In 1984, at the dawn of the
CD age, two guitarists who would prove to be among the
definitive voices of the coming decade got together for a
one-time duo collaboration. Bill Frisell was the
better-known at the time; he had played in Europe with
his former Berklee composition professor Mike Gibbs in
the late '70s, which led him to Eberhard Weber's group
and various other ECM affiliations (Jan Garbarek, Paul
Motian, Bass Desires) and his own first album in 1982.
After working with Reid, Frisell formed and sustained an
exceptional band, a trio with Kermit Driscoll and Joey
Baron often augmented by other players, and continued
playing with Motian and Joe Lovano as well as Ginger
Baker, Tim Berne, Paul Bley, Don Byron, Allen Ginsberg,
Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, the News for Lulu trio with
George Lewis and John Zorn, Gary Peacock, the Power Tools
trio with Melvin Gibbs and Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bobby
Previte (see Gramavision 79448) and many others. Vernon Reid gained much of
his early exposure in Ronald Shannon Jackson's original
Decoding Society, then achieved mega-rock fame as
guitarist and prime mover of Living Colour, a leading
messenger of progressive funk in popular music. Reid then
went on to collaborate with the likes of Jack DeJohnette
(with John Scofield), Carlos Santana, Finis Tasby, Hal
Willner and Bernie Worrell (see Gramavision 79469).
An indescribable
melting pot of music for plucked strings, with everything
either guitarist ever heard from country picking and
Django Reinhardt swing to Hendrix reveries and Sun Ra
moonscapes -- and the nine tracks are real tunes, with
the composing chores shared by Frisell and Reid.
Eloquent, experimental and great fun. Frisell: Roland 300
guitar synth, prepared acoustic guitar, Gibson electric
guitar, DX drums, Ovation acoustic guitar,
Electro-Harmonix delay, DX drums. Reid: Steinberger
guitar, Roland 700 guitar synth, Midi to Korg Poly 800
synth, DX drums, six-string banjo, Washburn
electric-acoustic guitar, Les Paul electric guitar,
Stratocaster electric guitar.
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