Following the epic thunder of his run out with Cuong Vu, Small Town finds Frisell, that most serial of collaborators, in a more intimate format. With just Thomas Morgan (Hah! Just! Morgan is one of those bassists, like Haden, who makes a single note inhabit a whole world) for company, this is a live set recorded at the Village Vanguard. Cruelly gentle at times, it's almost impossible to get past the first track, an 11-minute elegy to Frisell's long-time pal Paul Motian. Almost weightless in feel, this is music that crystallises and is gone before we can put a shape to it, but shaped, simply and gorgeously, it is. There are also tributes to other heroes, including ‘Subconscious Lee’, for Lee Konitz, and a dancing take on Fats Domino's ‘What A Party’. Music of such fragility contains deep risk: such silence, such stillness is held with such delicacy that some would deem it pretentious, an airy nothing. But in a world of snarl, leer and blame, the generosity of tunes like ‘Song for Andrew No 1’ or the deep country joys of ‘Wildwood Flower’ ring out all the more freely. Three chords and the truth. Not a bad place to start.