Meet the Composer

Bill Frisell

The Great Flood will be a 75 minute suite of music with accompanying film based on the catastrophic Mississippi River Flood of 1927 and the ensuing transformation of American society that was reflected in the world of music. The work will include American roots movement for guitar, bass, drums, and cornet. Musically, the "Great Migration" fueled the evolution of acoustic blues (including artists who witnessed the flood such as Charley Patton "High Water Everywhere" and Memphis Minnie "When the Levee Breaks") to electric blues bands that thrived in cities like Memphis, Detroit and Chicago becoming the wellspring for R&B and rock as well as developing jazz styles. Bill Morrison's work on The Great Flood will be based on actual footage of the 1927 flood, including source material from the Fox Movietone Archive and the Pathé collection. Frisell will draw upon his wide musical palette informed by elements of American roots music, but, refracted through his uniquely evocative approach that highlights essential qualities of his thematic focus.

World premiere: March 2011