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Woodshed
SOLO
by Jimi Durso
Bill Frisell’s Blues-Inflected
Guitar Solo on ‘Strange Meeting’
Guitarist Bill Frisell has recorded his composition
“Strange Meeting” numerous times, starting
with his Rambler album in 1984. This version,
taken from 1994’s This Land, features a horn
section and a solo that draws heavily on Frisell’s
blues influences. It also showcases some of
Frisell’s other idiosyncrasies, including his highly
individual use of the volume pedal to give the
guitar a “breathy” sound. His first two choruses
are transcribed here.
The chord progression is in C minor, with
minor IV and dominant V chords, plus the
major VI, all fitting cleanly in C minor. But two
chords—D7 and A♭m13—include a prominent
G♭ (F#), the tritone of the key. Frisell incorporates
this tone throughout his solo, against the
D7/F# in measures 10 and 34, against the A♭m
in measures 38, 61 and 62, and against the D7/G
in measures 26 and 58. However, he also uses
this note in other places, as in measure 11,
where it makes the A♭maj7 sound like A♭7.
At times, Frisell plays the flatted fifth within
C-minor pentatonic licks, creating more of a
Chicago blues sound, as in measures 16, 35–38
and 64. The high C held on top of these licks, in
a “chicken picking” manner, makes this lick
reminiscent of blues guitarist Buddy Guy. In
measures 40–43, the high F is bent up, though
not quite to an F#, a gesture that is also evocative
of the blues.
106 DOWNBEAT June 2009