Dave Frishberg

All Music Guide:

Arguably the top living lyricist, Dave Frishberg has written more than his share of witty (yet insightful) classicsm, including "I'm Hip," "Peel Me a Grape," "Dear Bix," "The Underdog," "Saratoga Hunch," "Slappin' the Cakes on Me," "Z's," "My Attorney Bernie," "Blizzard of Lies," "Another Song About Paris," "You Are There," "El Cajon," "Can't Take You Nowhere," and "Let's Eat Home." A fine swing pianist and a world-weary sounding vocalist, the multi-talented Frishberg moved to New York in 1957. He worked early on as a pianist with Carmen McRae, Kai Winding, Gene Krupa (1960-1963), Wild Bill Davison, Bud Freeman, Ben Webster, the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet, and Bobby Hackett, among others, and cut an album with Jimmy Rushing. He recorded a commercial record for CTI (1968) that generated a surprise hit in "Van Lingle Mungo." However, it was not until Frishberg moved to the West Coast in 1971 and started recording for the Concord label as a vocalist/pianist that he began to make a big impression. Frishberg has since cut albums for Omnisound, Fantasy,Bloomdido, and a purely instrumental duet set with Dixieland trumpeter Jim Goodwin (1992) for Arbors. Many of his originals have been recorded by other vocalists, including Mel Tormé and Rosemary Clooney. On top of his highly successful jazz career, he has also written "Just a Bill" and other favorites from ABC's popular Schoolhouse Rock cartoon series. Into the '90s, Frishberg branched out into musical theater and continued recording for Arbors.

Wikipedia:

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," "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. 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.

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

As a soloist

With Jim Goodwin

With Rebecca Kilgore