BILL FRISELL guitars
MATT CHAMBERLAIN drums, percussion
TUCKER MARTINE production
LEE TOWNSEND production
with special guests:
Mike Elizondo – bass
Jon Brion – keyboards Ron Miles – trumpet
Eyvind Kang – viola
Engineered by Tucker Martine
Mastering Engineer: Greg Calbi
Recorded and Mixed at Flora (Portland) Additional Recording: Kung Fu Bakery (Portland), Phantom Studios (Westlake Village, CA) assisted by Brent Arrowood
Mastered at Sterling Sound, NY
Production assistance: Adam Blomberg
Photography: Michael Wilson Art
Design: Gwen Terpstra, Terpstra Design
Savoy Jazz
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REVIEWS
“On Floratone II, with no names on the front cover, Floratone is even more clearly a group, its unique approach sculpting music distinctly cinematic in nature… Without any overt references, the music sounds like the soundtrack to an imaginary film… As Floratone continues to drive Teo Macero’s innovative collage work with trumpeter Miles Davis’ late 1960s/early 1970s electric music into the 21st century and beyond, the expansive, cinematic Floratone II gives hope that Frisell, Chamberlain, Townsend and Martine will continue to collaborate well into the future.” – John Kelman, All About Jazz
Bill Frisell, Matt Chamberlain, Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine – Floratone II (2012)
“Floratone is Mr. Frisell’s studio alliance with the drummer Matt Chamberlain and the producers Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine. The project, which hinges on a deft editorial restructuring of free-form guitar-and-drums interplay, released its self-titled debut on Blue Note in 2007. Everyone on board seems to have adjusted to the premise since then. “Floratone II” is a surer and more engaging album. Most of its tracks still feel like snapshots, but they’re vivid, color-saturated, with flashes of intrigue.
As on the first Floratone album, some parts have been outsourced to the trumpeter Ron Miles and the violist Eyvind Kang. Also joining that effort this time are the bassist Mike Elizondo and the multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, who happen to be record producers with a gift for artfully rendered pop.
It’s impossible to know who called the shots at various points on this album, but the 10-minute stretch that drifts from “Move” to “Do You Have It?” to “The Time, The Place” represents the best outcome for all involved — not only because Mr. Frisell sounds so resourceful and enlivened, but also because all the layers of surrounding detail make such intuitive sense. Mr. Frisell and Mr. Chamberlain may be the heart and soul of Floratone, but Mr. Townsend and Mr. Martine clearly make up a good chunk of its brain.” – Nate Chinen, The New York Times
Ever since Bill Frisell broke away from his longtime label Nonesuch and signed up with Savoy Jazz a couple of years ago, we have been subjected to wave after wave of Frisell releases….
Wait, did I say “subjected” us to a deluge of fresh recordings? Oh no, over here we welcome every new Frisell offering, especially since Bill never stays in one place from record to record. He will, however, revisit ground he’s covered before after some time, and, well, it’s been nearly five years since Bill Frisell has made a record with his Floratone cohorts, so guess what? Yep, that’s right. Next week, the second collaboration among Frisell, Matt Chamberlain, Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine hits the street. The first meeting was called Floratone, and the new one is christened Floratone II. The story and basic concept behind this group goes like this: Frisell and drummer/percussionist Matt Chamberlain get together and come up with musical concepts, patterns and basic progressions. Townsend and Martine come in and take these globs and turn them into identifiable shapes. They do so by adding textures, mixing, editing and adding additional accompaniment, such as Kang’s viola and Ron MIles’ cornet, as in the first record. Mike Elizondo provides the bass this time and Jon Brion is on keys.
Floratone to Bill Frisell is a lot like what The Fireman is to Paul McCartney : a way to break outside of usual comfort areas by having someone else shape the sound and bringing in a musical partner to bounce ideas off of. As Frisell seems to increasingly favor mid-20th century Americana motifs of late (and you can still find them on Floratone II, see “Stand By This”), this project puts his music sonically back in the present even as the music is instantly recognizable as a Bill Frisell type record.
“The Bloom Is On” immediately makes clear the touch of Townsend and Martine, as Frisell’s guitar is looped and dubbed over to give the song a dreamy, slightly psychedelic character. Miles’ horn is layered eloquently for “More Pluck” and combines with Kang’s viola and electronic atmospherics to blend right in with Frisell’s stinging tones. Mildly suggesting the Spanish flavors he explored on Lágrimas Mexicanas with Vinicius Cantuaria last year, “The Time, The Place” is a sweet, gentle piece that doesn’t even feature Frisell much at all, but rather, Miles and Kang swapping lines instead.
It might be easy to tune in on Frisell only and his idiosyncratic guitar mannerisms, but you would be ignoring Chamberlain at your own risk. Like Frisell, he’s a master of tone, space and placement, and those abilities show up gloriously on tunes like the swampy groove of “Snake, Rattle,” the second line wiggle of “Do You Have It?” and especially the rapid hand percussion that drives “Move.” He and Frisell create a cool, maddenly asymmetrical fractured rock rhythm that makes “No Turn Back” such fun.
As with the first Floratone, Frisell cedes some creative control with guys he trusts, and once again, the trust pays off in a Bill Frisell record that he couldn’t have quite have done on his own. Not better nor worse than a proper Frisell record, the appeal of Floratone II lies in the four different visions, of talented performers and producers alike, coming together as a single piece of work. – S.Victor Aaron, Somethin’ Else.