Frisell’s Trio Weaves Eclectic Tapestry of American Music

How best to describe guitarist Bill Frisell’s music? Folk-jazz? Improvisational Americana? Psychedelic heehaw?

All these terms were applicable at different times Friday during the Frisell trio’s opening set of a two-night stand at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. But none really does justice to Frisell’s musical hybrid, an eclectic form that seems to encompass American popular music from Vernon Reid all the way back to Stephen Foster.

Exploring tunes from his just-released album, “Gone, Just Like a Train,” with bluegrass acoustic bassist Viktor Krauss and celebrated rock drummer Jim Keltner, Frisell transcended time and space, mixing his simple, folk-inspired melodies with fuzz tones, unexpected chords and electronic effects.

Many of the songs, especially those played on acoustic guitar, moved at a horse-and-buggy pace powered by the clip-clop of Keltner’s on-the-beat timekeeping. The melodies of tunes including “Verona,” “Egg Radio” and “Pleased to Meet You” were so sublimely simple that, like the best folk music, they seemed deeply familiar.

But that simplicity was often short-lasting. Many of the numbers turned on strange chords or traveled through offbeat choruses that lent a touch of modern quirkiness to the music. This effect was heightened as Frisell added atmospheric tones and hard-rock lines to his solos. Keltner contributed to the sonic colors with sounds generated by scraping his sticks across the snare or with taps to the center of a cymbal.

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Although Frisell’s between-theme improvisations brought his sound squarely into the future, they were often too brief and lacking in direction to have any lasting effect. The guitarist seemed content with piling together isolated phrases and chordal effects, rather than giving his solos narrative form. The effect, while often sonically and texturally impressive, seemed little more than noodling.

Still, Frisell’s music is a distinctive synthesis of American culture, bridging a rural past with an urban present while combining country, jazz, pop and folk forms.

It’s a true musical melting pot.