Gerald, I'd love to catch Frisell in NYC. Ugh, but it's the end of the semester - I'm in crunch mode and there's still 4 weeks to go.
I love all the old El Rayo X records, which I bought when they were vinyl, but I guess are available as CDs now - I saw a bunch of people at the show with them.
To me - the first El Rayo X record was a milestone in roots music. I still think that version of
Mercury Blues is the hottest slide guitar song I have ever heard, and the rest of the record is just as cool in its own eclectic way. Of course, this is different than his sideman stuff, since Dave is doing the reggae stuff and fronting with his fantastic high voice.
The rest of his catalog is cool, to my tastes, I have most of them. This website goes over this stuff:
http://www.greenmanreview.com/cd/cd_lin ... 03_03.html
I picked up his "Live in Tokyo" CD with Hani Nasser on all kinds of cool percussion at the show. Very cool, in fact I'm listening to it right now as I grade project papers. What's unusual is that he's a bona fide dynamo in every aspect of performance, not just a guitar, slide, lap steel, or whatever-stringed-instrument you want virtuoso.
