The jazz guitarist Bill Frisell discovers a new side of American music by revisiting the repertoire of the Englishman John Lennon. After having interpreted Bob Dylan or Madonna, and American folklore (country, bluegrass, folk, etc.) in the 90s, it’s the Beatles that he tackles on his latest album, All we are saying. Always eager for change, this guitarist of genius proposes to the Jazz à la Villette festival a work thought since his discovery of the Fab Four, at the age of 13. But his project was born more clearly when he was asked, during a concert in Paris in 2005, to play Lennon’s songs, and that he had to consider for the first time his interpretation of the author of “Imagine”. The apparent simplicity of the Beatles’ songs, and Lennon’s in particular, makes them ideal material for anyone who wants to extract the marrow of their songs and offer their own version. Accompanied by a mandolin, pedal steel guitar, bass and drums, Frisell renders a surprising score on All We Are Saying, transforming “Nowhere Man” into a country ballad, “Hold On” into a jazz lament or “Mother” into a haunting blues. The former collaborator of John Zorn brings together what built him up by injecting the songs of the most classic of pop stars with the traditional music that nourished them both.