Comprehensive information and links about Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell (born March 18, 1951Bill Frisell is an American jazz guitarist. He is, along with John Scofield and Pat Metheny, one of the best-known and perhaps best-regarded jazz guitarists of the last decade.

Frisell was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He spend most of his youth in the Denver Colorado area and went to University of Northern Colorado for music. His original guitar teacher in the Denver area was Dale Bruning who continues to teach to this day. The two of them occasionally play together and have released an album as a duo. After graduating from University of Northern Colorado he went to Berklee and studied with Jim Hall, which was to make a lasting impression on his playing.

Pat Metheny, unable to make a session, referred ECM to Bill Frisell. He would then become their house guitar player and work on several albums before his first solo release was all solo guitar except for a number of tracks that featured Arild Anderson on bass. His first group that received a lot of acclaim was his quartet with Kermit Driscoll on bass, Joey Baron on drums, and Hank Roberts on cello. Many other albums with larger ensembles were recorded with this group as the core.

In the 1980s he lived in New York City and was an active participant in the city's thriving 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.

In the mid-1990s, Frisell disbanded his quartet and moved to Seattle, Washington. He began incorporating more explicitly various elements of bluegrass, country music and related forms into his music. Frisell performs often with New York City violinist Jenny Scheinman. He also sometimes plays in a trio with Joe Lovano and Paul Motian.

Between 2003 and 2005 he acted as musical director for Century of Song, a chain of exclusive concerts at the German artsfestival RuhrTriennale. Frisell invited international songwriters such as Rickie Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III., Vic Chesnutt, Van Dyke Parks, Buddy Miller and Chip Taylor to perform their favourite songs in new arrangements.The press hailed these concerts as a "century event".

For his album