From The Seattle Times:
Seattle guitarist Bill Frisell must be part cat, though his irrepressible curiosity hasn’t been fatal yet.
One week he’s releasing an exquisite batch of John Lennon songs (“All We Are Saying … “), the next week it’s a collaboration with a Brazilian vocalist (“Lágrimas Mexicanas”).
Frisell’s latest obsession is a lickety-split ’50s country-and-western duo — lap steel pioneer “Speedy” West and guitarist Jimmy Bryant — whose material will be featured on a concert at the Portland Jazz Festival, part of a two-day Frisell focus called “For Portland Only.”
The eclectic guitarist first heard about West and Bryant 15 years ago, through concert producer Chuck Helm at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. When Helm suggested playing the music, Frisell’s first reaction was, “You’re crazy! It’s too fast!” But about 10 years later, when pedal steel man Greg Leisz suggested they give it a try at slower tempos, Frisell agreed. They called the project “Not So Fast!”
“That sort of got us off the hook,” said the soft-spoken jazz man. “Last spring, we did it for the first time at the Wexner. In fact, it’s the only time we’ve done it. It was just so much fun.”
Continue reading at The Seattle Times: