When You Wish Upon a Star

Few jazz players have as robust a relationship with pop culture as Bill Frisell, heard here applying his plaintive twang to well-known music from screens large and small. Evocative scores by the great Italian film composers Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in the West) and Nino Rota (The Godfather) thrive under the attention of a chill combo—featuring Petra Haden's straightforward vocals, Rudy Royston's subtle drumming, and Eyvind Kang's viola—that makes the most of wide-open spaces.