Jazz Monday: Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreamers at Largo

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It’s not an exaggeration to say no other guitarist sounds like Bill Frisell, which is probably how he stays so busy. As adept with effects-laden ambient experiments as he is bringing a uniquely country-dusted twang into jazz, Frisell hasn’t been easy to pin down in a nearly 30-year recording career.

In the last five years Frisell has released seven diverse albums that included a recording with Ron Carter and Paul Motian, a rootsy soundtrack for the indie film ‘All Hat’ and an album inspired by a reclusive Dustbowl portrait photographer called Disfarmer. Now signed to Savoy after a long career with Nonesuch, Frisell’s most recent album finds him squarely in his Americana-tinged comfort zone in a trio with violist Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston.

Mixing Frisell’s evocatively rustic originals with Americana classics like ‘Keep on the Sunny Side’ and a vaguely sinister ‘It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine’ (aided by a gruff, sawing melody from Kang), ‘Beautiful Dreamers’ (click here to listen) should open up even further in a live setting. Shown above in a brief, appetizer-sized video from a recent performance, you may want to inch maybe a few rows closer at Largo.

Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreamers plays Largo at the Coronet, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A., Monday at 8 p.m. $25. (310) 855-0350.

-- Chris Barton