Duke Performances is now Duke Arts presents. Learn more.

Duke Arts Presents

Bill Frisell + Bill Morrison
The Great Flood

Saturday, November 5, 2011 | 8:00 pm

Reynolds Industries Theater


Rock, country, jazz, the blues, experimental music — guitar genius Bill Frisell has done it all. After three decades of working with everyone from Pat Metheny to Brian Eno, Frisell is widely treasured for the boundless subtlety of his technique. This new mixed media collaboration with Bill Morrison (best known for his experimental film Decasia) is based on the Mississippi River flood of 1927, which sparked the “Great Migration” of blues musicians from the rural South to the urban North. Haunting archival footage edited by Morrison looms on an enormous screen behind the instrumentalists as they perform 75 continuous minutes of prismatic roots music. The Great Flood is an enchanting meditation led by one of the most thoughtful, quietly dazzling American musicians ever.