release date: 1991
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]
producer: Wayne Horvitz
label: Elektra Nonesuch - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Unsung Heroes" - 2. "Rob Roy" - 4. "Child at Heart" - 6. "Again" - 7. "Smilin' Jones" - 8. "Where in the World?" - 9. "Worry Doll" - 10. "Let Me In"
2nd and so far final studio album released by The Bill Frisell Band, which is a quartet consisting of band-leader Frisell on guitars, cellist Hank Roberts, bassist Kermit Driscoll, and with drummer Joey Baron. Their first album was Lookout for Hope (1988), and although this quartet hasn't released other albums, Frisell has worked with all instrumentalists on various albums. Where the '88 album was released by ECM and had Lee Townsend as producer, this one is Frisell's third album on Nonesuch and it's his second of three consecutive albums with Horvitz as producer - the first being Is That You? (1990), which also featured Horvitz on keyboards.
Stylistically, Frisell nearly always excells in the jazz fusion area, but that doesn't mean his albums sound alike. He started out in ambient minimalism and then took a turn towards a stronger ingredient of 'post bop' and progressive jazz, which meant louder music and more complex arrangements. He has incorporated americana, blues, world music as well as more popular styles including country and rock. On this, he appears to have left behind most of the more complex compositions and instead focused on melody and simplicity, yet still maintaining a signature trait of introspectiveness.
The album is an acclaimed work of art and it's not that I don't appreciate it 'cause I really do, but it is still a rather complex release pointing in many directions. However, Frisell and his skilled crew-members, throw bits and pieces at you but ultimately make an almost impossible work by holding everything together in a tight leash.
Where in the World? is one of the early albums by Frisell that realy stands in its own rights. On one hand, it's almost like the perfect soundtrack to a non-existing film by Wim Wenders and a timeless conglomerate that shows us glimpses of his later and more mature albums.
A recommended album without fillers.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings 3,5 / 5 stars ]
