Dave Frishberg

Dave Frishberg
Dick Sheridan and Dave Frishberg
Background information
Birth name	David Frishberg
Born	March 23, 1933 (1933-03-23) (age 78)
Origin	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Genres	Bebop Vocal jazz Swing music
Instruments	Piano Vocals
Labels	Arbors Records
Associated acts	Eddie Condon

Dave Frishberg (born March 23, 1933) is an American jazz pianist, vocalist and composer born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 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, then moved to New York where he played solo piano at the Duplex in Greenwich Village. Frishberg 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" (co-written with Bob Dorough), "My Attorney Bernie," "Do You Miss New York," "Quality Time," "Slappin' the Cakes on Me," and "Van Lingle Mungo," the lyrics of which entirely consist of the names of old-time baseball players. Frishberg cites songwriter Frank Loesser as an influence, adding that Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is (along with Willie Nelson's "Crazy") one of the songs he wishes he'd written.^[1]

Many of his songs have been performed by artists such as Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Anita O'Day, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Stacey Kent, John Pizzarelli, and Mel Tormé.

Frishberg is also noted as having written 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 subsequently transformed into the popular revue "Schoolhouse Rock Live". For "Schoolhouse Rock!," he also wrote and performed "Walkin' on Wall Street," a song that describes how the stock market works, and "$7.50 Once a Week," a song about saving and balancing a budget.

Frishberg currently lives in Portland, Oregon.

Select discography

As bandleader

• Retromania (Arbors Records)
• Do You Miss New York? (Arbors Records)

As a soloist

• By Himself (Arbors Records)

With Jim Goodwin

• Double Play (Arbors Records)

With Rebecca Kilgore

• The Starlit Hour (Arbors Records)
• Not A Care In The World (Arbors Records)
• Why Fight the Feeling: Songs By Frank Loesser (Arbors Records)

References

• Balliett, Whitney (1988). American Singers: 27 Portraits in Song. New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504610-2.

Notes

1. ^ http://www.davefrishberg.net/about_songwriting.php

External links

• Jazz Police interview with Dave Frishberg
• Dave Frishberg's Personal Site

Persondata
Name	Frishberg, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 23, 1933
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death