GIJF Day Three:Double Bill - Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreams Trio/ Pablo Held Trio. April 6

(Review by Steve H.)

Frisell, dressed in plaid shirt, slacks and sneakers seemed relaxed as he came on stage likewise  the other members of the trio Eivand Kang on Viola and Rudy Royston on drums who were also dressed comfortably   What followed was pure unadulterated joy as the trio performed in a merry go round of styles moving in and out of  folk, country, oriental, rock, classical  and jazz idioms. Guitarist Frisell, shy and retiring, didn’t do much chatting preferring instead to twiddle the various electronic effects he had on stage but with the most magnificent range of sounds emanating from the great man’s Telecaster who could complain? Kang and Royston blended in effortlessly as the trio swirled in and out of the assorted genres described.  The set finished with not one encore but two and the audience were able to leave the perfect Hall 2 happy, joyful and enraptured.

Earlier, the Pablo Held Trio from Cologne had entered Hall Two looking immaculate and well kept in dark outfits and neat haircuts. Pablo introduced the band and explained that they had been playing his compositions for the previous 8 years, so in order to keep things fresh they had thrown all previous arrangements away and instead would just play whatever came to them. As the bandleader said, ‘We know what we could play but we don’t know what we will play!’ What followed was one uninterrupted set . Drummer - Jonas Burgwinkel and Bassist –Robert Landfermann complemented Held admirably with all three displaying technical virtuosity. Whilst clearly accomplished, this band were a bit too classical in nature for my liking but the majority of the audience showed great appreciation at the conclusion of their set.

Steve H.