William Richard "Bill" Frisell
(born March 18, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer.
One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late '80s Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more. He is known for using an array of effects (delay, distortion, reverb, octave shifters, and volume pedals, to name a few) to create unique sounds from his instrument.
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BILL FRISELL TICKETS
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Biography
Early life and career
Frisell was born in
Baltimore, Maryland, but spent most of his youth in the
Denver,
Colorado area. He played
clarinet as a youth, and went to the
University of Northern Colorado to study music.
His original guitar teacher in the
Denver 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 and studied with John Damian and
Jim Hall.
The ECM Records years
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
featured solo guitar and duets with bassist
Arild Andersen.
New York City era
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
New York City and was an active participant in the city's music scene. He forged an early partnership with
John Zorn—including as a member of quick-change band
Naked City—and performed or recorded with many others. He also became known for his work in drummer
Paul Motian's trio, along with saxophonist
Joe Lovano.
The Seattle Years
In 1988 Frisell left New York City and moved to
Seattle,
Washington.
[2] 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") and
Madonna (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 Keaton with 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
[3] (released on the album
Quartet
along with music written for Keaton's
Convict 13
).
2000s
Several of Frisell's songs, including "Over the Rainbow" and "Coffaro's Theme", were featured in the movie
Finding Forrester
(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
.
[4]
Between 2003 and 2005 Frisell acted as musical director for
Century of Song, a series of concerts at the
German arts festival
RuhrTriennale (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 6th annual
Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
[5]
In 2009, Frisell featured in a duet rendition of
Leonard Cohen's "
Hallelujah" with singer/songwriter
Sam Shrieve. The recording was released on Shrieve's debut album
Bittersweet Lullabies.
Selected Discography
| 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
|
| 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
|
| Floratone
|
| 2007
|
| Bluenote
|
| History, Mystery
|
| 2008
|
| Nonesuch
|
| Disfarmer
|
| 2009
|
| Nonesuch
|
TV appearances
- SOLOS: the jazz sessions
(2004) Bravo! Canada
References
- Jung, F. A Fireside Chat with Paul Motian. ''Jazz Weekly''
- Seven, R. (2001) The Sound of One Man Dreaming. ''Pacific Northwest Magazine''.
- Bill Frisell Biography
- http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/elviscostello/albums/album/176480/review/6211257/the_sweetest_pu
- Independent Music Awards - 6th Annual Judges