Another of my favorite jazz artists, Bill Frisell has a moody and sly tune to his music. Born in
Baltimore (
18 March,
1951), Bill Frisell played clarinet throughout his childhood in
Denver,
Colorado.
Frisell is considered one of the premier jazz guitarists in the USA. Right up there with
John Scofield and
John Ambercrombie, both of whom he has played with.
Soon, the Chicago Blues became a passion through the work of
Otis Rush,
B.B. King,
Paul Butterfield and
Buddy Guy. In high school, he played in bands which covered pop and soul classics,
James Brown songs and other dance material. Later, Bill studied music at the
University of Northern Colorado before attending the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston where he studied with
John Damian,
Herb Pomeroy and
Michael Gibbs. In 1978, Frisell moved for a year to
Belgium where he concentrated on writing music.
"When I was 16, 17, I was listening to a lot of surfing music, a lot of English rock. Then I saw
Wes Montgomery and somehow that kind of turned me around and fitted it all together. Jim Hall made a big impression on me and I took some lessons with him. I suppose I play the kind of harmonic things Jim Hall would play but with a sound that comes from
Jimi Hendrix", Frisell told Wire. Besides Hendrix, Hall and Montgomery, Bill litsts
Paul Motian,
Thelonious Monk,
Charles Ives,
Sonny Rollins,
John Zorn, among his influences.
Bill has performed on dozens of recordings as a sideman, featured player or co-leader. The material is always diverse - ranging from country swing to reggae, quasi-heavy metal and backbeat rock (with a twist) to
Thelonious Monk's
Hackensack or musical musings and passages for
Buster Keaton's
silent films.
Bill plays: Guitar, Electric Guitar, Banjo, Guitar Synthesizer,Effects
A partial discography of Bill Frisell's work.
2001 - "
Blues Dream" Bill Frisell
2000 - "
Ghost Town" Bill Frisell
1999 - "
The Sweetest Punch" Bill Frisell
1999 - "
Good Dog, Happy Man" Bill Frisell
1998 - "
Gone, Just Like A Train" Bill Frisell
1997 - "
Nashville" Bill Frisell
1996 - "
Quartet" Bill Frisell
1995 - "
Live" Bill Frisell, Joey Baron, Kermit Driscoll
1995 - "
The High Sign" Bill Frisell
1995 - "
Go West" Bill Frisell
1994 - "
This Land" Bill Frisell
1992 - "
Have A Little Faith" Bill Frisell
1991 - "
Where In The World" The Bill Frisell Band
1990 - "
Is That You?" Bill Frisell
1989 - "
Before We Were Born" Bill Frisell
1988 - "
Lookout For Hope" The Bill Frisell Band
1986 - "
Works" Bill Frisell
1985 - "
Rambler" Bill Frisell
1984 - "
Smash and Scatteration", Bill Frisell &
Vernon Reid,
1983 - "
In Line" Bill Frisell
some info and the quote in this node were taken from www.billfrisell.com