Developing a "voice" of one's own is perhaps the ultimate achievement in music. As anyone who's ever touched an instrument or opened their mouth with the intention of expressing a musical idea knows, developing a voice is difficult to the point of being overwhelming. Conservatories, university music departments, private instructors and seminars see countless devoted musicians every year and, certainly, many of them succeed in sounding "different." But few are ever able to create a voice readily identified as theirs alone.

There is no question that Bill Frisell, who is commonly described as a slightly warped jazz guitarist with a passion for country-western music, has developed a voice of his own on both electric and acoustic guitars. His liberal use of loops, echo, reverb and burning distortion allows him a sonic range that spans the sub-aquatic to the extraterrestrial. Furthermore, Frisell's unique use of harmonics and overtones makes other musicians gape with awe and ask themselves, "How did he ever think of doing that?"

But effects pedals and technical mastery alone do not make a musician unique. Without being overly clever, Frisell's unusual chords, rhythms and tones also express an oblique sensibility that can be as playful as it is biting. Guitarist Jim Hall, with whom Frisell spent a year studying, once remarked that Frisell is the only guitarist whose music can make him laugh.