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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Bill Frisell| image = Bill wiki.jpg| caption =| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name = William Richard Frisell| alias =| Born = birth date and age|1951|03|18 Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore , Maryland United States | death_date =| instrument = Electric guitar , Bass guitar|bass , clarinet , tenor saxophone | genre = Jazz , jazz fusion , grindcore , americana music|americana , world music|world , experimental rock , soundtrack | occupation = Musician , composer , music arranger|arranger | years_active = 1973 - current| label = Savoy Records|Savoy Label Group , Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch , ECM Records|ECM | associated_acts =| website = URL| http://www.billfrisell.com/| notable_instruments = Fender Telecaster , Steve Klein Electric William Richard "Bill" Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an United States|American guitarist , composer and music arranger|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|noise and more. He is known for using an array of effects to create unique sounds from his instrument.
Biography
Early life and career
Frisell was born in Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore , Maryland , but spent most of his youth in the Denver, Colorado|Denver , Colorado area. He played clarinet 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 (musician)|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 (Paul Motian album)|Psalm (1982) for ECM Records .Jung, F. http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/motian.htm A Fireside Chat with Paul Motian. Jazz Weekly 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 & mdash;including as a member of quick-change band Naked City (band)|Naked City & mdash;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 (U.S. state)|Washington .Seven, R. (2001) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2001/0422/cover.html The Sound of One Man Dreaming. Pacific Northwest Magazine . In the early 1990s Frisell made two of his best-reviewed albums: first, Have a Little Faith (Bill Frisell album)|Have a Little Faith , an ambitious survey of Americana of all stripes, from Charles Ives and Aaron Copland (the entirety of Billy the Kid (ballet)|Billy the Kid ) to John Hiatt (the title song), Bob Dylan (" Just Like a Woman (song)|Just Like a Woman ") and Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna (a lengthy, psychedelic rock -tinged version of "Live to Tell"); and second, This Land (album)|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 (Bill Frisell album)|Have a Little Faith by more explicitly incorporating elements of Bluegrass music|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 http://www.billfrisell.com/index-bio.htm Bill Frisell Biography (released on the album Quartet (Bill Frisell album)|Quartet along with music written for Keaton's Convict 13 ). Since the late 1990s Bill Frisell has lived in Bainbridge Island, Washington , near Seattle.
2000s
Several of Frisell's songs, including his recording of "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 Records|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 . http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/elviscostello/albums/album/176480/review/6211257/the_sweetest_punch_songs_of_elvis_costello_and_burt_bacharach The Sweetest Punch: Songs of Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone review.
Between 2003 and 2005 Frisell acted as musical director for Century of Song , a series of concerts at the Germany|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 (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 The Independent Music Awards|Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/imajudges2007.asp Independent Music Awards - 6th Annual Judges
Frisell has united with Matt Chamberlain , Tucker Martine , and Lee Townsend in the Floratone band, and they have released an album on Blue Note (2007), featuring guest performance of Viktor Krauss , Ron Miles , Eyvind Kang .
In 2008, Frisell performed as a featured guest on Earth (band)|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 (Leonard Cohen song)|Hallelujah " with singer-songwriter , 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, Bill Frisell and Vinicius Cantuária released Lágrimas Mexicanas on the E1 label.
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
Main|Bill Frisell discography
Albums
Title
Year
Label
In Line
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1983
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ECM
Rambler (album)
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1984
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ECM
Lookout for Hope (Bill Frisell album)
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1987
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ECM
Before We Were Born
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1989
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Nonesuch
Is That You?
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1990
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Nonesuch
Where in the World?
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1991
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Nonesuch
Have a Little Faith (Bill Frisell album)
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1992
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Nonesuch
This Land (album)
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1994
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Nonesuch
Go West: Music for the Films of Buster Keaton
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1995
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Nonesuch
The High Sign/ One Week
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1995
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Nonesuch
Live (Bill Frisell album)
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1995
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Gramavision
Quartet (Bill Frisell album)
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1996
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Nonesuch
Nashville (Bill Frisell album)
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1997
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Nonesuch
Gone, Just Like a Train
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1998
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Nonesuch
Good Dog, Happy Man
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1999
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Nonesuch
The Sweetest Punch , The New Songs of Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
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1999
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Decca
Ghost Town (Bill Frisell album)
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2000
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Nonesuch
Blues Dream
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2001
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Nonesuch
With Dave Holland and Elvin Jones
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2001
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Nonesuch
The Willies
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2002
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Nonesuch
The Intercontinentals
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2003
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Nonesuch
Unspeakable (album)
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2004
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Nonesuch
Richter 858
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2005
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Songlines
East/ West (album)
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2005
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Nonesuch
Further East/ Further West
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2005
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Nonesuch
Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian
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2006
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Nonesuch
Floratone
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2007
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Blue Note
History, Mystery
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2008
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Nonesuch
Disfarmer
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2009
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Nonesuch
Beautiful Dreamers
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2010
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Savoy Label Group
Lágrimas Mexicanas with Vinicius Cantuária
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2011
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E1 Music/ Naďve
Sign of Life : Music for 858 Quartet
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2011
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Savoy Label Group
All We Are Saying , Frisell Plays Lennon
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2011
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Savoy Label Group
References
Reflist
External links
commons category|Bill Frisell
http://www.billfrisell.com/ Official site
http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/bill-frisell Bill Frisell on NoneSuch Records
Naked City Persondata | NAME =Frisell, Bill | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =March 18, 1951 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Frisell, Bill Category:American jazz guitarists Category:Jazz fusion guitarists Category:Post-bop guitarists Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:Musicians from Colorado Category:People from Denver, Colorado Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Grammy Award winners Category:ECM artists
