Go West: Music for the Films of Buster Keaton

• Artist: Bill Frisell
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1995
• Total Time: 69:19
• Genre: Jazz

Review

In 1995, Bill Frisell released an instrumental album composed for Buster Keaton's films, Go West. The disc acts as the live accompaniment to the silent films, much like seeing them in their original release form. Go West is a Buster Keaton classic often compared to the Charlie Chaplin classics. The story follows a down-and-out Midwesterner following Horace Greeley's adage "Go West, young man!" Classic hilarity in this film includes a milking scene and a card game. (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle makes an in-drag cameo.) The original soundtrack recording also includes Kermit Driscoll on acoustic and electric basses and Joey Barron on percussion. Frisell and his band performed the music to all three films at St. Ann's in Brookly, NY, in May of 1993. The warmly recorded albums are adventurous and evocative. Critics described Bill Frisell's inspired episodic work with Keaton's films as "deceptively modest" and "melancholy Americana. These rich narrative accompaniments are essential for students of cinema music and evangelists of the power of the score to enrich and enlighten visual art. The group also wrote an original score to the Keaton films High Sign and One Week. ~ JT Griffith, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Go West: Down on Luck	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(4:11)
Go West: Box Car	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(:57)
Go West: Busy Street Scene	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(:44)
Go West: Go West	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(1:00)
Go West: Train	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(3:06)
Go West: Brown Eyes	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(4:21)
Go West: Saddle Up!	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(2:41)
Go West: First Aid	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(:51)
Go West: Bullfight	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(2:25)
Go West: Wolves	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(3:14)
Go West: New Day	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(5:27)
Go West: Branded	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(1:20)
Go West: Eats	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(1:13)
Go West: Splinter Scene	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(2:33)
Go West: Cattle Drive	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(4:36)
Go West: Card Game	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(5:03)
Go West: Ambush	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(4:02)
Go West: Passing Through Pasadena	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(1:52)
Go West: To the Streets	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(3:11)
Go West: Tap Dancer and Confusion	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(6:42)
Go West: Devil Suit	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(2:08)
Go West: Cops and Fireman	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(3:58)
Go West: That a Boy!	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(1:31)
Go West: I Want Her	Bill Frisell	Bill Frisell Band	(2:13)

Credits

Johnny Gall (Design), Joey Baron (Percussion), Joey Baron (Drums), Greg Calbi (Mastering), Judy Clapp (Mixing), Oliver Di Cicco (Engineer), Kermit Driscoll (Bass (Electric)), Kermit Driscoll (Bass (Acoustic)), Bill Frisell (Guitar (Acoustic)), Bill Frisell (Guitar (Electric)), Bill Frisell (Main Performer), Christian Jones (Assistant Engineer), Mark Slagle (Assistant Engineer), Lee Townsend (Producer), Bill Frisell Band (Performer), Jacqueline Kim (Photography)