Bill Frisell: The Intercontinentals (Elektra Nonesuch 7559796612).

As the title suggests, this is a global set from the US guitarist who seems to be the archetypal wayfaring stranger, the man linking the hard-bodied electric fusion of Marc Johnson's Bass Desires to the haunting chamber-like strains of his own Blues Dream via envelope-pushing collaborations with iconoclastic clarinettist Don Byron. On Intercontinentals, Brazilian guitarist/ percussionist/vocalist Vinicius Cantuaria, Greek oud player Christos Govetas, Malian percussionist Sidiki Camara and US guitarist Greg Leisz and violinist Jenny Scheinman join Frisell on a fine tapestry of an album that hangs around a constantly shifting centre of cultural gravity. Perhaps the dominant texture is a weeping bluegrass ...