Celebrating the Artistry and 75th Birthday of Bill Frisell

On his 75th birthday, JGT contributor Joe Barth looks back on comments from guitarists about the artistry of Bill Frisell. Born March 18, 1951

One of the most popular jazz guitarists on the scene today is Bill Frisell.  Bill can swing with the best and play the most interesting bebop lines, but he has chosen an Americana sound and feel.  His fluid, yet distinctive sound is one of the most recognizable in jazz today.  Born on March 18, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, and reared in the Denver, Colorado area, he started on the clarinet as a child. He switched to guitar as a teenager, being influenced by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Ventures, and other 1960s rock acts.  His primary guitar teacher in the Denver area was Dale Bruning, but he also had the opportunity to study under the great Johnny Smith.  He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado and then moved to Boston to study at Berklee College.

His first big break was when Pat Metheny recommended him for a Paul Motion ECM record date that Metheny’s schedule did not allow him to do.  In the 1980s, Bill was the first-call guitarist for many ECM recording projects.  After establishing himself in New York, Bill lived in the Seattle area until 2017, when he relocated to Brooklyn, New York.

Revered by all guitar players, in this article, I draw upon my twenty-five years of interviews to share what some of the greatest guitar players have said to me about Bill Frisell and how he contributed to the art form of jazz guitar:

Roni Ben-Hur… 

I heard Bill at the Vanguard will Paul Motion and Joe Lovono.  Bill was playing his Tele with his loops that night, and it was so fresh and creative.  They played Monk in a way that I had never heard before.  It was inspiring. 

Peter Bernstein… 

I love Frisell.  He has developed a special sound, but he keeps control of all his effects and things.  Using them, he creates a very special musical atmosphere that only he can do effectively. These effects are never a gimmick with Bill. I have heard him without effects, and he still sounds like Bill.

Marty Ashby…

Bill is another creative spirit.  He is always moving to get different sounds on the guitar.  

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Sheryl Bailey…

I remember seeing Bill with the Paul Motion trio at Duquesne University.  I was into bebop then, so I just didn’t get what Bill was doing.  It wasn’t that I didn’t like it.  I just didn’t understand the loops and delays, and that afternoon, I asked all these questions about what he was doing.  Then years later, I saw him at Berklee, and he looked at me and said, “Pittsburgh!” (laughter) Then I got some of those On Broadway albums of Paul Motion and really dug what he was doing.

You can hear Jim Hall’s influence in his playing.  There is Jim’s sense of economy in what Bill does.  Jim’s sense of melodicism, phrasing, and harmony comes out in Bill’s playing. 

At another time, I saw Bill with Leni Stern and a rhythm section in Boston, and Bill, that night, was playing like Jimi Hendrix.  It was incredible what was coming out of him that night. He has definitely changed jazz guitar.  He is the inspiration of many of the students I have at Berklee.  It isn’t Charlie Christian so much for that generation.

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Paul Bollenback on . . .

It is beautiful playing.  He gets such a distinctive sound.  I was talking with Lee Konitz the other night about Lee’s work on a Kenny Wheeler album Angel Song that also features Bill on it.  Lee said to me, “Bill always seems to find the exact right thing to play.”  It is so true.  There is something so magical about the picture Bill paints.  When I first came to New Your City, I was using some pedals and effects, and Ben Mounder told me, “Be careful, or everyone is going to think you are trying to sound like Bill Frisell.”  So, I stopped.

He has influenced a lot of guys, but it is really hard to do what he does.  I remember him saying that he spent a lot of time with Bach violin and cello suites and that they gave him a perspective on how a melody can create harmony.  He creates a very melodic soundscape while still addressing the harmony. 

Bruce Forman …

 I have never heard Bill play this way.  Generally, Bill’s playing is so non-decorative, rhythmically.  He kind of sneaks in and out.  This is something that I don’t generally gravitate toward.  Bill’s harmonic sense and the music’s architectural structure are brilliant. I have problems listening to non-decorative music.  I am just that kind of person. It is really good to hear him in this context because he is playing a groove. 

You can really hear the liberal use of the major pentatonic scale.  It has a country, folksy sound to it that is really beautiful.  I love the rhythm pad they are laying down.  Wonderful sound.  It sounds like it could also be in a film score. 

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Steve Khan…

I love Bill’s playing. He has such a beautiful touch on the instrument. He is truly a great stylist, and you know that it’s him in a note or two. In the late ‘70s, he developed an atmospheric yet very melodic way of playing the guitar in a jazz context, and it became very identifiable. He uses the volume pedal and some sound processing, but it all comes from a jazz player’s mentality. He can also slip into all these stylized moments, but with great tenderness in his playing. He has a most romantic approach to music.  

Jonathan Kreisberg… 

This was (and is) really new jazz.  No one had done this before… a trio without a bass.  It is crazy, it makes you play differently, but you don’t miss the bass like you think you will.  I still prefer having the bass, but this works.  He can say so much harmonically by just playing two notes.  He is so deep as a player.

Bill came to the University of Miami, played, and did a seminar when I was a student there.  It was a massive eye-opener and a big influence on my direction at the time. 

Bill, in a weird way, is doing what Grant Green did; he knows what he wants to “sing” on the guitar and then finds a way to say it with a little guitar nastiness in his tone. They are totally different players, but they have a similarity in their approach. Bill has a sense of humor (in a great way) in his playing too.

I also love his ensemble writing when he writes for clarinet and accordion and other instruments.  Recently, he has incorporated more Americana in his playing.  I prefer his earlier stuff when Jazz was the focus, though. 

Julian Luge . . .

I love Frisell’s playing.  He always has his own sound.  

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Pat Metheny…

Bill is a great player, like John (Scofield).  You know, Bill and John are both four or five years older than me.  Which isn’t a big thing now, but back when I was 20 or 21, and in Boston, Bill was in Boston too.  Back in those days, I was still teaching, and one day Bill called me up saying he was a guitar player from Denver, new to town, and asked for a lesson.  Here’s this guy, five years older than me, coming over for a lesson. Within 5 minutes of hearing him play, I say, “Lesson?  You don’t need any lessons.”(laughter)  We just spent the rest of the time playing, and we’ve been friends ever since.  Back then, he was really into the Jim Hall thing.  He had an ES-175 and was very unrecognizable from the Bill we know today, but I saw subtle things in his playing of what he is today.  Over the years, I have suggested Bill for some gigs here in the States and have had a small part in his career.  Well, Summer Running was the first time we’d recorded together….I looked forward to playing with Bill because I thought we would play well together, and we did.  In fact, it felt like we had played together all our lives.  

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I think that Bill and I do sound good together.  It is just a kind of a natural hookup.  I’m sure we will do more playing together.  Whenever I can, I attend his gigs, and I often see him at mine.  I always buy his records when they come out and really enjoy them.  I am really happy that he, John (Scofield), and I are all really good friends and get along together so well.  Of course, John and Bill have played together a lot as well.  It is really great that even though people compare the three of us a lot, we are such good friends.  I think it is right that the three of us are grouped together.  We are of the same generation of players.  Each of us, in our own unique way, has sought to push or expand the instrument in its obvious function.  It is really fun being a part of this community with John and Bill.  

Dave Stryker…

Bill is one of the greats in music, not just as a guitar player.  He has such a distinctive voice, one of the most individual voices on guitar.

He is coming out of the tree of Jim Hall as Abercrombie, Scofield, and Metheny do.  I saw Bill at the Vanguard with Joe Lovano and Paul Motion.  He played a duet with Paul on “Softly As the Sunrise” where he plays basically the melody and sounds just so fresh. When he is with Lovano and Motion you don’t even miss the bass. This is such a creative way to make music.

Mark Whitfield…

I can’t say a lot about Bill Frisell’s music because I don’t know him that well.  I can recognize his playing.  I have actually seen him live more than I have heard his recordings.  I see him a lot at festivals I play.  To me, what he is doing here sounds like a synthesizer.  He has a very keyboardist approach to playing. His comping sounds very orchestral, very full, and very pretty.  To me, it is more akin to a keyboard than how I think a guitar should be played.  It would be nice to hear the drummer shade his playing a little more.  Because what he is doing is not all that out of the ordinary, but it is the context that makes it different.  I just would have liked to have heard the ensemble, especially the drummer, set him up better.  He voices beautiful chords

Anthony Wilson…

Frisell is one of my favorite guitar players of all time.  This is so interesting because they (Bill  and Pat Metheny) are just being themselves. They are not trying to impress anyone, nor are they worried about what someone may think. 

What I love is hearing a strong voice, no matter what the instrument is.  Metheny has these incredible chops, so Bill is not intimidated because he has such an incredibly strong voice.  Bill’s sound is what it is.  It is so specific and beautiful.  Both Pat and Bill have different voices and found their specific places in this recording.  This is the Summer Running album.

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