Bill Frisell was born on 19 March 1951 in Baltimore, growing up in Denver, Colorado, and although he began playing the clarinet in the fourth grade, he took up guitar a few years later for his own personal amusement. He continued with the clarinet, playing in school concerts and marching bands, and briefly considered playing classical clarinet professionally, but at the same time he was also playing guitar in rock and R&B bands, alongside high school classmates Philip Bailey, Andrew Woolfolk, and Larry Dunn, who were all future members of the group Earth, Wind & Fire. He discovered jazz in the music of Wes Montgomery and began to study it, making the guitar his primary instrument, and after briefly attending the University of Northern Colorado, he moved to Boston in 1971 to attend the Berklee School of Music. There he studied with Michael Gibbs and John Damian, and while at Berklee he connected with other like-minded players, including classmate Pat Metheny. He also studied with Jim Hall, who became an important influence, especially in terms of harmony, and in the mid-70's he began moving away from pure bebop and started fusing jazz with his other musical interests, where he started to develop his atmospheric, quasi-microtonal style. He discovered that by using a guitar with a flexible neck, he could manipulate the instrument's intonation, and his combination of experimental techniques and signal processors like delay and reverb gave him a sound unlike any other guitarist.
In the late 70's he travelled to Belgium where he met Manfred Eicher, the founder of ECM Records, and beginning in the early 80's he recorded prolifically for the label as leader and sideman, with such musicians as Paul Motian and Jan Garbarek. He soon earned a reputation as ECM's "house guitarist", becoming much acclaimed by critics for his sophisticated yet accessible work. In the 80's he moved to New York, where he worked with many of the most creative musicians active on the city's "downtown" jazz scene. Frisell's major break came when guitarist Pat Metheny was unable to make a recording session and recommended Frisell to Paul Motian, who was recording his 1982 album 'Psalm' for ECM Records. Following this he became ECM's in-house guitar player, and worked on several albums, most notably Jan Garbarek's 'Paths, Prints' from 1982. Frisell's first solo release was 'In Line', which featured a solo guitar as well as duets with bassist Arild Andersen, and although much of his time after that debut was then taken up releasing his own music, he still managed to make the odd guest appearance throughout the rest of his career. In the 80's and 90's he recorded and performed with a huge variety of artists, not all of them jazz musicians, and collaborators included rock and pop musicians Ginger Baker, Marianne Faithfull and Elvis Costello, experimental jazz musicians John Zorn and Tim Berne, and at least one classical composer, in Gavin Bryars. This collection tracks the progression from his earliest appearances on record, up to and slightly beyond the first of his 85 albums as leader or co-leader.
Track listing
Disc One
01 Introduction (from 'Winter 78 Chapati' by Triode 1979)
02 Acapulco Bells (from 'Good Buddies' by Good Buddies 1979)
03 Carol (from 'Oh Boy' by Steve Houben, Mauve Traffic 1979)
04 Siesta (from 'Okno' by Emil Viklicky, Bill Frisell, Kermit Driscoll & Vinton Johnson 1979)
05 Cwand Simon Mousse Foû D'ine Tchapèle (from 'Li Tins, Les-otes Et On Po D'mi' by
Guy Cabay 1979)
06 Fluid Rustle (from 'Fluid Rustle' by Eberhard Weber 1979)
07 Beatrice (from 'Chet Baker - Steve Houben' by Chet Baker - Steve Houben 1980)
08 Ron (The Cat) (from 'Atmosphere' by Chris Massey Group 1981)
06 Fluid Rustle (from 'Fluid Rustle' by Eberhard Weber 1979)
07 Beatrice (from 'Chet Baker - Steve Houben' by Chet Baker - Steve Houben 1980)
08 Ron (The Cat) (from 'Atmosphere' by Chris Massey Group 1981)
Disc Two
01 Ivy (from 'Blue Jay Sessions' by Mike Metheny 1981)
02 Mandeville (from 'Psalm' by Paul Motian Band 1982)
03 The Move (from 'Paths, Prints' by Jan Garbarek 1982)
04 A Song I Used To Play (from 'A Molde Concert' by Arild Andersen 1982)
05 Lakota Song (from 'Comin' And Goin'' by Jim Pepper 1983)
06 Waiting Inside (from 'Oshumare' by Billy Hart 1985)
07 Enigmatic Suite: Synergy/Overcast (from 'Transparency' by Herb Robertson Quintet 1985)
01 Ivy (from 'Blue Jay Sessions' by Mike Metheny 1981)
02 Mandeville (from 'Psalm' by Paul Motian Band 1982)
03 The Move (from 'Paths, Prints' by Jan Garbarek 1982)
04 A Song I Used To Play (from 'A Molde Concert' by Arild Andersen 1982)
05 Lakota Song (from 'Comin' And Goin'' by Jim Pepper 1983)
06 Waiting Inside (from 'Oshumare' by Billy Hart 1985)
07 Enigmatic Suite: Synergy/Overcast (from 'Transparency' by Herb Robertson Quintet 1985)
