Review Of Bill Frisell Transcriptions By Jan Jakut

Bill Frisell is one of those stand out guitar players that perhaps suffers from not getting the profile he deserves for his long standing work in the field of guitar. This is a review of a new set of transcriptions by guitarist Jan Jakut. These transcriptions have been taken directly from performance work Bill carried out on Youtube.

By
Ged Brockie
-
1978

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Bill Frisell Solo Guitar Arrangements For Jazzers

Bill Frisell – The Marmite Guitarist?

Bill Frisell is one of those guitarists that you either love or hate judging by comments on social media by some detractors. We are firmly in the camp of loving the guitarist’s work. Furthermore, we were delighted to hear that a young guitarists from Seattle, Washington State, USA Jan Jakut has created a line on transcriptions of Bill’s solo work on Youtube for review.

Okay So It’s Not Guitar Gear!

Yes, you spotted correctly, this is not a guitar gear review but why not. So, first up, we’d like to highlight Jan Jakut. Jan is based as mentioned in Seattle, USA where he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Jazz and Improvised Music. Jan’s first publication for Schott Music International was released in early 2015, in 2016 he was one of the finalists in Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory Music Competition.

Confronting the musical aesthetics of Hendrix and Cobain with textures derived from Jazz, 50s and 60s instrumental music, his music explores contemporary genres in a jazz setting. Working on his first EP he is poised and determined to tour his music.

For more information on Jan please visit his website at Jan Jakut. Regarding bookings, accompaniment, or sheet music please email Jan at jan@janjakut.com

The Transcriptions Of Bill Frisell’s Solo Arrangements

Jan has transcribed a number of jazz guitar solos and for the Bill Frisell works he transcribed them directly from the Youtube videos that Bill has put up himself. Here is an example of what Jan has transcribed, the jazz beautiful standard “Embraceable You”.

A Short Sample Of The Transcription

Below you can see a small part of one of the transcriptions available. This and other works for jazz guitar are all available to buy direct with immediate download from Jan’s online shop which can be found by clicking HERE. Pricing as mentioned below is very good for the work involved in creating this much needed resource.

Bill Frisell Transcription

Other product reviews can be found by clicking GMI Guitar Gear Reviews.

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Guitar & Music Institute may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Transcription accuracy
Engraving style
Playability
Music & TAB notation
Price point
SUMMARY
Overall, the transcriptions are very, very good. The only slight issue is with where ties are shown the wrong way at times, but this is certainly no deal breaker. Harmonics are all shown clearly in the music notation, however, they are not marked as artificial or natural and there is no nomenclature in the TAB notation to suggest that the note is a harmonic, so you have to keep an eye on the traditional music notation. Underlying harmony is given in the form of chord symbols and the rubato style of Bill Frisell's arrangement is reflected in the time signatures used. The TAB notation has rhythmic notation attached which is a nice touch. All in all, this is an excellent purchase for any erstwhile jazz guitarist or anyone wanting to play in a jazz style. The arrangements are detailed and interesting whilst not being so hard to play that it would put the jazz novice off. In addition to this, being able to watch Bill actually play the arrangement is a wonderful bonus and the price is very competitive for the work put in to create these transcriptions. We give this a massive thumbs up and Jan has plugged a very worthwhile gap in the market for jazz guitar aficionados around the world with the work of a guitarist who's not given nearly enough attention that he deserves.
4.6
OVERALL SCORE
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review-of-bill-frisell-transcriptionsOverall, the transcriptions are very, very good. The only slight issue is with where ties are shown the wrong way at times, but this is certainly no deal breaker. Harmonics are all shown clearly in the music notation, however, they are not marked as artificial or natural and there is no nomenclature in the TAB notation to suggest that the note is a harmonic, so you have to keep an eye on the traditional music notation. Underlying harmony is given in the form of chord symbols and the rubato style of Bill Frisell's arrangement is reflected in the time signatures used. The TAB notation has rhythmic notation attached which is a nice touch. All in all, this is an excellent purchase for any erstwhile jazz guitarist or anyone wanting to play in a jazz style. The arrangements are detailed and interesting whilst not being so hard to play that it would put the jazz novice off. In addition to this, being able to watch Bill actually play the arrangement is a wonderful bonus and the price is very competitive for the work put in to create these transcriptions. We give this a massive thumbs up and Jan has plugged a very worthwhile gap in the market for jazz guitar aficionados around the world with the work of a guitarist who's not given nearly enough attention that he deserves.

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