Recorded on the back of two intense years touring together, the trio’s playing is not so much in the pocket as in one another’s pocket, Morgan and Royston transcending the rhythm section role to occupy the same space as Frisell in ways that intensity the trio’s sound…Approaching 70, with more than 50 albums as leader, Frisell’s curiosity and capacity for quirky invention continues to amaze.

Bill Frisell's catalog is as vast as it is diverse. Whenever he releases an album, the question is often, "which Frisell will show up?" On Valentine, the debut offering from the guitarist's 2020 trio with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston, he offers a multi-dimensional display of his many identities.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Frisell album without mixing jazz and Americana (think ‘Gone Like A Train’) and here we have the lope into a Western sunset that is ‘Wagon Wheels’, trailing clouds of Charlie Haden and Sonny Rollins behind it. Frisell also has that a gentle yet persistent political edge: the set closes with ‘We Shall Overcome’, a longtime staple of live performance. One day he won’t have to play that song. But who knows when that day will be.

“Playing together” is a phrase so commonplace it’s easy to forget what it signifies. Of course, there’s the obvious: making music with others, performing as an ensemble, being creative in a group. But the music guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston offer here suggests a specific spin on the idea, one that emphasizes the togetherness of the playing.

In the intimate trio setting, one can pick out any moment and hear any of the three doing something interesting; the crisp production certainly helps, though of course even more important is the well-seasoned players performing on the record. Frisell has been on something of a winning streak lately, and Valentine feels like the most celebratory of the bunch…