''With film, one of the main things is that it has pulled me in other directions and it helps me grow,'' Frisell says. ''If I'm asked to do music for a film, I have to actually take something into account other than what is in my own imagination.''

If Frisell's career has a constant, it could be his love for the music of the jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk. A Monk tune seems to find its way to nearly every Frisell recording. For ''History, Mystery,'' Frisell chose Monk's challenging ''Jackie-ing.''

''He [Monk] was able to invent this whole sound and world all his own. Really, the music itself is really a model of what music could be. It's its own thing, a completely different language.''

Frisell pauses, and, as if in the middle of a long improvisation, changes course. ''No, that's not true, either. It is so accessible for everyone and everybody. Little kids can listen to his music and respond to it, dance to it. The further you look into it, the more things you find out about it.''

Which, not coincidentally, is what listeners might discover in Bill Frisell's music.

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