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William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant in the Downtown Scene in New York City, where he formed a long working relationship with composer and saxophonist John Zorn. He was also a longtime member of veteran drummer Paul Motian's groups from the early 1980s until Motian's death in 2011. Since the late 1990s, Frisell's output as a bandleader has also integrated prominent elements of folk music, country music, rock ‘n’ roll and Americana. He has six Grammy Awards nominations and one win.
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, Frisell went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied with Jon Damian and Jim Hall.
Frisell organized a regular working group in the mid-1980s consisting of Kermit Driscoll on bass, Joey Baron on drums, and Hank Roberts on cello (later reduced to a trio when Roberts left). For studio projects, this group was regularly joined by other musicians.
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 music and country music into his music. His friendship with Gary Larson led him to provide music for the TV version of The Far Side (released on the album Quartet along with music written for Keaton's Convict 13). Since 2000, Frisell has lived on Bainbridge Island, Washington, near Seattle.
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. 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.[2]
Between 2003 and 2005, Frisell acted as musical director for Century of Song, a series of concerts at the German Ruhrtriennale arts festival (produced by Lee Townsend). Frisell invited artists including Rickie Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, Petra Haden, Jenny Scheinman, 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.[3]
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 performances 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 singer-songwriter Sam Shrieve. The recording was released on Shrieve's debut album Bittersweet Lullabies.
In 2010 Frisell started working with the Savoy Records 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 Cantuária released Lágrimas 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 the technical aspects of the event. 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. In 2017, Frisell received an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music.
In 2021 a video was recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York and was published by Blue Note Records on YouTube.
2000 to present
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 film Finding Forrester in 2000.
Discography
Albums
ECM Records ECM ECM Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Gramavision Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Decca Records Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Songlines Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Nonesuch Savoy Records Savoy Savoy Tzadik Records Okeh Records OKeh OKeh ECM OKeh ECM Blue Note Blue Note Blue Note Blue Note Red Hook
External links
Categories: Official Website, 1951 Births, Living People, Guitarists From Maryland, Musicians From Baltimore, American Jazz Guitarists, Ecm Records Artists, Nonesuch Records Artists, Grammy Award Winners, 20th-century American Guitarists, Jazz Musicians From Maryland, Naked City Members, Gramavision Records Artists, East High School Alumni
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