BILL FRISELL (USA)

Bill Frisell – electric guitar

Greg Tardy – saxophone, clarinet

Gerald Clayton – piano 

Johnathan Blake – drums

Guitarist and composer Bill Frisell (Baltimore, 1951) is one of the most stylistically diverse musicians today. Basically a jazzer, he incorporates numerous other genres in his music, including folk, country, blues, Afro and tropical, rock and roll and Americana. He recorded about fifty albums under his name. The long list of artists he collaborated with includes Charles Lloyd, John Zorn, Paul Motian, Elvis Costello, Ginger Baker, Suzanne Vega, Ricky Lee Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Vinicius Cantuária, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Elvin Jones, Jan Garbarek, Vernon Reid, David Sylvian, Paul Bley, Hal Willner, Dave Holland, as well as directors Wim Wenders (The Million Dollar Hotel) and Gus Van Sant (Finding Forrester).

Along with John Scofield and Pat Metheny - who also performed at our Festival - he is one of the Golden Guitar Three with top positions "reserved" in prestigious world polls since the 1980s. On this year's list of DownBeat magazine critics, he came second, just above two contemporaries and below the younger Mary Halvorson. He has six Grammy nominations and one win for Best Contemporary Jazz Album Unspeakable (2005).

After a long collaboration with ECM and Nonesuch labels, Frisell finally landed a deal five years ago with the most famous jazz house of all time, Blue Note, and has already recorded three albums under that label. His current album, Four (2022), is a set of meditative lyrical gems about loss, renewal and friendships. He recorded it in an all-star quartet, which includes pianist Gerald Clayton (a three-time previous guest of the Festival, with his trio and Charles Lloyd), seasoned saxophonist/clarinetist Greg Tardy, as well as virtuoso drummer Jonathan Blake. Without a bass in the line-up, the music floats unrestrictedly, combining the worlds of jazz, blues and Americana, following Frisell's signature recipe.