Rambler is the second album by Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell

William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

 to be released on the ECM

ECM (record label)

ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...

 label. It was released in 1985 and features performances by Frisell, Kenny Wheeler

Kenny Wheeler

Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....

, Bob Stewart

Bob Stewart (tuba)

Bob Stewart in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. is a freelance concert artist, educator, and studio musician. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts and his Masters in Education from Lehman College Graduate School. Stewart taught music...

, Jerome Harris and Paul Motian

Paul Motian

Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer of Armenian extraction.He first came to prominence in the late 1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups...

.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This relatively early set from Bill Frisell is a fine showcase for the utterly unique guitarist. Frisell has the ability to play nearly any extroverted style of music and his humor (check out the date's "Music I Heard") is rarely far below the surface. This particular quintet (with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, tuba player Bob Stewart, electric bassist Jerome Harris and drummer Paul Motian) is not exactly short of original personalities and their outing (featuring seven Frisell compositions) is one of the most lively of all the ones in the ECM catalog.".

Track listing

All compositions by Bill Frisell

1. "Tone" - 8:00
2. "Music I Heard" - 4:49
3. "Rambler" - 8:20
4. "When We Go" - 5:19
5. "Resistor" - 5:49
6. "Strange Meeting" - 7:05
7. "Wizard of Odds" - 6:19

Personnel

• Bill Frisell
  Bill Frisell
  William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
  
   – guitar, guitar synthesizer
• Kenny Wheeler
  Kenny Wheeler
  Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
  
   – trumpet, cornet and fluegelhorn
• Bob Stewart
  Bob Stewart (tuba)
  Bob Stewart in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. is a freelance concert artist, educator, and studio musician. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts and his Masters in Education from Lehman College Graduate School. Stewart taught music...
  
   – tuba
• Jerome Harris – electric bass
• Paul Motian
  Paul Motian
  Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer of Armenian extraction.He first came to prominence in the late 1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups...
  
  – drums