Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Skuli Sverrisson with Bill Frisell: Strata

Skuli Sverrisson with Bill Frisell: Strata

By Karl Ackermann
September 5, 2018
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On their two previous third-season releases, Andy Zimmerman's Half Light and Lionel Loueke's Close Your Eyes (both 2018), Newvelle Records pushed the envelope just a bit away from the deeply melodic formula that they have favored across seventeen albums to date. While those vinyl releases incorporated more elements of improvisational complexity, they were hardly foraying into the avant-garde. On Strata the duo of bassist

Skuli Sverrisson

bass, electric

" data-original-title="" title="">Skuli Sverrisson and guitarist

Bill Frisell

guitar, electric
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Frisell bring us back to the purely melodic model.

Despite more than one-hundred appearances on record, Sverrisson is not well known in the US. The Icelandic electric and acoustic bass guitarist (who also plays double bass, dobro, and charango) has worked with

Allan Holdsworth

guitar, electric
1948 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Allan Holdsworth,

Jim Black

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Black,

Chris Speed

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Speed,

David Sylvian

vocals
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">David Sylvian,

Ben Monder

guitar
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Monder,

Theo Bleckmann

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Theo Bleckmann,

Mark Dresser

bass, acoustic
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Dresser,

Wadada Leo Smith

trumpet
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Wadada Leo Smith and many other international artists.

If any single musician/composer represents the broad swath of American music, it is Frisell. His music defies labels even while incorporating jazz, avant-garde, free jazz, folk, western and country. Frisell's work with

Arild Andersen

bass, acoustic
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Arild Andersen,

Joey Baron

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Joey Baron,

Hank Roberts

cello
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Hank Roberts,

John Zorn

saxophone, alto
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">John Zorn and

Joe Lovano

drums
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Lovano have earned him critical acclaim and multiple awards, including the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for his Unspeakable (Elektra Nonesuch, 2004).

Sverrisson wrote all the music on Strata—many of the compositions tailored to Frisell, with whom the bassist had not previously worked. The ten pieces are relatively brief, only two at more than five minutes. Opening Side A are two folky numbers, "Sweet Earth" and "Instants," Frisell's electric guitar resonating warmth. "Vanishing Point" brings Sverrisson more into focus and "Ancient Affection" puts Frisell's trademark reverberation on display. The echo continues to ring through the first side closer, the ballad, "Came to Light." Side B begins with the dream-like "Cave of Swimmers" followed by another elegiac song, "Amedeo." "Afternoon Variant" finds Sverrisson and Frisell playing as a more straight-forward guitar duo, but adding some odd meters for interest. The album closes with the beautiful and sophisticated "Her Room."

Strata is a highly appealing album, and Sverrisson could have been channeling Frisell as these compositions sound so germane to the guitarist. He takes a generous approach in letting Frisell do most of the heavy lifting, including tracking a second guitar, but there are ample opportunities for the pair to complement each other. There is a symmetry that would befit a long working relationship when the two are playing in tandem. The quality of the music, the musicians and Newvelle's technology, make this an enormously rewarding album.

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Track Listing

Side A: Sweet Earth; Instants; Vanishing Point; Ancient Affection; Came to Light; Side B: Cave of the Swimmers; Amedeo; Afternoon Variant; Segment; Her Room.

Personnel

Skuli Sverrisson

bass, electric

Bill Frisell

guitar, electric

Sk��li Sverrisson: acoustic bass guitar; Bill Frisell: acoustic guitar.

Album information

Title: Strata | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Newvelle Records

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