Dave Frishberg, z”l, passed away in Portland Nov. 17, 2021, at age 88 following a prolonged illness. Frishberg is survived by his wife, actor April Magnusson; two sons from a prior marriage; and a host of nieces and nephews.
The Grammy Award-nominated songwriter, jazz pianist and singer won critical acclaim for his witty and often nostalgic songs. Over six decades, many of Frishberg’s songs, such as “Peel Me A Grape,” “I’m Hip,” “My Attorney Bernie,” “You Are There” and “Heart’s Desire,” became famous in jazz and cabaret circles. The New York Times described him as “the Stephen Sondheim of jazz songwriting.” 
He was most popularly known, however, as the songwriter responsible for “I’m Just a Bill,” performed by Jack Sheldon as part of ABC-TV’s Schoolhouse Rock! series of animated shorts. Brought on to the project by his friend, musical director and fellow jazz musician Bob Dorough, Frishberg contributed a number of songs to the series, including “Seven-Fifty Once a Week” and “Walkin’ On Wall Street.”
He was born March 23, 1933, the youngest of four children. Frishberg grew up in a Conservative home in a Jewish neighborhood in St. Paul, where he became a bar mitzvah and learned to read Hebrew.
Frishberg briefly attended Stanford before returning home, graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Journalism. He served in the Air Force and eventually moved to New York to pursue a career in music. He quickly became a sought-after sideman in the city’s 1960s jazz scene, performing with such legends as Zoot Sims, Al Cohn and Gene Krupa.
In 1971, Frishberg decamped for Los Angeles, working as a studio musician, contributing to the NBC variety series “The Funny Side” starring Gene Kelly, and recording his own songs and performing them in clubs around the country and world.
In 1986, he made Portland his home, where he continued to write and record. Until recently, he performed at familiar jazz haunts throughout the city, both in his one-man shows and as an accompanist to some of Portland’s greats, including jazz singers Rebecca Kilgore and Nancy King.
Four of Frishberg’s albums received Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Vocal, and he appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show, CBS’s Sunday Morning, and NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion and Fresh Air, bringing him wider recognition, greater acclaim and more fans.
Donations in Frishberg’s honor may be made to MusiCares, a nonprofit organization established by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to provide health, financial and rehabilitation services for music people in times of need.