Music IS marks the first solo album from Bill Frisell since the release of Ghost Town, 18 years ago. The focus of the album is on the telling of musical stories from Frisell’s original and inimitable perspective: some of the interpretations being naked, exposed and truly solo, while others are more orchestrated through overdubbed layering and the use of his unparalleled approach to looping. The pieces on Music IS range from his earliest jazz records from the mid-‘80s to excerpts from recent multi-disciplinary collaborations. Recorded in August of 2017 at Tucker Martine’s Flora Recording and Playback studio in Portland, Oregon and produced by longtime collaborator Lee Townsend, all of the compositions on Music IS were written by Frisell. Recorded in August of 2017 at Tucker Martine’s Flora Recording and Playback studio in Portland, Oregon and produced by longtime collaborator Lee Townsend, all of the compositions on Music IS were written by Frisell. The end result is Bill Frisell at his most distilled and fully realized.

Frisell has done so much. He’s on well over 250 records, with over 40 of those as a leader. Frisell’s mantra, or motto so to speak, is, “Music is Good” – a statement said to him by his dear friend and great banjo player Danny Barnes. “That is something that I can say is always true. It’s so perfect. Everything I need to know is that phrase, ‘Music is Good.’ I almost called the album that, but then I thought that might be too literal. It’s good to leave it open.”