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Dec 22, 2010In every way that matters, it's typical Frisell-as lyrical in approach as it is eclectic in outlook, touching on Stephen Foster, Blind Willie Johnson, Benny Goodman, the Carter Family, and Little Anthony and the Imperials, together with its characteristically wounding originals.
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Taken together, Frisell's run of Nonesuch albums has been one of the most consistently excellent bodies of work in recent decades. Now, Beautiful Dreamers extends it further. The future looks bright for this trio.
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The least idiom-specific tracks like those, diverted from familiar song-shapes, are the most eloquent--but Frisell would find it hard to do anything unmusical if he tried.
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Although the stagnant electric guitar thrumming on "All We Can Do" and "Who Was That Girl?" threatens to slow the album to a halt, the mutability of Eyvind Kang's viola on "Winslow Homer" and "Better Than a Machine" make up for lost excitement.
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Ultimately, Beautiful Dreamers is a wonderfully balanced trio exercise.
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Frisell's taste for mining the classic songbook remains intact with lovely, understated takes on Beautiful Dreamer, "Tea for Two" and the ever-jaunty "Keep on the Sunny Side," but these add up to a rather inescapable feeling that Frisell has been here before.