| Jazz |
If you have yet to discover bassist David Friesen, chances are you’ve already encountered his sound, live or on recordings alongside celebrated names and jazz legends. Friesen has performed and recorded with a multitude of revered artists, including Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Sam Rivers, Michael Brecker, Bud Shank, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Shaw, Freddy Hubbard, Art Farmer, Clark Terry, Joe Venuti, Mal Waldron, Jaki Byard, Kenny Drew Sr., Chick Corea, Milt Jackson, Slim Gaillard, John Scofield, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Paul Motian, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira, and countless others, gracing the world’s most prestigious stages.
In this latest offering, David Friesen invites us into his own compositions, an evocative journey that transports listeners from scene to scene with a rare finesse in introductions, melodies, and arrangements. His music speaks a unique language, drawing not only from jazz but from medieval, folk, and pop influences. (A solo virtuoso, Friesen can dazzle… yet recently, his work has embraced an elegant, melodic simplicity. His compositions flow with the modal resonance of the 1970s, while remaining firmly rooted… — *DownBeat Magazine*)
The rhythms he employs appear to mirror his own inner pulse, guiding listeners through the album like a narrative thread. While most pieces are relatively brief, this isn’t out of any deference to radio formats. Instead, Friesen crafts a cinematic quality that thrives within shorter pieces, guiding us on a journey where aesthetics reign supreme.
Although Friesen has long been an international jazz icon, it was only in 2015 that he embarked on a tour to visit his mother’s ancestral land in Ukraine for the first time. Welcomed by a film crew and introduced to key cultural institutions and musicians, his journey was initially captured in *Testimony*, a critically acclaimed work recorded live in 2020 at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine in Kyiv with the National Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.
The ensuing pandemic and war disrupted further projects, but Friesen was able to record with the Mozart String Quartet of Kyiv in October 2021, and these sessions form the heart and soul of *A Light Shining Through*. Featuring organic percussion and saxophone woven into Friesen’s melodious lines, the album’s lyrical vignettes reflect the array of emotions stirred by his exploration of ancestral roots: “… a musical embodiment of spiritual light, offering forgiveness, hope, and purpose.”
Friesen’s works are singular in their ability to unite disparate musical worlds, sculpted to fit his distinctive artistic vision. Each track feels akin to a song, where the voices of his bass or saxophone echo that of a vocalist. Listening to this album, I recall a recent visit to a museum in Omaha; this is the kind of music I’d want accompanying me as I wandered among the art. This album is truly “indispensable,” speaking as much to the intellect as to the ear, with a profound intelligence that remains accessible to the casual listener, while also offering a rich, scholarly depth that commands respect.
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, November 4th 2024
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