Event Information

The Bill Frisell Trio featuring Thomas Morgan & Rudy Royston with Special Guest, Gregory Tardy  

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Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 45 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade”.
 
Frisell’s new album, “In My Dreams” released February ’26 by Blue Note Records to coincide with a series of concerts celebrating his 75th birthday throughout the U.S. and Europe.  Produced by Lee Townsend, the album features Frisell’s long-time collaborators - Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Thomas  Morgan (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) - in an ensemble configuration that has never recorded together previously, performing largely original music written or newly arranged, especially for this project.  Bill’s excitement for it is palpable.  “I’ve been dreaming about this.”, he said. "A family gathering. A reunion. That’s what it feels like getting together with my closest friends. Our history goes back decades. Coming up on a half-century with Hank! 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."
 
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.

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Thomas Morgan

Described by The New York Times as “a jazz musician whose presence in a recording or performance almost automatically makes it worth your time,” Thomas Morgan, born in California and now residing in New York, is one of today’s most sought-after jazz bassists. 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, Joe Lovano, and Tomasz Stańko. He has released two duo albums with Bill Frisell—Small Town and Epistrophy—on ECM Records. In 2025, he released his debut as a leader, Around You Is a Forest, a “lush, layered journey” that pairs a distinguished cast of collaborators with WOODS—a generative virtual instrument of his own design.

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Rudy Royston

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.

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Gregory Tardy

Saxophonist, multi-reedist, and composer Gregory Tardy is one of the most versatile jazz musi- cians of his generation. In 1992, he recorded his first CD, Crazy Love, and in 1993 he started touring with the legendary drummer from John Coltrane’s classic quartet, Elvin Jones. As a sought after New York sideman he has played with many prominent jazz artists including: An- drew Hill, Tom Harrell, Dave Douglas, Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, Steve Coleman, Betty Carter, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Rashied Ali, Ellis Marsalis, Brian Lynch, John Patitucci, and many more. He has also performed and/or recorded along with many other notable saxophonists, such as Joe Lovano, Mark Turner, Chris Potter, Dewey Redman, Ravi Coltrane, James Moody, and others. As a clarinetist, he has also been featured prominently on tours/recordings with Tom Harrell, Stefon Harris, Chris Potter, Elio Villafranca, Regina Carter, and Andrew Hill. He has performed at all of the major jazz festi- vals around the world and on some of the biggest stages in jazz. He has been featured on sev- eral Downbeat Albums of the Year and several Grammy nominated recordings; including a Grammy winning CD in 2006. Gregory Tardy has been voted a Rising Star in Downbeat Maga- zine!s Annual Critics and Readers Polls multiple times, on saxophone and clarinet. He also has recorded sixteen CDs under his own name. One of his recent releases, More Than Enough, was a collector’s edition vinyl duo project with Bill Frisell released in 2019 on the Newvelle label and will hopefully be rereleased next year. Currently Tardy has a new release, In His Timing, out on the WJ3 label where he is playing clarinet.