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| | Disfarmer | | | Music Artist : | | Bill Frisell | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Nonesuch | | Release Date : | | 2009-07-21 | | Store Price : | | $18.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $14.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Disfarmer Theme
2. Lonely Man
3. Lost, Night
4. Farmer
5. Focus
6. Peter Miller's Discovery
7. That's Alright, Mama
8. Little Girl
9. Little Boy
10. No One Gets In
11. Lovesick Blues
12. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)
13. Shutter, Dream
14. Exposed
15. The Wizard
16. Think
17. Drink
18. Play
19. I Am Not A Farmer
20. Small Town
21. Arkansas (Part 1)
22. Arkansas (Part 2)
23. Arkansas (Part 3)
24. Lost Again, Dark
25. Natural Light
26. Did You See Him?
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Everyone needs access to the slideshow
Submitted on: 2009-10-01 |
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I live in the town where the local arts center commissioned this piece, so I got to see an early performance of "Disfarmer." I remember enjoying it, but I also remember that it might get lost in translation should Bill Frisell and his little ensemble (Viktor Krauss wasn't there that night) try to record it.
The music accompanied a slideshow of obscure, depression-era photographs taken by some cantankerous man who gave himself the name Disfarmer. It was a strange thing to see. Frisell's modern take on Americana was imposed over something much more antiquated. It did not create a clash, rather it created a strange undercurrent somewhere between Aaron Copland and melancholia.
That's why I wish the visual component were released as well. Having Disfarmer photographs on the inside of the liner notes is a slight help, but I think it wouldn't been nice to have a DVD packaged with the album to give people more context. As an album unto itself without context, it is good. Very good. It's minimal, but not embarrassingly so. Many tracks, particularly the last two, are the kind to make me stop whatever I'm doing and take notice.
But the full visual context would make this very good product even better. At the same time, I don't want to complain about 72 minutes of gently composed music. |
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Hypnotic Bill Frisell
Submitted on: 2009-09-23 |
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| Bill Frisell is no stranger to mixed-media collaborations. Instead of a movie, he 'collaborates' with the photographs of Mike Disfarmer. Disfarmer took starkly realistic portraits of the Depression-era residents of his Arkansas town. Bill Frisell gathered Greg Leisz on steel guitar & mandolin, Jenny Scheinman on violin, and Viktor Krauss on bass to record this disc. Unsurprisingly, given the instrumentation and the inspiration, this is a very country album. 2008's "History, Mystery" is much jazzier, but in both you have a lot of songs, many of then short, that flow into each other and repeat. The song titles don't repeat, exactly, but the theme of "Farmer" reappears a number of times, and gets more and more haunting each time. Frisell's playing isn't very jazzy, but Leisz and Scheinman play backing notes that no country player would. The hypnotic nature of the music makes it more interesting than you might guess (or in different hands). Since it isn't very jazzy, I think this disc appeals more to Frisell fans than fans of regular jazz guitar. |
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 Outstanding
Submitted on: 2009-09-04 |
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I'll echo the reviewer that said Disfarmer is an American masterpiece. When I heard it for the first time while looking at Disfarmer's fotos in the liner notes, the music immediately resonated with me. I'm originally from the West Texas plains and was moved by the poignant starkness and humbleness of the people in the fotos. Frissell and the other musicians conveyed this sense of time and place masterfully. Also, there is indeed something very meditative about the music. If I do nothing but sit still and just listen with my eyes closed, these plaintive tunes take me to another level, one of beauty and sweetness and peace.
I highly recommend this outstanding CD. |
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Amazing
Submitted on: 2009-09-04 |
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| "Disfarmer" was my first experience with Bill Frisell. Amazing. I have listened to it dozens of times and I am still enthralled. It has a very other worldy sort of sound, definately read the liner notes to get an understanding of who Disfarmer is. |
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Evocative and inspired.
Submitted on: 2009-08-03 |
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The veteran avant-jazz guitarist Bill Frisell continues his exploration of Americana with a series of instrumentals inspired by the life and photographs of Depression-era Arkansas chronicler/photographer Michael Disfarmer, who documented the lives of pre-war rural southerners in vividly atmospheric portraits and vistas
With a band consisting of stand-up bass, steel guitar and fiddle, for the most part Frisell plays it pretty straight. He has recruited some fine country players - like bassist Victor Krauss and steel guitarist Greg Leisz - for the project.
Most of the pieces are plangent, haunting and fragmentary, as Frisell's delicately shimmering strings accentuate the psychological dread of Disfarmer's images.
The best tracks, such as "Little Gir", have a ragged edge to them, coming over like a genteel, dinner party-friendly version of "The Dirty Three".
He also throws in covers of Hank Williams's "Lovesick Blues" and Elvis's "That's All Right Mama".
A version of "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" is mysterious and lovely, and only the lightly rollicking "Arkansas Pt 1" interrupts the elegaic and lorn mood.
My favourite tracks: "Little Girl", the gentle waltz "Disfarmer Theme", the warm and subtle "Peter Miller's Discovery", the relaxed dance "That's Alright, Mama", treated treated as slinky Western Swing, with touches of intriguing mandolin/guitar interplay and the beautiful "I Am Not a Farmer". |
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