Dave Frishberg

Dave Frishberg

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

David "Dave" Frishberg (born March 23, 1933) is an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer and lyricist born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Many of his songs have been performed by artists such as Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Shirley Horn,[1] Anita O'Day, Michael Feinstein, Irene Kral, 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.

He also wrote "Van Lingle Mungo", a novelty song consisting solely of the names of Major League Baseball players.

Biography

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.[2]

In 1957, Frishberg moved to New York City,[3] 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 [4]), "Blizzard of Lies",[5] "My Attorney Bernie" (his most famous),[6] "Do You Miss New York", "Peel Me a Grape", "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.[7]

Frishberg cites songwriter Frank Loesser as an influence,[8] 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 on a number of occasions; his collaborators include Johnny Mandel, Alan Broadbent, Al Cohn, Blossom Dearie, David Shire, Julius Wechter, Dan Barrett, Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Dorough, Gerry Mulligan and Johnny Hodges.[4]

Frishberg 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.

Dave Frishberg is a longtime baseball fan, having been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) since 1984.[9] In addition to the "Van Lingle Mungo" song, he also wrote a tribute to an early 20th century pitching great, "Matty", which was included along with "Play Ball" and several other tunes with references to baseball in their lyrics in a 1994 CD, Quality Time.[10]

Select discography

As bandleader

As a soloist

With Jim Goodwin

With Rebecca Kilgore

Personal

Frishberg currently lives in Portland, Oregon.[11]

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ Steve Futterman (August 22, 2001). "The Inimitable Dave Frishberg". The Washington Post.
  2. ↑ Don Berryman (November 27, 2005). "Dave Frishberg at the Jazz Bakery Nov 29 - Dec 4th". Jazz Police.
  3. ↑ Andrea Canter (March 13, 2006). "Getting Some Fun Out of Life and Music: Back in St. Paul With David Frishberg". Jazz Police.
  4. 1 2 "Dave Frishberg Song Catalogue". DaveFrishberg.net.
  5. ↑ Mike Joyce (July 24, 1989). "Dave Frishberg". The Washington Post.
  6. ↑ Stephen Holden (October 19, 2006). "Her Voice, His Tender, Cruel Songs". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "Dave Frishberg's Personal, Peculiar Compositions Songs of Himself". San Jose Mercury News. July 1, 1994.
  8. ↑ Ketzel Levine (April 19, 2004). "Intersections: Reviving the Art of the Witty Lyric; Dave Frishberg's Deft, Wry Wording Recalls an Earlier Era". NPR.
  9. ↑ SABR Digital Library: Van Lingle Mungo: The Man, The Song, The Players, accessed December 19, 2014
  10. ↑ AllMusic review, by Scott Yanow, accessed December 19, 2014
  11. ↑ Dave Frishberg Short Bio, at his web site, retrieved December 19, 2014

External links

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