Bill Frisell’s latest record “All We are Saying”, released at the end of last year, pays a tribute to John Lennon’s music.
The album features tracks from Lennon’s book of songs including some Beatles favorites. Frisell almost completely kept the original form of the songs, putting his unique stamp on magical improvisations around each of these classic melodies. High praise must be given to Frisell’s outstanding band consisting of Jenny Scheinman (violin), Greg Liesz (guitars), Tony Scherr (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums).
Frisell says at his website: “John Lennon’s music has been with me, the band and everybody…seems like forever. The songs are part of us, they are in our blood. There was nothing we really needed to do to prepare for this. We’ve been preparing our whole lives. The songs are there. All we had to do was play them. Everyone involved with this has their own personal, deep, long, relationship to John Lennon’s music. It connects us all and brings us together. I feel blessed having the chance to play this music with these people.”
Almost none of these 16 tunes are radical reinterpretations of Lennon’s songs; most stick close to the original melodies. While there are obvious attempts at rock, especially when it comes to”Revolution” and “Come Together”, this isn’t a rock album per se, nor is it a noodling jazz record. It’s difficult to describe it but one can be said for sure, this is an easy album to love.
Track list:
1. Accross the Universe
2. Revolution
3. Nowhere Man
4. Imagine
5. Please Please Me
6. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
7. Hold On (Hold On John)
8. In My Life
9. Come Together
10. Julia
11. Woman
12. Number 9 Dream (#9 Dream)
13. Love
14. Beautiful Boy
15. Mother
16. Give Peace a Chance
17. Strawberry Fields