Music / Nightlife

Seattle guitarist Bill Frisell must be part cat, though his irrepressible curiosity hasn't been fatal yet.

One week he's releasing an exquisite batch of John Lennon songs ("All We Are Saying ... "), the next week it's a collaboration with a Brazilian vocalist ("Lágrimas Mexicanas").

Frisell's latest obsession is a lickety-split '50s country-and-western duo — lap steel pioneer "Speedy" West and guitarist Jimmy Bryant — whose material will be featured on a concert at the Portland Jazz Festival, part of a two-day Frisell focus called "For Portland Only."

The eclectic guitarist first heard about West and Bryant 15 years ago, through concert producer Chuck Helm at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. When Helm suggested playing the music, Frisell's first reaction was, "You're crazy! It's too fast!" But about 10 years later, when pedal steel man Greg Leisz suggested they give it a try at slower tempos, Frisell agreed. They called the project "Not So Fast!"

"That sort of got us off the hook," said the soft-spoken jazz man. "Last spring, we did it for the first time at the Wexner. In fact, it's the only time we've done it. It was just so much fun."

Truth be told, Frisell is too humble, as anyone who has heard him play the Benny Goodman-Charlie Christian special, "Seven Come Eleven," can attest. But West and Bryant did have dizzying chops. West was a crackerjack L.A. session player who worked with everyone from Tennessee Ernie Ford to Frank Sinatra. In the late '40s, he and Bryant played regularly on the radio shows "Dinner Bell Roundup" and "Hometown Jamboree."

West's jazz riffs and flourishes and perfectly timed unisons with Bryant on superfast licks are intimidating. But what appealed to Frisell was their repartee.

"It got so intuitive on the back-and-forth stuff, it's amazing," he said.

Frisell has that kind of rapport with Leisz, who will be on hand for the Portland show, as will longtime Frisell collaborators Tony Scherr (bass) and Kenny Wolleson (drums). The West-Bryant material will make up half of a Feb. 24 bill that also includes a John Lennon tribute. On Feb. 25, the guitarist will play solo and with his chamber-jazz string group, 858, which includes Seattle violist Eyvind Kang.

The Portland Jazz Festival, now in its ninth year, gets under way Friday. Highlights include Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava, Branford Marsalis, Roy Haynes and Dee Dee Bridgewater. The festival runs through Feb. 26.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com