David Friesen (born May 6, 1942 in Tacoma,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

bassist. He plays

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

and

electric upright bass The electric upright bass (EUB) is an instrument that can perform the musical function of a double bass. It requires only a minimal or 'skeleton' body to produce sound because it uses a pickup and electronic amplifier and loudspeaker. Therefore, ...

Career

Friesen began playing bass while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. He played with

John Handy John Richard Handy III (born February 3, 1933) is an American jazz musician most commonly associated with the alto saxophone. He also sings and plays the tenor and baritone saxophone, saxello, clarinet, and oboe. Biography Handy was born in Da ...

and

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and writ ...

and following this, with

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

; in 1975, he toured in Europe with

Billy Harper Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biography ''AllMusi ...

. His first album as a session leader appeared that year. In 1976, he began collaborating with guitarist John Stowell; the pair would work together often. He appeared with

Ted Curson Theodore Curson (June 3, 1935 – November 4, 2012) was an American jazz trumpeter. Life and career Curson was born in Philadelphia. He became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet. Curson's fath ...

at the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

in 1977. Following this, he worked with

Ricky Ford Ricky Ford (born March 4, 1954) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Ford was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States,) and studied at the New England Conservatory. Ricky Ford AllMusic In 1974, he recorded with Gunther Schulle ...

Duke Jordan Irving Sidney "Duke" Jordan (April 1, 1922 – August 8, 2006) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Jordan was born in New York and raised in Brooklyn where he attended Boys High School. An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regu ...

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

, and Paul Horn. His 1989 album ''Other Times, Other Places'' reached No. 11 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top Jazz Albums chart. He has also played with

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and " ...

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre o ...

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

Kenny Garrett Kenny Garrett (born October 9, 1960) is an American post-bop jazz musician and composer who gained recognition in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and for his time with Miles Davis's band. His primary instruments are alto a ...

, Dizzy Gillespie, and

Personal life

He is the younger brother of actress

Dyan Cannon Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Holly ...

, and the uncle of actress Jennifer Grant. He is the son of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

mother Claire (''née'' Portnoy) and

Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for a ...

father Ben Friesen.

Discography

As leader

* ''Color Pool'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, 1975) * ''Star Dance'' (

Inner City The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists somet ...

, 1976) * ''Waterfall Rainbow'' (Inner City, 1977) * ''Through the Listening Glass'' (Inner City, 1978) * ''Other Mansions'' (Inner City, 1979) * ''Paths Beyond Tracing'' ( SteepleChase, 1980) * ''Heart to Heart'' (Golden Flute, 1980) * ''Storyteller'' (

, 1981) * ''Yet to Come'' (with Linc Chamberland) (

, 1981) * ''Voices'' (Westwind, 1983) * ''Amber Skies'' (

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, 1983) * '' Encounters'' with

(Muse, 1984) * ''Inner Voices'' (Global Pacific, 1987) * ''Other Times, Other Places'' (Global Pacific, 1989) * ''Departure'' (Global Pacific, 1990) * ''Long Trip Home'' (1992) * ''Two for the Show'' (

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

, 1994) * ''1 2 3'' (1994) * '' Remembering the Moment'' (

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

, 1994) * ''The Spirit of Christmas'' (1994) * ''Returning'' (1995) * ''Dancing with the Bass'' (1995) * ''Three to Get Ready'' (Summit, 1995) * ''Upon the Swing'' (Shamrock, 1996) * ''Four to Go'' (1996) * ''Facing the Wind'' (1996) * ''Still Waters'' (1997) * ''Ancient Kings'' (1998) * ''Tomorrow's Dream'' (1998) * ''Castles and Flags'' (1999) * ''Live at Jazz Bakery'' (1999) * ''In Concert'' (Summit, 2000) * ''Made in Berlin'' (2000) * ''With You in Mind'' (2001) * ''The Name of a Woman'' (2002) * ''Grace'' (2002) * ''Midnight Mood: Live in Stockholm'' (Intuition, 2004) * ''Connection'' (Itm, 2006) * ''Christmas at Woodstock'' (

West Wind A west wind is a wind that originates in the west and blows in an eastward direction. Mythology and Literature In European tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favorable of the directional winds. In Greek mythology, ...

, 2006) * ''Made in Istanbul'' (2006) * ''Textures'' (2014; with Christian Hassenstein, Joost Lijbaart) * ''Where the Light Falls'' (

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

, 2014) * ''Bactrian'' (Origin, 2015) * ''Triple Exposure'' (Origin, 2016) * ''Structures'' (Origin, 2017) * ''Another Time Another Place'' (Rattle, 2017) * ''My Faith, My Life'' (Origin 2018) * ''Interaction'' (Origin 2019) * ''Testimony'' (Origin 2020) * ''Passage'' (Origin 2021) * ''Day of Rest'' (Origin 2021)

As sideman

With

* '' Jubilant Power'' (Inner City, 1976) * ''

Snake Johnson ''Snake Johnson'' is an album by trumpeter Ted Curson which was recorded in 1980 and first released on the Chiaroscuro label.Chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrast (vision), contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts ...

, 1981) With

Kenny Drew Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928 – August 4, 1993) was an American-Danish jazz pianist. Biography Drew was born in New York City, United States, and received piano lessons from the age of five. Feather, Leonard, & Ira Gitler ( ...

* ''

Ruby, My Dear This is a list of compositions by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. 0-9 52nd Street Theme A contrafact based loosely on rhythm changes in C, and was copyrighted by Monk under the title "Nameless" in April 1944. The tune was also called "Bip Bop" ...

'' (SteepleChase, 1977) With

* '' Manhattan Plaza'' (Muse, 1978) With

* ''

Black Saint Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

'' (

, 1975) With

* '' Duke's Artistry'' (SteepleChase, 1978) * '' The Great Session'' (SteepleChase, 1978 981 With

* '' One Entrance, Many Exits'' (Palo Alto, 1982)

References

External links

Official Home Page
American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists Jewish American musicians American Mennonites Mennonite musicians Musicians from Washington (state) 1942 births Living people Muse Records artists SteepleChase Records artists People from Tacoma, Washington Inner City Records artists Jewish jazz musicians 21st-century double-bassists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Summit Records artists Origin Records artists Jazz musicians from Washington (state) 21st-century American Jews {{Washington-musician-stub