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal, in his liner note to the recording, calls “one of the most singular encounters in years.”

Hersch and Frisell trace their relationship back to the 1980s, when they played a few gigs together in New York City, collaborating with such musicians as Marc Johnson and Joey Baron. When they found themselves labelmates on Nonesuch Records, one of Hersch’s first thoughts was to make an album with Frisell.

Frisell and Hersch concur that the session could have gone many different ways, but it was their mutual love for the standards, with all of their simplicity, history, and potential for new interpretation, that led them to what is heard on Songs We Know. Both players are driven by the idea of sound, and the openness of these tunes was a source of inspiration throughout the session.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Lee Townsend
Recorded at Möbius Music, San Francisco
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Christian Jones
Mixed at Different Fur Recording, San Francisco
Assistant Engineer: mark Slagle
Mastered by Craig Calbi at Masterdisk, New York City
Production Assistance: Noel Grey and Louisa Spier
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Design by Barbara deWilde
Photograph by Michael Wilson

Nonesuch Selection Number

79468

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
57
ns_album_id
409
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Available
Artist Name
Fred Hersch
Bill Frisell
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Fred Hersch, piano
Bill Frisell, guitar

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
Price
0.00
UPC
075597946826BUN
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597946864

  • 79468

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  • Photographer Michael Wilson Shares Stories From Photo Sessions Behind New Box Set of Nonesuch Artist Prints

    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 album by pianist Fred Hersch and guitarist Bill Frisell, Songs We Know, is a stirring collection of standards. Recorded in 1997 in San Francisco, the session highlights the coming together of two of the most distinctive stylists of our time.

    Hersch, whose work “has developed an intensity of intelligence and emotional directness unparalleled among his peers” (The New Yorker) and Frisell, who was deemed “the most significant and widely imitated guitarist to emerge in jazz since the beginning of the 1980s” (New York Times), teamed up for a session that became what Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal, in his liner note to the recording, calls “one of the most singular encounters in years.”

    Hersch and Frisell trace their relationship back to the 1980s, when they played a few gigs together in New York City, collaborating with such musicians as Marc Johnson and Joey Baron. When they found themselves labelmates on Nonesuch Records, one of Hersch’s first thoughts was to make an album with Frisell.

    Frisell and Hersch concur that the session could have gone many different ways, but it was their mutual love for the standards, with all of their simplicity, history, and potential for new interpretation, that led them to what is heard on Songs We Know. Both players are driven by the idea of sound, and the openness of these tunes was a source of inspiration throughout the session.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Fred Hersch, piano
    Bill Frisell, guitar

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Lee Townsend
    Recorded at Möbius Music, San Francisco
    Recording and Mixing Engineer: Christian Jones
    Mixed at Different Fur Recording, San Francisco
    Assistant Engineer: mark Slagle
    Mastered by Craig Calbi at Masterdisk, New York City
    Production Assistance: Noel Grey and Louisa Spier
    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

    Design by Barbara deWilde
    Photograph by Michael Wilson

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