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Dave Frishberg

It's difficult to find a category for Dave Frishberg's songs. The New York Times described him as "the Stephen Sondheim of jazz songwriting", and The London Daily Telegraph called him "a Woody Allen of song".

Long known as one of the outstanding pianists in jazz, Frishberg has since the early 1980s established himself as an internationally recognized composer and lyricist as well as a solo performer with a loyal following in both jazz and cabaret circles. Four of his albums have won Grammy nominations for best jazz vocal.

Frishberg's unclassifiable but ever-identifiable songs, including cult classics Peel Me A Grape, I'm Hip, You Are There, My Attorney Bernie and Heart’s Desire, are now widely performed and have been recorded by Blossom Dearie, Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Bette Midler, Suzannah McCorkle, Tony Bennett,and many others. The New York Times critic Stephen Holden wrote about Frishberg, "Few contemporary writers have produced as many songs that have been embraced by nightclub cognoscenti. In the refinement of his language, he is equalled only by Stephen Sondheim among contemporary American songwriters."

His songs are carefully designed pieces that are often wry and witty, occasionally tender and bittersweet, and sometimes contain pointed observations and characterizations of people we all seem to know. Typified by verbal and musical craftiness, they are songs written for adults, or at least for audiences that wouldn't mind growing up. They are stamped with his unique musical personality: quirky lyrics you can't get out of your head, memorable melodies that work so well with the words, and often a harking back to the America of his childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, "when it was a minor league town." (He collects old baseball books and magazines from the 1940s and earlier. "I couldn't tell you who played in last year's World Series," he confesses. "But if you want to talk about Chet Laabs or Elbie Fletcher, we can do that.")

Described by critics as a cross between Hoagy Carmichael, Woody Allen, and Noel Coward, and linked as a craftsman with Mercer, Porter and Sondheim, Frishberg describes himself as "a pianist who has always written songs and finally summoned up the nerve to sing them in public."

After journalism school at the University of Minnesota and service in the Air Force, he left St. Paul and headed east to become part of the New York City jazz scene of the 1960s. He worked in the rhythm sections of such jazz greats as Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Ben Webster, Gene Krupa and Bobby Hackett. As a singers' accompanist, he played for such diverse stylists as Carmen McRae, Dick Haymes, Anita O'Day and Irene Kral. His piano work is featured on recordings by The Manhattan Transfer, Herb Alpert, Lani Hall, Jimmy Rushing, Bill Berry, Bud Freeman, Susannah McCorkle, Rebecca Kilgore, and many other jazz and pop artists.

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Radio & Podcasts

Disinformation Week

Read "Disinformation Week" reviewed by H William Stine


Disinformation. It's a word we're hearing frequently these days. Some people call Disinformation propaganda; some people with a straight face call it alternative facts. I call it pernicious lies. So I spent two hours defining and explicating Disinformation; and, most importantly, telling people how to protect themselves from it. JUST KIDDING! You know me. Instead, I spent the two hours exploiting this sensitive issue and squeezing every last drop of irony and rueful laughter from it with songs I claimed ...

100
Album Review

Dave Frishberg: By Himself

Read "By Himself" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Somewhat like Nat King Cole, whose “unforgettable” vocal stylings made him wealthy and famous but changed him from a Jazz pianist to a popular entertainer, Dave Frishberg’s virtuosity as a pianist has been overshadowed by other concerns, namely his well–known talents as a singer / songwriter whose hip lyrics always leave one smiling knowingly and nodding his / her head in appreciation. So a couple of decades have passed since Frishberg, once best known as the house pianist at New ...

295
Album Review

Al Cohn & Zoot Sims: Easy As Pie

Read "Easy As Pie" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Once again, Label M mines the vast resources of jazz performances that Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society sagaciously recorded, knowing that they were hearing unparalleled music in their midst but not knowing that it would entertain jazz listeners thirty-plus years hence. It seems that the Left Bank group was at its best when it recorded horns, and particularly saxophonists. Even on Easy As Pie, Dave Frishberg's piano lacks clarity due to the on-site instrument's limitations. Unfortunately, the same problem occurred ...

113
Album Review

Dave Frishberg: You're a Lucky Guy

Read "You're a Lucky Guy" reviewed by Dave Nathan


P>Along with Bob Dorough and Mose Allison, Dave Frishberg remains one of the ageless hipsters of jazz. On this 1978 recording, reissued in 1999, Frishberg joins with four other jazz veterans for an upbeat but stingy 37 minutes of music. Frishberg sings on just a couple of tunes and only two of his many compositions are here, so the album focuses on him as an instrumentalist. He can be called a nonchalant pianist, tuneful and melodic without being pretentious and ...

132
Album Review

Dave Frishberg: You're A Lucky Guy

Read "You're A Lucky Guy" reviewed by Jim Santella


Dave Frishberg’s highly rated 1978 album swings, with his vocals taking a back seat to Frishberg’s lively piano work. The first time on CD, this session features four quintet tracks, two duets with saxophonist Al Cohn and three solo piano pieces. Frishberg sings “Truckin’," “You’re a Lucky Guy" and “The Underdog." With tremolos and crisp, staccato walking bass lines, Frishberg derives his piano style from ragtime and melds it with bebop. Frishberg attended the University of Minnesota and worked in ...

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Video / DVD

Dave Frishberg Is 86

Dave Frishberg Is 86

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Today is Dave Frishberg’s birthday. He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1933. Frishberg is a splendid pianist who has worked with Zoot Sims, Bill Berry, Ben Webster Carmen McRae and too many other leading musicians to list. His greatest fame, however, has come through his songs. Many of Frishberg’s pieces have become parts of the standard repertoire, among them “I’m Hip,” “Peel Me A Grape,” “Dodger Blue,” “Van Lingle Mungo,” and (with Johnny Mandel), “You Are There.” Preparing ...

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Recording

New CD by Retta Christie + Dave Frishberg and David Evans Due 5/18

New CD by Retta Christie + Dave Frishberg and David Evans Due 5/18

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Retta Christie makes American music to be enjoyed. If the Portland vocalist has a heartfelt reaction to a song, she sings it her own way, regardless of the style or tradition whence it came. She draws on Western swing, jazz, country and western, and the Great American Songbook and makes all of it her own. Christie's surprising song choices, her breezy sense of swing, and her gift for conveying the emotional essence of a lyric are in ample display on ...

155

Performance / Tour

Kilgore and Frishberg Head East

Kilgore and Frishberg Head East

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

I am not in the business of promoting night club engagements. Nor do I intend to be. However, this is so rare an event on the east coast, I would hate to think that Rifftides readers in and about New York might fail to hear about it. As a companion unsolicited plug, allow me to call your attention to the most recent Kilgore-Frishberg collaboration on CD, Why Fight The Feeling, their collection of Frank Loesser songs. Full disclosure: I wrote ...

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Performance / Tour

Highlights in Jazz presents Jazz Singers / Songwriters Blossom Dearie, Dave Frishberg Thur., Apr. 14 8PM

Highlights in Jazz presents Jazz Singers / Songwriters Blossom Dearie, Dave Frishberg Thur., Apr. 14 8PM

Source: All About Jazz

To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] “HIGHLIGHTS IN JAZZ" PRESENTS Thursday, April 14, 2005 8PM Jazz Singers / Songwriters Blossom Dearie, Dave Frishberg Special Guests The Young Hoofers March 16, 2005 Jack Kleinsinger's “Highlights in Jazz," New York's longest running jazz series is pleased to present Blossom Dearie, Dave Frishberg and Special Guests The Young Hoofers. Blossom Dearie (b. 28 April 1928 East Durham, New York) is a singer, pianist and songwriter, with a “wispy, ...

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Music Industry

Busy Dave Frishberg heads East; returns to Algonquin Hotel in April

Busy Dave Frishberg heads East; returns to Algonquin Hotel in April

Source: All About Jazz

Pianist/singer/composer Dave Frishberg will return to Manhattan's Hotel Algonquin for a month's stay, Aril 2 to April 27, 2002. Enroute, he will stop off in Minneapolis for a March 15,16 gig at that city's Orchestra Hall, where he'll share the stage with comedian Bob Newhart.

While in New York, he'll appear at Town Hall on the Prairie Home Companion radio show on Saturday afternoon, April 13. On Sunday afternoon, April 14, he will appear at the Westport (CT) Public Library. ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Retromania: At The...

Arbors Records
2006

buy

By Himself

Arbors Records
2002

buy

Easy As Pie

Label M
2001

buy

You're A Lucky Guy

Concord Music Group
2000

buy

Classics

Milestone Records
1991

buy

Can't Take You Nowhere

Milestone Records
1987

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Videos

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