Frisell opens Arts Center’s 2019 performances

Bill Frisell headlines the year’s first show on Jan. 26 at the Oats Park Arts Center’s Barkley Theater

Individual tickets are $17 members, $20 nonmembers. To purchase tickets, call 775-423-1440 or charts@phonewave.net. Tickets are also available at Jeff’s Copy Express and ITT@Naval Air Station Fallon. All seats are reserved. The box office, Art Bar and galleries open at 7 p.m. with her performance at 8 p.m.

Frisell will also be part of the free Conversation with the Artist program earlier in the day at 3 p.m., also at the Oats Park Art Center.

Over the years, Frisell has contributed to the work of many collaborators such as Paul Motian, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, Ginger Baker, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III, Van Dyke Parks and many more. His work has established him as one of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music. The breadth of such performing and recording situations is a testament not only to his singular guitar conception, but his musical versatility as well.

Frisell’s role as composer and band leader has gained him increasing notoriety in recent years. Much has been made of the uncategorizable nature of Frisell’s music and the seamlessness with which his bands have navigated such a variety of styles. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “Frisell’s pals just happen to be superb musical chameleons, up to every change of gears and genre the guitarist’s catch-all music throws at them. The band even comfortably follows the leader onto Country and Western turf, as Frisell often approximates the whine of a lonely steel guitar.”

Frisell also has an uncanny knack for putting together unusually configured groups, and while “When You Wish Upon a Star” is relatively straightforward, it remains the kind of group that only the guitarist would choose to pay tribute to film scores from Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone, Nina Rota, David Raskin and Elmer Bernstein, along with songs from many successful and iconic films and television programs.

Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012. He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, and Meet the Composer, among others. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors. Most recently, Frisell was commissioned to compose and perform a new composition in San Francisco by the Freshgrass Festival.