Bill Frisell - In Line (1983)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Michel Herr, Bill Frisell, Vinton Johnson, Kermit Driscoll - Good Buddies (1978)

Bill Frisell - Rambler (1984)

By request, here's Bill Frisell's first solo album. Lovely ambient jazz consisting entirely of Frisell's ethereal, gracefully layered guitars and, intermittently, standup bass from ECM mainstay Arild Andersen. Soothing, wistful pieces that suggest both solace and loneliness.

Track listing:

1. Start

2. Throughout

3. Two Arms

4. Shorts

5. Smile on You

6. The Beach

7. In Line

8. Three

9. Godson Song

Alien prints

Similar listening:

Terje Rypdal - After the Rain (1976)

Bill Connors - Swimming with a Hole in My Body (1979)

Michel Herr, Bill Frisell, Vinton Johnson, Kermit Driscoll - Good Buddies (1978)

Related:
Bill Frisell - Rambler (1984)

How 'bout a little fusion to liven up your otherwise oppressively hopeless existence? And how did I only just find out earlier today that Bill Frisell plays on a bunch of The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull? Crazy. Discovering that made me want to hear maybe some more obscure Frisell stuff, which led me to Good Buddies. Features, among others, Frisell on guitar, and gratuitous nudity on the album cover.

Track listing:
1. Acapulco Bells
2. Frog Legs Vampin' in the Moonlight
3. I Think I Know What You Mean
4. Sans Blues Thank You
5. What Do You Mean, What Do You Mean?
6. Good Buddies

Smile on you

You should also listen to:

Paul Horn -
Dream Machine (1978)

Cam Newton -
Welcome Aliens (1980)

Bill Frisell - Rambler (1984)

A dynamic, varied collection. From the fuzzed out, unresolved melodies of album opener "Tone", to bizarre quasi-march "Music I Heard", to the scatterbrained slo-mo of "Wizard of Odds", Rambler remains consistently engaged and engaging, and ultimately serves as a striking, early snapshot of the budding brilliance of Brill Frisell.

Track listing:
1. Tone
2. Music I Heard
3. Rambler
4. When We Go
5. Resistor
6. Strange Meeting
7. Wizard of Odds

Fields of alfalfa

Paul Motian Band - Psalm (1981)

Free-form ambient pieces and jagged melodic themes over dissonant grooves. Just the way I like my ECM. Although -- and maybe it's my current stressed out and morose state of mind -- the happy-go-lucky "Mandeville" can go sit on an erupting volcano.

Track listing:
1. Psalm
2. White Magic
3. Boomerang
4. Fantasm
5. Mandeville
6. Second Hand
7. Etude
8. Yahllah

Orphans

Eberhard Weber - Fluid Rustle (1979)

Previously on Opium Hum:
The Colours of Chloë (1974)
Pendulum (1993)

Another phenomenal album of ambient jazz from Eberhard Weber. There are no drums on Fluid Rustle -- just a pillowy haze of vibraphone, marimba, balalaika, guitar, and wordless female vocals, with Weber's double bass at the center. Gorgeous, haunting, and infinitely soothing.

Track listing:
1. Quiet Departure
2. Fluid Rustle
3. A Pale Smile
4. Visible Thoughts

On a white horse

Paul Bley - Fragments (1986)

Icy, drifting sounds from a quartet of topnotch ECM musicians led by Canadian pianist Paul Bley. While Bley lets his free jazz roots take hold in spots, and there's certainly an exploratory freedom throughout, these are mostly sparse, moody, eerily restrained compositions, some of which are reworked arrangements of songs from his acclaimed solo album, Open, to Love.

Track listing:
1. Memories
2. Monica Jane
3. Line Down
4. Seven
5. Closer
6. Once Around the Park
7. Hand Dance
8. For the Love of Sarah
9. Nothing Ever Was, Anyway

Uneasy sleep