In a career that spans more than 20 years and more than 80 recordings, guitarist, composer and bandleader Bill Frisell has established himself as one of the most sought after collaborators in contemporary music. He has contributed to the work of such diverse artists as Ginger Baker, Gavin Bryars, Don Byron, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, Marianne Faithful, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, Paul Motian, David Sylvian, Hal Willner and John Zorn, among many others.
Hailed as "the most significant and widely imitated guitarist to emerge in jazz since the beginning of the 1980s..." (The New York Times), Frisell has made a dozen records for Nonesuch as a bandleader. His discography ranges from original Buster Keaton film scores, to covers of songs by Stephen Foster, Bob Dylan and Madonna (Have a Little Faith), music for extended ensemble including horns (This Land), jazz compositions intended as soundtracks to Gary Larson cartoons (Quartet), a recent collaboration with Jim Keltner and Viktor Krauss (Gone, Just like a Train), and a first collaboration with pianist Fred Hersch, a collection of eleven standards entitled Songs We Know.
Bill Frisell recently made a national television appearance in 1997 on "Sessions at West 54th," and The New Yorker called him, "...the most distinctive stylist in contemporary jazz..." That same year his 1996 recording Quartet won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the German equivalent of a Grammy Award. In 1998 Frisell's recording Nashville won the Downbeat Critics Poll for "Album of the Year", and he received both a Critics Award and an Industry Award in the category of "Best Guitarist" at the First Annual Jazz Awards, sponsored by the Knitting Factory and the Jazz Journalists Association.
In May 1999 Nonesuch will release Good Dog, Happy Man, a collection of eleven new Frisell originals which reunites him with the rhythm section employed on Gone, Just Like a Train, bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer Jim Keltner, plus multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, k.d. lang) on Dobro, mandolin, Weissenborn, National steel guitar, lap and pedal steel guitars and Wayne Horvitz (Zony Mash, Naked City, The President) on Hammond B-3 organ. Additionally, he and special guest Ry Cooder play a rendition of the traditional folk song "Shenandoah," dedicated to the guitarist Johnny Smith.
Frisell recently performed a series of select solo dates, after which he documented his first-ever solo record, produced by Lee Townsend and set for release next year on Nonesuch. He also arranged and performed on a second collaboration with Elvis Costello, an album of songs by Costello and Burt Bacharach called The Sweetest Punch, to be released by Universal Classics later this year. Frisell has also been busy composing and recording original soundtrack music for several upcoming projects: American Hollow, an HBO special about an Appalachian family; an educational radio program about the human genome called The DNA Files; the remake of Gus Van Sant's classic horror film Psycho, and new music for Gary Larson's second animated film project.
Meanwhile, Frisell continues to tour the US and Europe with his New Quartet, a group that features Greg Leisz (pedal steel and slide guitars), David Piltch (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums). He's also been on the road with a new band called Bill Frisell and the Willies, featuring a variation on bluegrass instrumentation with Danny Barnes (banjo, guitar), Eyvind Kang (violin) and Keith Lowe (bass). This fall Frisell will embark on a major tour of the US, performing music from Good Dog, Happy Man, with his New Quartet.
Bill Frisell was born in Baltimore and grew up in Denver, playing clarinet in his high school band and discovering his love for the guitar through his exposure to pop music on the radio. His great enthusiasm for the Chicago Blues-- particularly the music of B.B. King and Paul Butterfield-- led to his complex affinity for contemporary American music. Frisell studied at the University of Northern Colorado and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 1978, he spent a year composing in Belgium, and then moved to New York City, where he spent the next ten years in fruitful collaboration with some of the most creative talents of the downtown new music scene. In 1989, Frisell moved to Seattle, where he continues to make his home.
