About Bill Frisell
William Richard Frisell ( fri-ZEL; born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant in the Downtown Scene in New York City, where he formed a long working relationship with composer and saxophonist John Zorn. He was also a longtime member of veteran drummer Paul Motian's groups from the early 1980s until Motian's death in 2011. Since the late 1990s, Frisell's output as a bandleader has also integrated prominent elements of folk, country, rock 'n' roll, and Americana. He holds six Grammy nominations and one win. == Biography == === Early life and career === Frisell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, but spent most of his youth in the Denver, Colorado area. He studied clarinet with Richard Joiner of the Denver Symphony Orchestra as a youth, but by his teens was more interested in guitar. He graduated from Denver East High School and went to the University of Northern Colorado to study music. At UNC, he took a class taught by guitarist Johnny Smith; however, Frisell later reported that the class effectively became private lessons from Smith because the emphasis on music theory "was too much for everyone else—they didn't want to be learning scales and inversions." His original guitar teacher in the Denver–Aurora metropolitan area was Dale Bruning, with whom Frisell released the 2000 duo album Reunion.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.