The Bill Frisell Trio featuring Rudy Royston & Thomas Morgan

Bill Frisell - guitar
Rudy Royston - drums
Thomas Morgan - bass

Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade”.

Grammy nominated; his latest recording is entitled Orchestras released April 2024 on Blue Note. In the trio format he’s favored throughout his career, the guitarist and composer has always projected an orchestral scope — through his remarkably complete sense of harmony, a unique gift for melodies that remain with you long after a performance, and a keen feel for how dynamic range can be used to convey emotion. But on his new double album, his fourth release for Blue Note Records, he makes those symphonic evocations a reality. Produced by Lee Townsend, Orchestras documents two inspired concert-hall engagements arranged by Michael Gibbs for Frisell’s long-standing trio with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston: one featuring the nearly 60-piece Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Alexander Hanson; and one with the 11-piece Umbria Jazz Orchestra, under the musical direction of Manuele Morbidini.

In March 2022, a biography on Frisell, entitled Beautiful Dreamer – The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music, written by Philip Watson was published by Faber  and released in the UK, Europe, South, Central America & Asia. Through unprecedented access, and interviews with his close family, friends and collaborators, Philip Watson tells the story of the innovative and influential guitarist and composer. 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. From 2013 – 2015, Bill was Resident Artistic Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center for their Roots of Americana series, and in 2016, he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music. Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors in 2013, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors.

Bill is also the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth. He has also received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music.

Rudy Royston

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in Denver, Colorado, Royston has been a professional teacher, drummer and percussionist for almost twenty years. He studied classical percussion at University of Denver where earned undergraduate degrees in Music and English, and accomplished teacher certification credentials from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Rudy grew up playing drums in church, and found his voice under the auspices of Colorado’s celebrated trumpeter Ron Miles, whom Royston deems his greatest influence, and with whom Rudy 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 completed a Masters in Music degree from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and performed with many of today’s finest Jazz musicians. 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 Scheinmenn and The Mingus Big Band, to name a few. A lover of all genres of music, Rudy continues to pursue music and expand his music horizons.

Thomas Morgan

Thomas Morgan is a New York-based jazz double bassist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Known for his telepathic synchronicity, melodic and expressive phrasing, precise touch, and amber sound, he has performed alongside a number of the most trendsetting artists in jazz, including Bill Frisell, Jakob Bro, Craig Taborn, Masabumi Kikuchi, Paul Motian, Dan Weiss, Jim Black, John Abercrombie, Dave Binney, Steve Coleman, Ethan Iverson, Aaron Parks, Fred Hersch, Charles Lloyd, Henry Threadgill, and Tomasz Stanko, among many others.