Grammy Award-winning guitarist Bill Frisell has had a long career in music.
In 50-plus years of performing, Bill has won countless awards, collaborated with big names and made a name for himself as a unique guitarist.
Now, Bill is reflecting on his past and the music he grew up with, including those from films he has reinterpreted for his most recent album, ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’.
Bill has always loved guitars. “I was about 11 or 12 years old when I started messing around with guitars; a friend who lived across the street had one,” Bill explains.
“But even before that I remember some of my earliest memories being fascinated with it somehow. It just seemed like I always had some kind of attraction to it.”
Throughout his career, Bill has released 30-plus solo albums, with credits on even more. Bill’s collaborations include rocker Elvis Costello, blues guitarist Lucinda Williams, Japanese composer Ryuchi Sakamoto and heavy metal band Earth.
Recently, Bill has been collaborating with his childhood heroes. “I’m on tour with [jazz saxophonist] Charles Lloyd, and one of the very first jazz concerts I went to see when I was in high school was to see him in 1969. I never would have dreamt that almost 50 years later I’d be playing with him. It feels like I’m dreaming or something!”
Bill’s older albums have revisited music from his youth, including The Beatles, surf music and collaborating with his guitar teacher. On ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’, Bill explores musical styles from such films as 'The Godfather', 'You Only Live Twice' and 'Psycho'.
The album’s origins lay in a concert Bill organised. “There was a whole series of concerts at [New York’s] Lincoln Centre where I was asked to do a different theme for each concert. It was all based around American music. It just seemed like a no-brainer to do film music.”
Bill’s band from that concert also joined him on the album and they will all be travelling to Australia to tour. On vocals will be frequent collaborator Petra Haden, who’s the daughter of another of Bill’s heroes, jazz bassist Charles Haden. “I can’t even believe it myself. Somehow that’s what it’s always been, being in that world of music.
“One thing leads to another. You meet one person and they introduce you to another person. You learn one song and then go on to the next song. As I get older, the connections are just incredible. It really blows my mind.”
After so many years in music, Bill is now the subject of a documentary. “Now I’m a movie star too,” he exclaims.
But his movie stardom won’t be getting in the way of his music, as he’s excited about revisiting his past with his guitar. “The age I’m at now, it’s really interesting for me to go back and try to play something I heard a lot throughout my life but I never really played.
“Or something that maybe I played when I was 15 and now after playing for 50 more years I’m seeing all this stuff in it I never saw in the first place. But I’m not trying to go backwards; I’m trying to figure out where I come from and hopefully keep going off into the future.”
Bill Frisell Shows
Fri 2 Jun - Melbourne Recital CentreSat 3 Jun - Seymour Centre (Sydney)
Sun 4 Jun - The Jazz Lab (Melbourne)
Fri 9 Jun - QPAC (Brisbane)
10-11 Jun - Adelaide Festival Centre
