Bill Frisell

Featuring Jenny Scheinman, Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts, Thomas Morgan, and Rudy Royston

Grammy-winning guitar icon Bill Frisell’s career as a musician and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings. Musically versatile and understated, his spare, gleamingly delicate music has made him one of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music.

In My Dreams draws together Frisell’s long-standing collaborators Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Thomas Morgan (bass), and Rudy Royston (drums). Their history goes back decades, but never before in this particular configuration. Frisell thinks of it as a family gathering — a get-together with his closest friends.

Frisell has been dreaming about this. “I’m coming up on a half century with Hank," he says. "I’ve spent so much time with these folks. Traveled many miles. But that doesn’t mean we’re done. There’s still much unfinished business. We’re just getting started. “

Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell’s music catalog has been cited by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade.” In recent years, Frisell has forged a distinctive and fruitful collaboration with the Blue Note label, releasing Orchestras (Grammy nominated), FOUR, Valentine, and HARMONY to great acclaim.

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. In 2016 he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening its doors in 2013, he served as one of its resident artistic directors. 

Frisell is the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth, as well as an extensive biography by Philip Watson, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music.

Jenny Scheinman

Jenny Scheinman is a violinist, fiddler, singer, and writer of songs with and without words. Scheinman grew up on a homestead in Northern California and has been performing since she was a teenager. She has worked extensively with some of the most innovative jazz artists in the world such as Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Brian Blade, Nels Cline, and Marc Ribot. She has also toured and recorded with numerous American songwriting legends, including Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Rodney Crowell, Lou Reed, Robbie Fulks, and Ani Difranco. 

Scheinman is featured on the original cast recording of Anais Mitchell’s hit musical, Hadestown. In March of 2015 she premiered a multimedia performance at Duke University, Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait, which she continues to present in theatres around the country. Scheinman has released 11 albums of original music: All Species Parade, Parlour Game, Here On Earth, The Littlest Prisoner, Mischief & Mayhem, Jenny Scheinman, Crossing the Field, 12 Songs, Shalagaster, The Rabbi’s Lover, and Live At Yoshi’s.

Eyvind Kang

Eyvind Kang’s recent albums are Azure (with Jessika Kenney, 2023), Sonic Gnostic (2021), and Ajaeng Ajaeng (2020). He has performed with musicians including Bennie Maupin, Bill Frisell, and Laurie Anderson. Kang currently teaches at CalArts.

Hank Roberts

With a career spanning over 50 years, improvisational cellist and composer Hank Roberts has performed internationally with a diverse array of celebrated musicians. Roberts' playing is featured on many recordings, including dozens of his own as a leader and collaborator. He performs on a regular basis with the Hank Roberts Trio with drummer Ashley Ickes and pianist Chad Lieberman.

Thomas Morgan

Thomas Morgan is a double bass player with a unique approach to the instrument and an exceptional musical understanding. Morgan has played on over 100 recordings and toured all over the world as a member of bands led by Bill Frisell, Jakob Bro, Craig Taborn, Masabumi Kikuchi, Paul Motian, Charles Lloyd, Dan Weiss, Jim Black, John Abercrombie, Dave Binney, Steve Coleman, Henry Threadgill, and Tomasz Stańko, among many others.

Rudy Royston

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in Denver, Colorado, Rudy Royston has been a professional teacher, drummer, and percussionist for almost 20 years. Royston studied classical percussion at University of Denver, where he earned undergraduate degrees in music and English, and received teacher certification credentials from Metropolitan State College of Denver. 

Royston grew up playing drums in church and found his voice under his greatest influence, Colorado’s celebrated trumpeter Ron Miles, with whom he has played since 1991. He has taught, recorded, and performed all styles of music, from jazz to marching percussion.

Since moving to Piscataway, New Jersey in 2006, Royston has received a master of music from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and performed with many of today’s finest jazz musicians, including Javon Jackson, Bill Frisell, Les McCann, David Gilmore, Ben Allison, Jason Moran, JD Allen, Sean Jones, Jeremy Pelt, Greg Osby, Jennifer Holiday, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Bowen, Bruce Barth, George Colligan, Don Byron, Stanley Cowell, Tom Harrell, John Ellis, Jenny Scheinman, and the Mingus Big Band, to name a few. A lover of all genres of music, Royston continues to pursue music and expand his music horizons.

This is the first performance at the center for Frisell, Kang, Roberts, Morgan, and Royston. Scheinman first performed at the center in 2017.

Photos by Monica Jane Frisell, Sibila Savage, and Carole D'Inverno