Drummer Matt
Chamberlain is much in demand as a session
and touring musician. He has worked extensively with Tori
Amos, as well as David Bowie, Brad Mehldau, Garbage, Fiona
Apple and David Torn, among others. He has played on and
off with Bill for the past couple of years. He lives in Seattle.
 Originally
from St. Louis, Missouri, Chris
Cheek grew up playing in a variety of local
Jazz and Blues bands. After attending Webster University,
he went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston where
he studied with Joe Viola and Hal Crook. Chris moved
to New York in 1992 and since then has played throughout
the world and recorded with a number of different groups
including: Paul Motian¹s "Electric Bebop Band", "The
Bloomdaddies", Charlie Haden's "Liberation Music Orchestra",
Wolfgang Muthspiel, Luciana Souza and Guillermo Klein¹s "Los
Guachos". He has also performed with Steve Swallow, Tom
Harrell, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Brian Blade, and Carla Bley.
In addition to appearing on over 60 albums as a sideman,
Chris has recorded 4 albums as a leader on Fresh Sound
Records, "I Wish I Knew", "A Girl Named Joe", "Vine",
and most recently "Blues Cruise", featuring Brad Mehldau.
Violist
Eyvind Kang has worked extensively with Bill Frisell and
Laurie Anderson, as well as written arrangements for Sunn O))), Blonde Redhead, and many others. He has also released many acclaimed albums of original music, including the choral piece Athlantis (2007), The Yelm Sessions (2007), and Virginal Co-ordinates (2004). His teachers have included legendary jazz violinist Michael White, Dr. N. Rajam, and Dr. Hossein Omoumi.
 Bassist
Viktor Krauss studied
music in his hometown of Champaign at the University
of Illinois. His first recording
as a leader, Far
From Enough, featuring Jerry
Douglas, Bill Frisell, Steve Jordan and Allison Krauss
was released in 2003. His most recent recording
titled II features Matt Chamberlain and Dean
Parks with special guests Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin & Ben
Taylor. For many years, he has been Lovett's
bass player. Viktor
first worked with Frisell on his landmark recording, Nashville. Together
with drum legend Jim Keltner, he provided his distinctive
musical approach to Frisell¹s two celebrated late-90;s
releases, Good
Dog, Happy Man and Gone,
Just Like A Train. He also plays
on Frisell’s
live album, East/West. Over
the years, he has appeared on recordings with many other
great musicians, including Graham Nash, Alison Krauss,
Jerry Douglas and many others.
 Greg
Leisz Greg Leisz
has been much in demand for playing country, folk,
pop and rock music with such artists as Joni Mitchell,
Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt,
Beck, KD Lang, Randy Newman, Dave Alvin, Gillian
Welch, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow, Paula Cole,
Fiona Apple , Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, John
Mayer, Matthew Sweet and Joe Cocker. Leisz lives
in his native Los Angeles and is well-known for
his mastery of a variety of guitars and string
instruments including pedal steel, dobro, National,
Hawaiian Weissenborn, lap steel and mandolin, all
of which he plays on Frisell's CD's, Blues
Dream, Good
Dog, Happy Man and The
Intercontinentals.
Greg also performs with Bill in both duo and larger
group formats.
 A
Denver, Colorado native, cornetist Ron
Miles has played with Bill Frisell in a number
of recording and live situations including his current
quintet, the celebrated quartet of the mid-nineties,
groups that perform in Frisell’s collaborative
multi-media pieces with artist Jim Woodring, Mysterio
Sympatico and Probability Cloud, his septet
and with the group that interpreted Frisell’s arrangements
of songs by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach. He
has appeared on such recordings as Blues
Dream, Quartet and The
Sweetest Punch. Ron has recorded as a
leader for Gramavision with two releases, Woman’s
Day and My Cruel Heart. More recently
he recorded a CD, entitled Heaven, a duo recording
for Sterling Circle Records on which Bill is his guest,
and Laughing Barrell with his quartet featuring
Brandon Ross, Anthony Cox and Rudy Royston. Ron
also plays with clarinetist Don Byron, vocalist Madeleine
Peyroux, and has worked with drummer Ginger Baker and
guitarist Charlie Hunter. When not on the road,
he serves as Assistant Professor of trumpet at Metropolitan
State College in Denver.
 Bassist David
Piltch came of age in
the Toronto where he was an integral part of the Canada
jazz scene accompanying such greats as Chet Baker, Art
Pepper, Kenny Wheeler and Tom Harrell. In more recent years
he has relocated to the Los Angeles area where he works
closely with K.D. Lang. He has been an active member of
Bill Frisell’s New Quartet as well as his septet
with which he appeared on Blues
Dream. Other artists with whom he has worked include
The Holmes Brothers, Holly Cole, Janice Ian and many others.
Hank Roberts was
a member of Bill's first working group, The Bill
Frisell Band for a number of years along with bassist
Kermit Driscoll and drummer Joey Baron. He has recently
returned to working with Bill in his 858 Quartet.
As a leader, his recordings include
"The Truth and Reconciliation Show", "I'll
Always Remember" and "Black Pastels". He
has played and recorded with Tim Berne, Arcado String Trio
and Miniature.
 A
native of Ft. Worth, Texas, Rudy Royston was raised in
Denver, Colorado. He studied classical percussion
at the University of Denver. While in college, Rudy
began playing with trumpeter Ron Miles, whom Rudy deems
his greatest teacher and music mentor. It was on
Ron Miles’ recording Woman’s Day that Rudy
first played with Bill Frisell. A major figure in
the Denver music scene, Rudy performed with artist such
as Dotsero, Leslie Drayton, Joe Keel, and Nelson Rangell. He
began teaching music in public schools before relocating
to the east coast. In 2006, he moved to New Jersey
to pursue graduate studies in music at Rutgers University,
studying Jazz percussion with Victor Lewis. Since
moving, Rudy has begun performing steadily with Bill Frisell
in quartet and trio settings. He quickly integrated
into the New York music scene, performing with Javon Jackson,
Les McCann, JD Allen, Sean Jones, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jennifer
Holiday, Ralph Bowen, Bruce Barth, Don Byron, Jason Moran,
and Jenny Scheinmenn, to name a few. A lover of all
genres of music, Rudy continues to expand his horizons
as he gains increasing recognition in the world of Jazz.
 Violinist Jenny
Scheinman grew up in Northern California,
studied at Oberlin Conservatory and in New York with
Gerald Beal. Aside from being a member of Frisell’s
Unspeakable Orchestra and his 858 Quartet, she was
in The Intercontinentals,
appearing on the Grammy-nominated album of the same
name. She also performs in Frisell’s
trios with Ron Miles and Greg Leisz. Jenny
leads a number of her own groups with constantly
fluctuating guests and works frequently with Madeleine
Peyroux, Marc Ribot, Vinicius Cantuaria and Scott
Amendola. She also has played with Aretha Franklin,
Norah Jones, Myra Melford, Nels Cline, John Zorn,
among others. Her own recordings include 12
Songs, Shalagaster, The Rabbi’s
Lover, Live at Yoshi’s, The
Django Project and Giant Trio. Jenny
also appears on the new album by Lucinda Williams
as well as a number of CD’s produced by Lee
Townsend with singers Cantuaria (from Brazil), Shweta
Jhaveri (from India), Gabriela (from Argentina) and
fellow Californian Paul Sprawl. She first played
with Frisell on Gabriela’s recording Viento
Rojo. Early in her career she lived
and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently
lives in New York City.
 Although
Tony Scherr is perhaps best known for his work as a bassist
in a number of Bill Frisell’s bands, Steven Bernstein’s
Sexmob and Willie Nelson, he is also a prolific guitarist
and songwriter in his own right as well as a Grammy nominated
producer. His songs have made their way into
indie-rock chanteuse Feist’s live sets as well as
on to her breakthrough release Let It Die, and
his performance of Jesse Harris’ You The Queen landed
in Ethan Hawke’s film, The Hottest State. Scherr
has two recordings of his own, Twist in the Wind and Come
Around on Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley’s
indie label, Smells Like Records. He is one of the
busiest sidemen in New York City with recent recording
credits on new albums by Broken Social Scene’s Jason
Collett, Rufus Wainwright, Norah Jones and Teddy Thompson. His
anomalous Monday night weekly residency at Marion’s
Marquee Lounge on the Bowery is now in its second year
running. As a bassist he has contributed to projects
by Joey Baron, John Scofield, Maria Schneider, John Lurie
and the Lounge Lizards and many others.
 Born
in New Orleans, Gregory Tardy began
his musical career studying classical clarinet, subsequently
turning to the tenor saxophone on which he explored
many musical styles, especially falling in love with
jazz. Tardy has played with Elvin Jones, the Neville
Brothers, Nicholas Payton, Ellis Marsalis, Tom Harrell,
Andrew Hill, Dave Douglas, John Patitucci, Wynton Marsalis,
Jay McShann, Steve Coleman, James Moody and Rashied
Ali, among others. His records as a leader include "Serendipity", "Hidden
Light"
and Abundance. He has played both tenor saxophone and clarinet
in Bill Frisell's quintet featuring trumpeter Ron Miles
and the rhythm section of Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen.
 A ubiquitous presence on the
New York downtown scene, drummer Kenny Wollesen's latest
projects include collaborating with Cyro Baptista on the
Sound of Community Project, playing bass drum with the
marching band Himalayas, playing vibes in a plethora of
John Zorn bands, playing drums regularly with Sexmob, Love
Trio, Bill Frisell, U-Roy and he is a founding member of
Wollesonic Laboratories.
|
Guitarist
Bill Frisell explores the musical possibilities of his own multi-faceted
compositions and time-honored jazz and folk songs with this ever-evolving
constellation of extraordinary musicians. Their diverse backgrounds
and talents provide a wide-open climate to interpret the full spectrum
of Frisell's repertoire where an integration of many musical directions
becomes possible.
Bill
Frisell's Beautiful Dreamers featuring Eyvind Kang & Rudy
Royston I've
been playing with Eyvind Kang and Rudy Royston since
the early nineties. More recently we've begun playing
as a trio and I'm so excited by the possibilities.
Each time we get together the music feels new....and
old. Backwards and forwards. Up and down. Anything
is possible. I can't wait to hear what happens next.
I feel very fortunate having the chance to play music
with these guys and to have an audience willing to
follow along on this latest adventure.
Bill Frisell on his trio
with Tony Scherr & Kenny Wollesen: "My
trio with Tony Scherr and Kenny Wollesen is probably
the most flexible, spontaneous group I play with. The
program can change from night to night depending on
what kind of mood we're all in, the size or sound of
the room, the audience, what we have or had not had
to eat that day, how much sleep we've had recently,
how far we've traveled, etc. etc. We never plan a set
before hand. With Tony and Kenny
I have the luxury of playing just about anything that
comes into my head at any moment. This could be music
from any of my albums, standard songs, folk songs,
or whatever. These guys really inspire and challenge
me everytime we get together."
Joey
Baron's early musical education included
private drum lessons as well as the wide variety of radio
programing of the 1960s. After finishing high school early
through a special accelerated program, Mr. Baron attended
the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He settled in Los
Angeles, California in 1975 to realize a dream of playing
with the great jazz musician Carmen McRae, consequently
becoming a frequent collaborator of singers. Since moving
to New York City in 1983, Mr. Baron has continued to expand
his scope and develop his musical ideas through collaborations
with various artists including Red Rodney, Bill Frisell,
Tim Berne, Ron Carter, and John Zorn. Current projects
include solo concert tours, duo concerts with Lee Konitz,
Bill Frisell, his own band, "Killer Joey", The
John Abercrombie Quartet, and the Schulkowsky, Studer,
Baron drum trio.
