Guitarist Bill Frisell [ tickets ] goes back in the studio with producer Lee Townsend in February, recording septet music that fuses his recent country/bluegrass period with jazz horn writing that is similar to his arrangements on last year's "The Sweetest Punch: Songs Of Elvis Costello And Burt Bacharach."

The musicians will include Frisell's current quartet (Greg Leisz on pedal and lap steel, dobro and guitar; David Piltch on bass; Kenny Wolleson on drums), plus three horn players from "The Sweetest Punch" album: trumpeter Ron Miles, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and alto saxophonist Billy Drewes.

Frisell wrote the compositions specifically for these players, who premiered them in November 1999 at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis.

Townsend, who has produced eleven albums with Frisell as a leader since 1987, said that the septet project "is a bridge between Bill's 'Americana' phase--the indigenous elements of jazz, rock, blues, country and bluegrass--with his jazz-influenced writing. It's like the 'This Land' era with horns, but I feel he's forging something new and entering a new phase."

Frisell's "This Land" era is a period that began with that 1992 album, earned wider recognition with "Nashville" and saw further maturation on last year's "Good Dog Happy Man." On those albums, Frisell's plaintive and bending guitar voice joined the shimmering tremolos of lap, pedal steel and slide guitar to create "open land," textural music, based on country, Appalachian and bluegrass traditions.

"Good Dog Happy Man" found Frisell's group and Townsend beginning with live studio improvisations, then layering a great deal of additional acoustic and studio-enhanced string sounds afterwards. The harmonic simplicity and instrumentation of the ''Americana'' period has alienated some die-hard jazz listeners, but brought Frisell new listeners who favored alt-country, progressive bluegrass, and hard-to-classify "creative guitar" genres. Townsend said that improvisation would still be integral to the new project.

"Regardless of the orchestrations, arrangements, overdubbing," Townsend said, "the music is always centered on live playing. It's about the compositions and textures and the musicians' approach to their instruments, as opposed to heroic soloing."

The album will be released on Frisell's current home Atlantic/Nonesuch, which is supportive of his projects, Townsend said. In March, the label will release a solo album by Frisell called "Ghost Town." Frisell plays acoustic and electric guitars, banjo and bass, uses loops and overdubs over himself (a concept that goes back as far as early guitar innovator Les Paul and jazz pianist Lennie Tristano).

Although Frisell's septet will not be touring, it will play a stretch of dates at Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland, Calif., in July and make an appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September. Frisell will also play numerous "runout" dates with his quartet and trio throughout the year.