Music. Alcohol. Oysters. Books.

Bill was joined on the Freight's stage by his Good Dog ensemble, featuring Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar, Tony Scherr on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums. They played a set of long instrumentals that stretched over an hour and a half, blending Frisell's own compositions with a handful of covers. To me, the most marvelous was their version of Pete Seeger's Turn! Turn! Turn!, known from the Byrds' rendition.

The music was gorgeous throughout the set. I really enjoyed Leisz's playing, the rhythm section was flawless, and Bill was very impressive on guitar. I have to say that I never connected much with Frisell's recordings. They often feel too ambiently jazzy for me, even though he blends a lot of familiar influences into his sound. But live music is different, of course. It is much easier to focus on individual musicians and really listen to their playing in isolation when you can follow them visually on stage, and that usually works for me during instrumental jazz shows. It largely worked on Sunday too.

Still, I have to admit this kind of music is well outside my comfort zone.