Bill Frisell’s latest releases teams him up with long time compatriot Greg Tardy along with pianist Gerald Clayton and drummer Johnathan Blake for a wide range of textured moods.
And the moods are moody, with Tardy’s clarinet oozing elegiac serenity on ”Dear Old Friends (For Alan Woodard) and cheerful on the folksy cadence of “Good Dog, Happy Man”. There’s a dark hovering cloud with Tardy’s bass clarinet , guided by Blake’s cymbals on “Lookout Four Hope” while the team is loose and frisky as the drummer leads the trudge with Blake’s tenor sax on “Dog On A Roof”. Clayton gets a solo rumination on “Always” and is graceful around Frisell’s effects on “Waltz For Hal Willmer” with the team getting funky on “Monroe”. Moments of abstract colors are doled out on “Claude Utley” with the team giving a floating rubato for “Invisible”. Still life with sounds.