Frisell Melds Music, Photography for unusual Multimedie Experience

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

October 16, 2007

The haunting and stark portraits taken by Mike Disfarmer in his Heber Springs, Arkansas studio between 1939 and 1945 are hailed as “a classical episode in the history of American photography” (American Photographer). These photographs have captivated the imagination of celebrated jazz guitarist and composer Bill Frisell, who has been inspired to create a composition echoing the timeless quality of the photographs with traditional American music forms.

In an unusual multimedia event, Frisell will perform this work along with steel guitarist Greg Leisz and violinist Jenny Scheinman while photographs from Disfarmer's treasure trove of period portraits are projected. The audience will simultaneously experience the images and the melodic response -- fully illuminating Frisell's musical perspectives on this fascinating body of visual work.

Musical Portraits from Heber Springs: Bill Frisell’s Disfarmer Project will appear at The Paramount Theater on Monday, October 29 at 8 pm.

As said by The Philadelphia Inquirer, “[Bill] Frisell is a revered figure among musicians -- like Miles Davis and few others, his signature is built from pure sound and inflection; an anti-technique that is instantly identifiable.”

One of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music, Frisell has contributed to the work of such collaborators as Elvis Costello, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Suzanne Vega, Marianne Faithful, John Scofield, film director Gus Van Sant, and David Sanborn among numerous others.

The breadth of such performing and recording situations is a testament not only to his singular guitar conception, but his musical versatility. In recent years, it is Frisell's role as composer and band leader which has garnered him increasing notoriety.

A prime example is Frisell’s recent work inspired by photographer Mike Disfarmer. Disfarmer died in relative obscurity in 1959 -- only gaining prominence after thousands of his photographic plates were discovered in 1974 by enterprising newspaper publisher and professional photographer, Peter Miller. When copies of the pictures were sent to Modern Photography magazine, the publication recognized their value and importance to American photographic history. Since then, the pictures have been exhibited around the world.

Drawing part of its inspiration from Ozark fiddle music (which Disfarmer played), the resulting Disfarmer Project also uses a wide range of jazz, classical, and electronic textures. “There are basic musical themes that we come back to, but it’s still very open,” Frisell says.

Frisell describes the first time he saw Disfarmer’s photography as “mind-blowing” and “almost like going back in a time machine.” With the project, Frisell has striven not to literally represent the images in music, but to evoke the spirit of the time and the people. As part of the creative process, Frisell drove to Heber Springs and spoke with the town’s inhabitants, some of which knew Disfarmer. “After that, it was more about Disfarmer the man and not so much about the photos.”

Tickets for Musical Portraits from Heber Springs: Bill Frisell’s Disfarmer Project on Monday, October 29 are $28.50, $31.50, $34.50, and $39.50. Half-price student rush seats and group discounts are also available.

Tickets and further details may be found online at www.theparamount.net, or through The Paramount’s Box Office at 434.979.1333.

Tickets are currently on sale online and through The Paramount's Box Office at 434.979.1922.

For more about composer Bill Frisell and photographer Mike Disfarmer, please visit www.billfrisell.com and disfarmer.org.