"Some artists, as they grow older, have a tendency to
retreat into a safety zone that displays their skill but doesn't
expand their repertoire or provide impetus for keeping up.
Not so guitarist Bill Frisell ... [H]e's been refining and
expanding his palette with every release.... The whole album
stands as yet another testament to the man's place at the very
epicenter of modern American music. Yes, he's done it again." -
Chris Jones, BBC.
The Guardian, in a four-star review of History, Mystery,
says the album is "studded with gems," featuring
a line-up of musicians that reviewer John L. Waters calls "a
kind of roots-jazz-classical chamber hybrid, though with none
of the hang-ups that might imply." Waters sees "a
genuine thoughtfulness" from Bill, who, he writes, "has
the surest touch as a musician." It is an attribute "that
is true for his playing, where he can invest a single note
with meaning, and it's true in the way he organizes his music
and musicians."
The Independent calls History, Mystery the Jazz Album
of the Week, with the paper's Tim Cumming calling it "extraordinarily
eclectic" delivered in "an all but seamless suite
that's full of musical contrasts, rich textures, lengthening
shadows, and unexpected turns." Cumming says "it's
consistently engaging" with a closing guitar solo that's "just
wonderful." His colleague Nick Coleman adds that on this
collection, listeners will find the "Frisell who makes
great soundtrack music; the one who rejoices in sieving the
Hot Club de Paris out of Thelonious Monk."
“I've always admired (Frisell’s) spirit of adventure,
his willingness to experiment and the depth of his talent and
ambition... There's something about History, Mystery that just
sucked me in right away..... It's artful, but warm and accessible.
There are smatterings of jazz, blues, a little country, some
tango and reverb rock ... but the seamless, natural-sounding
integration of these diverse influences is engaging and often
majestic. The music has a spacious, cinematic scope that
is enriched by a superb group of musicians... The sound is
vintage and modern, warm and inviting. Some high points include
the fascinating and rather mournful "Struggle," a
striking and soulful blues/country take on Sam Cooke's "A
Change Is Gonna Come," the sadness-tinged, Gypsy-flavored "Heal," a
cool take on Thelonious Monk's "Jackie-ing" and an
intriguing "Waltz for Baltimore." - Ellis Widner, Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
A moment of quiet subversive brilliance occurs halfway through
the first disc of this grandiose two-CD set. The guitarist’s
unusually configured octet – two horns, string trio,
drums and bass – plays Sam Cooke’s A Change
Is Gonna Come and then Thelonious Monk’s Jackie-King. Without
Compromising it’s deeply plaintive quality, the former
piece is transformed from heated soul ballad to skittering
jazz bounce while the latter, without torching its harmonic
jiggery-pokery, is interpolated from skittering jazz bounce
to heated soul ballad. Improvisation defines tune number
one, all 8:49 minutes of it and composition, moreover the beauty
of repetition within composition, defines tune number two,
all 2:55 of it. Frisell has been skillfully shuttling
between these two impulses for many years, showing with increasing
assurance that he knows when to deconstruct, to explore, to
investigate, to expand and reconstruct. And when to do
nothing other than play a melody and conclude swiftly, as if
he were given just a short time to make his point before the
needle hits another 45 in the jukebox. In other words
there is a balance between the lyricist, the exponent of song
in Frisell and the soloist inclined to use a theme as a springboard
for an extended flight of expression. The guitarist’s
concise, précis writer proclivities were displayed quite
beautifully on the 2003 album The Intercontinentals and
the merits of that set-poetic melodies built on swooning legato
chords that hung in the air like the brances of a mango tree
in season – are retained among other creative strategies
by a fine band captured on an American tour where the chemistry
between the members was at a high level. All of the players
seemed to have fuly understood that Frisell’s negotiation
of bebop, African popular song, film noir-like scores, R&B
and Americana is secondary to the central mission statement
of creating a specific atmosphere, an esoteric sound world
in which the leader’s trademark ghostly tremelos can
find a whole slew of graceful new ways to swirl around the
ether. – Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes Magazine
