''All We Are Saying...'' is an album by American guitarist and composer

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...

that was released in September 2011. It consists of songs written by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, both as a member of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and as a solo artist, arranged and performed in Frisell's definitive style. The album also features violinist Jenny Scheinman, pedal steel and acoustic guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Kenny Wollesen. The title comes from the first line of the chorus to Lennon's 1969 single "

Give Peace a Chance "Give Peace a Chance" is an anti-war song written by John Lennon (originally credited to Lennon–McCartney), and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends in a performance with Yoko Ono in a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, Ca ...

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

assigns ''All We Are Saying'' an aggregate score of 69 out of 100 based on 6 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Thom Jurek awarded the album three stars, stating that "almost none of these 16 tunes are radical reinterpretations of Lennon's songs; most stick close to the original melodies even at their most adventurous." Jurek also writes:

Opener "Across the Universe," with its twinning of Frisell's electric guitar and Leisz's pedal steel as Scheinman's violin picks up the lyric melody and extrapolates its harmonic aspects, is indicative of the recording's M.O., offering a close examination of Lennon the ''composer''. The interplay between the three principals is remarkable, such as on the intro to "Nowhere Man," where Scheinman's ostinato tenses up in advance of the changes, and Leisz grounds her fluidly while Frisell pulls his lower strings to wind up, allowing the track to begin then flow into more open areas without losing sight of the melody.Jurek, T

accessed October 13, 2011.

Track listing

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our W ...

" ( Lennon, McCartney) – 5:53 #"

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

" (Lennon, McCartney) – 3:50 #" Nowhere Man" (Lennon, McCartney) – 5:14 #"

Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...

" (Lennon) – 4:51 #" Please, Please Me" (Lennon, McCartney) – 2:06 #"

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written and sung by John Lennon (though credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on the album ''Help!'' in August 1965. Composition and recording Len ...

" (Lennon, McCartney) – 5:10 #"

Hold On Hold On may refer to: Music Albums and EPs * ''Hold On!'' (album), by Herman's Hermits, 1966 * ''Hold On'' (Trapeze album), or the title song, 1978 * ''Hold On'' (High Inergy album), 1980 * ''Hold On'' (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album), 1987 * ...

" (Lennon) – 3:56 #"

In My Life "In My Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It appeared on their 1965 album '' Rubber Soul''. Its lyrics were written primarily by John Lennon, credited to Lennon–McCartney. George Martin contributed the piano solo bridge. ...

" (Lennon, McCartney) – 4:05 #"

Come Together "Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on their 1969 album ''Abbey Road'' and was also released as a single coupled with "Somethin ...

" (Lennon, McCartney) – 5:10 #"

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

" (Lennon, McCartney) – 3:31 #"

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

" (Lennon) – 4:21 #" #9 Dream" (Lennon) – 3:42 #"

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

" (Lennon) – 2:18 #" Beautiful Boy" (Lennon) – 3:27 #"

Mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...

" (Lennon) – 6:52 #"

" (Lennon) – 3:38

Personnel

– guitars *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage band cu ...

– steel guitar, acoustic guitar *

Jenny Scheinman Jenny Scheinman is a jazz violinist. She has produced several critically acclaimed solo albums, including ''12 Songs'', named one of the Top Ten Albums of 2005 by ''The New York Times''. She has played with Linda Perry, Norah Jones, Nels Cline, ...

– violin *

Tony Scherr Tony Scherr is an American jazz and folk rock bassist, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Biography Scherr was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and is a graduate of the Hammonasset School. He played with Woody Herman as a teenag ...

– bass *

Kenny Wollesen Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist. Wollesen has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a foun ...

– drums *

Lee Townsend Lee Townsend is an American independent music producer, curator, artist manager and co-owner of Songtone (Songline/Tone Field Productions), specializing in recordings of singer-songwriters, contemporary composers, improvising musicians, and cross ...

– producer *Adam Munoz – recording and mixing engineer *Greg Calbi – mastering engineer

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Bill Frisell albums Savoy Records albums John Lennon tribute albums