Dave Frishberg Explained

Dave Frishberg
Birth Date:March 23, 1933
Birth Place:Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Death Place:Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Genre:Jazz, vocal jazz, swing
Occupation:Musician, composer
Instrument:Piano, vocals
Label:Arbors, Blue Note/EMI
Associated Acts:Eddie Condon, Bob Dorough

David Lee Frishberg (March 23, 1933 – November 17, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and lyricist. His songs have been performed by Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Shirley Horn,[1] Anita O'Day, Michael Feinstein, Irene Kral, Diana Krall, Rebecca Kilgore, Stacey Kent, Bette Midler, John Pizzarelli, Jessica Molaskey, and Mel Tormé.

Frishberg wrote the music and lyrics for "I'm Just a Bill", the song about the forlorn legislative writ in the ABC Schoolhouse Rock! series, which was later transformed into the revue Schoolhouse Rock Live. For Schoolhouse Rock! he also wrote and performed "Walkin' on Wall Street", a song describing how the stock market works, and "$7.50 Once a Week", a song about saving money and balancing a budget.

Biography

David Lee Frishberg was born on March 23, 1933,[2] in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[3] Frishberg resisted learning classical piano as a boy, developing an interest in blues and boogie-woogie by listening to recordings by Pete Johnson and Jay McShann. As a teenager, he played in the house band at the Flame in St. Paul where Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, and Johnny Hodges appeared. After graduating from the University of Minnesota as a journalism major in 1955, Frishberg spent two years in the Air Force.[4]

In 1957, Frishberg moved to New York City,[5] where he played solo piano at the Duplex in Greenwich Village. He first became known for his work with Carmen McRae, Ben Webster, Gene Krupa, Bud Freeman, Eddie Condon, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims. Later, he was celebrated for writing and performing his own, frequently humorous, songs, including favorites "I'm Hip" (lyrics only, in collaboration with Bob Dorough),[6] "Blizzard of Lies",[7] "My Attorney Bernie",[8] "Do You Miss New York", "Peel Me a Grape", "Quality Time", "Slappin' the Cakes on Me", "I Want To Be A Sideman", and "Van Lingle Mungo", whose lyrics consist entirely of the names of old-time baseball players.[9]

In 1971, Frishberg moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a studio musician, and where he also recorded his first albums. In 1986, he moved to Portland, Oregon.[10]

Frishberg cited songwriter Frank Loesser as an influence,[11] and has said that Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside", along with Willie Nelson's "Crazy", are songs he wished he had written. Like Loesser before him, Frishberg has also worked strictly as a lyricist, collaborating with composers Johnny Mandel, Alan Broadbent, Al Cohn, Blossom Dearie, David Shire, Julius Wechter, Dan Barrett, Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Dorough, Gerry Mulligan, and Johnny Hodges.[6]

Frishberg was nominated 4 times for Grammy awards for Best Jazz Vocals. Rolling Stone India included two of his recordings for their series of jazz playlists in the category of "lyrics worth paying attention to": "My Attorney Bernie" (sung by Blossom Dearie) and "I Want To Be a Sideman" (performed by Frishberg).[12] He was the co-recipient of the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song in 1981, having written the lyric to "Baby Talk" from the Burt Reynolds comedy film Paternity.

Personal

Frishberg was a longtime baseball fan, and had been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) since 1984.[13] In addition to "Van Lingle Mungo", he also wrote "Matty", a tribute to an early 20th century pitching great, which was included along with "Play Ball" and several other songs with baseball references, on the 1994 CD Quality Time.[14]

Frishberg died on November 17, 2021, in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 88.[3] [15]

Discography

As sideman

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: The Inimitable Dave Frishberg . The Washington Post . Steve Futterman . August 22, 2001 . https://archive.today/20130630043003/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/78365979.html?dids=78365979:78365979&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+22,+2001&author=Steve+Futterman&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=The+Inimitable+Dave+Frishberg&pqatl=google. dead. June 30, 2013.
  2. Book: The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz. Colin Larkin. Guinness Publishing. 1992. First. 0-85112-580-8. 152/3.
  3. News: Singer. Barry. 2021-11-17. Dave Frishberg, Writer of Songs Sardonic and Nostalgic, Dies at 88. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-11-18. 0362-4331.
  4. Web site: Jazz Police . Dave Frishberg at the Jazz Bakery Nov 29 – Dec 4th . Don Berryman . November 27, 2005 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160116050818/http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/5077/95/ . January 16, 2016 . mdy .
  5. Web site: Getting Some Fun Out of Life and Music: Back in St. Paul With David Frishberg . Jazz Police . Andrea Canter . March 13, 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061030010438/http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/5831/79/ . October 30, 2006 . mdy .
  6. http://www.davefrishberg.net/songs.php "Dave Frishberg Song Catalogue"
  7. News: Dave Frishberg. The Washington Post. Mike Joyce . July 24, 1989 . https://archive.today/20130630042534/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73889197.html?dids=73889197:73889197&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+24,+1989&author=Mike+Joyce&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Dave+Frishberg&pqatl=google. dead. June 30, 2013.
  8. News: Her Voice, His Tender, Cruel Songs . Stephen Holden . October 19, 2006 . The New York Times.
  9. News: San Jose Mercury News . July 1, 1994 . Dave Frishberg's Personal, Peculiar Compositions Songs of Himself .
  10. Web site: Dave Frishberg: Long Bio. Davefrishberg.net. July 27, 2021.
  11. Web site: Intersections: Reviving the Art of the Witty Lyric; Dave Frishberg's Deft, Wry Wording Recalls an Earlier Era. Ketzel Levine . April 19, 2004 . NPR.
  12. Web site: Rolling Stone India's Jazz Playlist. Sunil Sampat . March 22, 2019.
  13. http://sabr.org/latest/sabr-digital-library-van-lingle-mungo SABR Digital Library: Van Lingle Mungo: The Man, The Song, The Players
  14. http://www.allmusic.com/album/quality-time-mw0000116795 AllMusic review
  15. Web site: Tapp. Tom. 2021-11-19. Dave Frishberg Dies: Jazz Musician, Writer Of 'Schoolhouse Rock' Tune 'I'm Just A Bill' Was 88. 2021-11-19. Deadline. en-US.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dave Frishberg".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.