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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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5
Album Review

David Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness, Volume 1

Read "This Light Has No Darkness, Volume 1" reviewed 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 ...

4
Album Review

David Friesen: Day Of Rest

Read "Day Of Rest" reviewed 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 ...

7
Album Review

David Friesen & Bob Ravenscroft: Passage

Read "Passage" reviewed 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 the—for 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 ...

2
Album Review

David Friesen with orchestra and quartet: Testimony

Read "Testimony" reviewed 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 ...

10
Album Review

David Friesen With Orchestra And Quartet: Testimony

Read "Testimony" reviewed 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. ...

6
Album Review

David Friesen Circle 3 Trio: Triple Exposure

Read "Triple Exposure" reviewed 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 ...

6
Album Review

David Friesen & Glen Moore: Bactrian

Read "Bactrian" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Time and space can take nothing away from certain musical relationships. There are those on-and-off partnerships that flourish regardless of the frequency of encounters and years gone by, and this is clearly one of them. The connection between bass masters David Friesen and Glen Moore goes back some five decades. It yielded two previous duo recordings--In Concert (Vanguard, 1977) and Returning (Burnside, 1993)--and it continues to bear fruit. This third recorded chapter of the Friesen-Moore story began ...

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Recording

David Friesen, Bassist And Pianist

David 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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Website

All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: December 2018

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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Website

All About Jazz Top 10 Tracks: November 2018

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 ...

"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

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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:

  1. Learning to Follow the Music in a Small Ensemble context
  2. Listening and Communication
  3. Time
  4. Patience
  5. Our Individual Personality
  6. Practice Schedule and Concentration
  7. Eliminating Fears During a Performance
  8. Three Multiple Daily Jazz Vitamins
  9. Composition
  10. Music Business

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

This Light Has No...

Origin Records
2024

buy

Thousands of Ways

OA2 Records
2022

buy

Passage

Origin Records
2021

buy

Day Of Rest

Origin Records
2021

buy

Testimony

Origin Records
2020

buy

Interaction

Origin Records
2019

buy

Motivation

From: This Light Has No Darkness,...
By David Friesen

Flying My Kite

From: Thousands of Ways
By David Friesen

Backward Glance

From: Day Of Rest
By David Friesen

Perseverance

From: Passage
By David Friesen

Still Waters

From: Testimony
By David Friesen

Ancient Kings

From: My Faith, My Life
By David Friesen

Whetstone

From: Triple Exposure
By David Friesen

Playground

From: Where The Light Falls
By David Friesen

Videos

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