{"id":8739,"date":"2024-06-14T21:59:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T02:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=8739"},"modified":"2024-06-16T07:36:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T12:36:11","slug":"double-bill-frisell-morrison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/double-bill-frisell-morrison\/","title":{"rendered":"Double Bill : A Conversation with Bill Frisell and Bill Morrison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Albert Einstein once remarked, \u201cArt is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.\u201d This perspective rings true regardless of the particular format taken by such art. However, a specific magic can emerge when two or more art forms combine into a cohesive whole. This is perhaps best seen with the meeting of film and music. The two idioms have a long and intertwined history. The earliest films in the silent era relied upon live musicians to help bring out the emotional depths of the images portrayed. One may have expected this interaction between music and film to wane after the invention of the talkie. But, if anything, it only magnified. Whether Ennio Morricone, John Barry, or John Williams, the history of film is replete with composers who have used music to help make the director\u2019s vision a reality. But these outings are often very pre-planned and scripted. How does composing in the moment – improvisation – enter into the picture? Enter \u201cDouble Bill,\u201d a live collaboration between Bill Frisell and Bill Morrison. The duo will provide a special performance at Roulette Intermedium on June 24, 2024, intended to support the incredible venue financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken in its most technical sense, \u201cDouble Bill\u201d is the pairing of a guitarist and a filmmaker – with short films, newsreels, loops, and cat cam videos at his disposal – who fully respond to one another live and in the moment. But such a project is feasible only in light of the background behind it. The heart of \u201cDouble Bill\u201d lies in the decades-long friendship – evident in our conversation – between the artists. First meeting when Morrison was a dishwasher at the historic Village Vanguard, the two have since collaborated several times. In more formal settings, they acquired a deep knowledge of each other\u2019s unique artistic language. This familiarity has allowed them to powerfully tell stories like those of a Library of Congress clerk who rescued early film reels from destruction (The Film of Her <\/em>(Fabrica, 1996)) and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 (The Great Flood<\/em> (Hypnotic, 2012)). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should come as no surprise that both artists are great friends. Not only are both premier artists in their chosen craft, they also create in surprisingly similar ways. Morrison has honed an idiosyncratic voice by using materials, even the forgotten and decaying, left by those in the past. He carefully crafts these materials together to make a story all his own, with the antecedents as merely a guide. His works have earned the filmmaker a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award. Similarly, Frisell – who likely needs little introduction to most readers of this site- fuses sonic artifacts of jazz, Americana, folk music, country, and rock into a distinctive and thoroughly contemporary sound. In the process, the guitarist has established himself as one of the most impactful voices in modern improvised music; someone the National Endowment for the Arts should consider soon honoring as a Jazz Master. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sat down with both gentlemen to discuss their friendship, Paul Motian, their films together, and the magic of creating in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre: You first met one another thirty years ago at the Village Vanguard.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bill Morrison: Wow, thirty years, man.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Bill Frisell: Yeah, probably more.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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BM: What was your first week at the Vanguard Bill? Do you remember?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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BF: I always forget exactly what the group was, but the very first time I played there was with Jim Hall. I think that was around 1987 or 1988. [Vanguard founder] Max [Gordon] was still there. And from that gig with Jim, I was able to get my own gig there not long after. But I can’t remember exactly when that was.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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