Bill Frisell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by
adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or
poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentiallylibelous or
harmful. (January 2015)

Bill Frisell

Frisell playing with the B3 Trio at Jazz Alley,Seattle on April 24, 2004

Background information

Birth name

William Richard Frisell

Born

March 18, 1951 (age 64)

Baltimore, Maryland
United States

Genres

Jazz, jazz fusion, folk jazz,world fusion, New

Acoustic,Americana, experimental rock,grindcore,
soundtrack

Occupation(s) Musician, composer, arranger

Instruments

Guitar, clarinet, tenor saxophone

Years active

1973present

Labels

Savoy Label Group,Nonesuch, ECM

Website

billfrisell.com

Notable instruments

Fender Telecaster

William Richard "Bill" Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American guitarist, composer
and arranger.
One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches
on progressive folk, classical music,country music, noise music and more. He is known for
using an array of effects to create unique sounds from his instrument.
Contents
[hide]

1Biography
o

1.1Early life and career

1.2ECM Records years

1.3New York City era

1.4Seattle years

22000 to present

3Selected discography
o

3.1Albums

4References

5External links

Biography[edit]
Early life and career[edit]
Frisell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, but spent most of his youth in the Denver,
Colorado area. He studied clarinet with Richard Joiner of the Denver Symphony
Orchestra as a youth, graduated from Denver East High School, and went to the University
of Northern Colorado to study music.

His original guitar teacher in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area was Dale Bruning, with
whom Frisell released the 2000 duo album Reunion. After graduating from Northern
Colorado, where he studied with Johnny Smith, Frisell went to the Berklee College of
Music in Boston, where he studied with Jon Damian and Jim Hall.

ECM Records years[edit]

Frisell's major break came when guitarist Pat Metheny was unable to make a recording
session, and recommended Frisell to Paul Motian, who was recording Psalm (1982)
for ECM Records.[1] Frisell became ECM's in-house guitar player, and worked on several
albums, most notably Jan Garbarek's 1981 Paths, Prints. Frisell's first solo release was In
Line, which featured solo guitar as well as duets with bassist Arild Andersen.

New York City era[edit]

Frisell's first group to receive much acclaim was a quartet with Kermit Driscoll on
bass, Joey Baron on drums, and Hank Roberts on cello (later slimmed down to a trio when
Roberts left). Many other albums with larger ensembles were recorded with this group as
the core.
In the 1980s, Frisell lived in the New York City area and was an active participant in the
city's music scene. He lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, where the rents were cheaper and
the city was accessible via public transportation. [2] He forged an early partnership with John
Zornincluding as a member of quick-change band Naked Cityand performed or
recorded with many others. He also became known for his work in Motian's trio, along with
saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Seattle years[edit]
In 1988 Frisell left New York City and moved to Seattle, Washington.[3] In the early 1990s
Frisell made two of his best-reviewed albums: first, Have a Little Faith, an ambitious survey
of Americana of all stripes, from Charles Ives and Aaron Copland (the entirety of Billy the
Kid) to John Hiatt (the title song), Bob Dylan ("Just Like a Woman") andMadonna (a
lengthy, psychedelic rock-tinged version of "Live to Tell"); and second, This Land, a
complementary set of originals. During this time he performed with many musicians,
including the more up and coming, such as Douglas September on album 10 Bulls. He also
branched out by performing soundtracks to silent films of Buster Keatonwith his trio, and
contributed to Ryuichi Sakamoto's album Heartbeat.
In the mid-1990s, Frisell disbanded his trio. He continued the trend marked by Have a Little
Faith by more explicitly incorporating elements of bluegrass and country music into his
music. His friendship with Gary Larson led him to provide music for the TV version of The
Far Side[4] (released on the album Quartet along with music written for Keaton'sConvict 13).
Since 2000, Frisell has lived on Bainbridge Island, Washington, near Seattle.[3]

2000 to present[edit]

Frisell performing in 2010 at the Moers Festival

Frisell at Vossajazz, Norway, April 11, 2014

Several of Frisell's songs, including his recording of "Over the Rainbow" and "Coffaro's
Theme", originally composed in 1995 for an Italian movie, La scuola, were featured in the
movie Finding Forrester in 2000.
In 1999, Frisell was commissioned by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota to
compose Blues Dream, which he premiered on November 15, 1999. He later recorded the
work for a 2001 release on Nonesuch.

Also in 1999, he released The Sweetest Punch, which featured a seven-piece jazz
ensemble reworking the tunes written and recorded by Elvis Costello and Burt
Bacharach on Painted from Memory.[5]
Between 2003 and 2005 Frisell acted as musical director for Century of Song, a series of
concerts at the German arts festivalRuhrTriennale (produced by Lee Townsend). Frisell
invited artists including Rickie Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega, Arto
Lindsay, Loudon Wainwright III, Vic Chesnutt, Van Dyke Parks, Buddy Miller, Ron
Sexsmith and Chip Taylor to perform their favorite songs in new arrangements.
In 2003, Frisell's The Intercontinentals was nominated for a Grammy award; he won the
2005 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for his album Unspeakable. His
2008 album History, Mystery was nominated for a 2009 Grammy award for Best Jazz
Instrumental Album, Individual or Group. Frisell was also a judge for the sixth
annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[6]
Frisell has united with Matt Chamberlain, Tucker Martine, and Lee Townsend in the
Floratone band, and they released an album on Blue Note (2007), featuring guest
performance of Viktor Krauss, Ron Miles and Eyvind Kang.
In 2008, Frisell performed as a featured guest on Earth's album The Bees Made Honey in
the Lion's Skull.
In 2009, Frisell featured in a duet rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with singersongwriter Sam Shrieve. The recording was released on Shrieve's debut album Bittersweet
Lullabies.
In 2010, Frisell started working with the Savoy Jazz label and released Beautiful
Dreamers in August 2010, then a second release of Sign of Life in April 2011. Also, on
January 25, 2011, Frisell and Vinicius Canturia released Lgrimas Mexicanas on the E1
label.
In June 2011, Frisell, Lee Townsend, and their frequent collaborator, Vinicius Cantuaria,
participated in TEDx GoldenGateED's program, "Teaching Compassion" in Oakland,
California. Frisell and Cantuaria performed separately, and Townsend assisted with
technical aspects of the event.[7]
In September 2011, Frisell released All We Are Saying, a full-length offering of his
interpretations of John Lennon's music. Frisell's quintet includes violinist Jenny Scheinman,
pedal steel and acoustic guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Kenny
Wollesen.

Selected discography[edit]
Main article: Bill Frisell discography

Albums[edit]
Title

Year

Label

In Line

1983

ECM

Rambler

1984

ECM

Lookout for Hope

1987

ECM

Before We Were Born

1989

Nonesuch

Is That You?

1990

Nonesuch

Where in the World?

1991

Nonesuch

Have a Little Faith

1992

Nonesuch

This Land

1994

Nonesuch

Go West: Music for the Films of Buster Keaton

1995

Nonesuch

The High Sign/One Week: Music for the Films of Buster Keaton

1995

Nonesuch

Live

1995

Gramavision

Quartet

1996

Nonesuch

Nashville

1997

Nonesuch

Gone, Just Like a Train

1998

Nonesuch

Good Dog, Happy Man

1999

Nonesuch

The Sweetest Punch

1999

Decca

Ghost Town

2000

Nonesuch

Blues Dream

2001

Nonesuch

With Dave Holland and Elvin Jones

2001

Nonesuch

The Willies

2002

Nonesuch

The Intercontinentals

2003

Nonesuch

Unspeakable

2004

Nonesuch

Richter 858

2005

Songlines

East/West

2005

Nonesuch

Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian

2006

Nonesuch

History, Mystery

2008

Nonesuch

Disfarmer

2009

Nonesuch

Beautiful Dreamers

2010

Savoy Label Group

Sign of Life

2011

Savoy Label Group

All We Are Saying

2011

Savoy Label Group

Silent Comedy

2013

Tzadik

Big Sur

2013

Okeh

Guitar in the Space Age!

2014

Okeh

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ "Interviews". Jazzweekly.com. Retrieved January 6, 2015.

2.

Jump up^ "Music Is Good: A Conversation with Bill Frisell". The Fretboard Journal:
Keepsake magazine for guitar collectors. Retrieved January 6, 2015.

3.

^ Jump up to:a b Seven, Richard (April 22, 2001). "The Sound of One Man
Dreaming". Pacific Northwest magazine. The Seattle Times.

4.

Jump up^ "Bill Frisell Biography". Billfrisell.com. Retrieved 2012-03-08.

5.

Jump up^ [1] Archived May 29, 2008 at the Wayback Machine

6.

Jump up^ [2] Archived June 6, 2009 at the Wayback Machine

7.

Jump up^ "Bill Frisells Video". Tedxgoldengateed.org. Retrieved January 6, 2015.

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Bill Frisell.

Official website

Bill Frisell on NoneSuch Records

2014 Bill Frisell Interview on Guitar.com

[hide]

Naked City
John Zorn
Bill Frisell
Former members

Fred Frith
Wayne Horvitz
Joey Baron
Yamatsuka Eye
Naked City
Torture Garden
Grand Guignol

Studio albums

Heretic
Leng Tch'e
Radio
Absinthe

Live albums

Box sets

Naked City Live, Vol. 1: The Knitting Factory 1989

Black Box
Naked City: The Complet