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David Friesen
Anyone acquainted with David Friesen's exceptional music quickly thinks of his creative universe. Ocean-deep in his sensitivity to the human spirit, Friesen is compassionate and his music founded on integrity and the pursuit of excellence.
Born in Tacoma, Washington May 6, 1942, he was raised in Seattle, though his first exposure to jazz music was at the age of 5 years in Spokane, Washington hearing in his home a friend of his sister Diane playing Boogie Woogie on his family’s upright piano. After this individual left the home, David went to the piano and tried to emulate what he had just heard…thus his musical career had just begun. His sister Diane played the piano and for many years growing up, together they would play four handed piano and spent many evenings playing the piano and singing. His parents Ben and Clara Friesen were not professional musicians, but his mother had played C Melody saxophone as a child and his father had a beautiful singing voice...especially at church David could hear his father’s beautiful voice harmonizing with the congregation when they would sing hymns. Far removed from the music world, His mother was a professional bowler and his father was a Life Insurance executive. However, both his parents supported his love for music and made it possible for David to explore music on many different instruments. His sister Diane’s love for the movies and acting as a child, eventually led her into a very successful career as an actress, her name known as Dyan Cannon .
David began playing the ukulele and the accordion at 10, and a guitar professionally at 16.Friesen's first exposure to jazz was Slim Gaillard in an L.A. club when he was underage and playing guitar.
At 19, while stationed with the U.S. Army in Paris, he sat in with George Arvanitas, Johnny Griffin and Art Taylor. Then, in Copenhagen, he gigged with drummer Dick Berk and met Ted Curson in 1961. Back in the U.S., he became committed to the bass in 1964, practicing about ten hours a day. He was jamming in Seattle with local musicians - Larry Coryell and Randy Brecker were among his young compatriots - at such places as the Penthouse, where Miles, Coltrane and Bill Evans would perform; David would play opposite them and occasionally sat in with the visiting giants. Also, for two years Friesen played piano and bass at a coffee house called the Llahngaelhyn owned by bassist Jerry Heldman.
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David Friesen: A Light Shining Through
by Dan McClenaghan
The music of bassist David Friesen is inspired by two major sources: his ancestral Ukrainian roots and his Christian faith. While the Christian aspect of the inspiration is probably long-term, the familial roots part of the equation seems to have gained traction with Testimony (Origin Records, 2021), a piece recorded with a jazz quartet 2018 in Kiev with the National Academic Symphonic Band Of Ukraine. Expansive in thematic scope and stunningly beautiful, the piece was triumphant. With Friesen pushing a ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness, Volume 1
by Dan McClenaghan
In 2020, David Friesen, an American jazz artist with Ukrainian roots, released his masterpiece, Testimony (Origin Records). The set was an orchestral, spiritual soundscape featuring Friesen's jazz quartet and the National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine. Recorded in Kyiv, in December of 2018--about three years before Russia invaded Ukraine--the music was a majestic testament to Friesen's faith, embracing tranquility and the strength of the certainty and the comfort drawn from his religious beliefs. The bassist followed Testimony up ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen: Day Of Rest
by Dan McClenaghan
Boasting a forty-year career in music, bassist & composer David Friesen found a home at Origin Records in 2014, with his Where The Light Falls, featuring his Circle 3 Trio and guest guitarist Larry Koonse. He has, in the ensuing years, created his finest art for the label, mostly in small groups--duos and trios, and also a solo outing--in addition to his masterpiece, Testimony (2020), featuring his quartet along with the National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine. His ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen & Bob Ravenscroft: Passage
by Dan McClenaghan
After decades of recording in small ensemble formats, bassist David Friesen offered up Testimony (Origin Records) in 2020, an outing which found him backed by his quartet and the National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine on his best and most ambitious recording. He followed that up in 2021 by going back to thefor him familiar territory of the art of the duo, enlisting pianist Bob Ravenscroft in the creation of Passages. The duo presents twenty-five musical vignettes, brief ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen with orchestra and quartet: Testimony
by Jack Bowers
A visit to Ukraine by bassist, pianist, composer, arranger and genial jack-of-all-trades David Friesen, to flesh out his family heritage, led to this picturesque anthology by Friesen's quartet with reinforcement on eleven of its seventeen tracks from the National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine. The orchestral numbers were recorded in December 2018 at the National Philharmonic Hall in Kiev, the quartet tracks in October 2019 at the Kyiv Institute of Music. Even with the presence of a ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen With Orchestra And Quartet: Testimony
by Dan McClenaghan
Most artists, in most fields, move into their eighth decade on an artistic decline, their best days behind them. But not so for the Portland, Oregon-based musician David Friesen. The bassist/pianist/composer hooked up with Seattle's Origin Records in 2014 with the release of Where the Light Falls. Five more sets arrived in short order, top tier duo, trio or solo outings. Now, with Testimony, Friesen embraces the orchestral, resulting in the gorgeous magnum opus of a long and successful career. ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen Circle 3 Trio: Triple Exposure
by Dan Bilawsky
For most, a triangle is the shape that readily springs to mind when analyzing, discussing, and/or conceptualizing a trio. There's no mistaking roles and positions, after all, when there are three clearly defined sides. A circle, on the other hand, offers no beginning, no middle, and no end. In many ways it's a better analog for a band, but only if the shape fits. Needless to say, when it comes to the musical marriage of bassist David Friesen, pianist Greg ...
Continue ReadingDavid Friesen, Bassist And Pianist
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
David Friesen, My Faith, My Life (Origin) Friesen’s virtuosity brought him to prominence as a bassist nearly fifty years ago. He has remained one of the instrument’s most adventurous players through a career including associations with Duke Jordan, Marian McPartland, John Handy, Denny Zeitlin, Paul Horn and other major jazz artists. This two-CD album presents him on the first disc playing his compositions on the Homage bass, an instrument he developed. On some tracks in that CD he overdubs on ...
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All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: December 2018
Source:
All About Jazz
All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the 30 tracks featured in December, these ten represent our personal favorites. We also included the top ten reader favorites as indicated by total listens. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration here. Enjoy! EDITOR'S PICKS Ancient Kings David Friesen From: My Faith, My Life 3:34 Kerrara Vincent Houdijk From: ...
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All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: November 2018
Source:
All About Jazz
All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the 30 tracks featured in November, these ten represent our personal favorites. We also included the top ten reader favorites as indicated by total. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration hereEDITOR'S PICKS Ancient Kings David Friesen From: My Faith, My Life 3:34 Piglets Bouncing On A Trampoline Frank Macchia ...
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"Once in a great while, a musician emerges with such authority and such seemingly effortless originality that his place in the front ranks of his instrument is unquestioned. So it is with David." —Nat Hentoff
"David Friesen is doing for the bass what Pythagoras did for triangles." —Patrick Hinely/Jazz Magazine
"Bassist David Friesen is a Phenomenon, a player whose musicianship, tone, time and imagination are uncategorizable." —Nat Hentoff
"One of the most eminent exponents of the instrument, he maintains an astonishing level of virtuosity." —Leonard Feather/Los Angeles Times
Primary Instrument
Bass
Location
Portland
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Dear Musicians, Music Students,
My new lecture series Beyond the Note…Jazz Music Essentials, is based on my experience over the past 60 years, performing in concerts and recording with jazz legends, my own groups and presenting jazz workshops worldwide in over 31 countries including the USA.
This lecture series has 10 topics discussed and are between 45-60 minutes each. The topics are:
- Learning to Follow the Music in a Small Ensemble context
- Listening and Communication
- Time
- Patience
- Our Individual Personality
- Practice Schedule and Concentration
- Eliminating Fears During a Performance
- Three Multiple Daily Jazz Vitamins
- Composition
- Music Business
Photos
Music
Little Ella Bella
From: A Light Shining ThroughBy David Friesen
Motivation
From: This Light Has No Darkness,...By David Friesen
Flying My Kite
From: Thousands of WaysBy David Friesen
Backward Glance
From: Day Of RestBy David Friesen
Perseverance
From: PassageBy David Friesen
Still Waters
From: TestimonyBy David Friesen
Ancient Kings
From: My Faith, My LifeBy David Friesen
Whetstone
From: Triple ExposureBy David Friesen
Playground
From: Where The Light FallsBy David Friesen