Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz at The Palms

Wednesday night Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz played over in Winters (The Palms of course, that’s about the only place around here that hosts this kind of music these days).

I have been a long time fan of Bill Frisell but I didn’t know much about Greg Leisz until this week. However, Greg Leisz turns out to be this legendary pedal steel/slide guitar player who has played with just about everyone from Joni Mitchell to Smashing Pumpkins, Lucinda Williams to Joe Cocker in his long career (he must be my age – that’s old). I am not normally a big fan of the pedal steel guitar but in this jazz accompaniment setting, it was just wonderful. The two of them played so well together. They were both so un-assuming and gracious and perfectly suited to the small club atmosphere of The Palms. What made it even better was that it was so obvious that they were enjoying every minute of playing together.

If you want an example of how they sound, check out Bill’s Happy Dog Happy Man album. One of his best in my book.