Frisell Quartet Offers Abstracted View of Gershwin

Guitarist Bill Frisell wrapped up the Skirball Cultural Center’s “Gershwin and Beyond” Saturday night with a program that touched both elements in the series title. Although the evening’s opening segment initially threatened to take the packed-house crowd on a journey through Frisell’s more electronically oriented abstractions, the sounds gradually segued into a dark rendering of “Summertime.”

Frisell didn’t stop there. Continuing with a free-flowing Gershwin medley, he moved through idiosyncratic versions of “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “My Man’s Gone Now” and “Swanee,” supported by the remarkable playing of Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar, Dobro and other instruments, as well as the drumming of Kenny Wollesen and the bass work of David Piltch.

Playing both electric and acoustic instruments, Frisell often supplemented their sounds via various electronic means, occasionally tossing in jarring squeaks, squeals and rumbles. Fortunately, when he did so, it was generally as a stage-setting device leading into more listener-friendly rhythms and melodies, often with a distinct folk-rock quality.

Less fortunately, most of the non-Gershwin material tended to be repetitious, rarely showcasing Frisell’s well-established skills as a master guitarist. His closing number, for example, consisted of seemingly interminable repetitions of a simplistic four-bar phrase.

Frisell’s last appearance at Skirball, a solo concert, was an impressive display of major league talent. But on this night, he seemed reluctant to step forward, and it was the musical memory of George Gershwin that provided the evening’s most illuminating moments.