David Friesen uses his unique Hemage Bass to create a two cd set of intimate duets, one with saxist Joe Manis and the other with cool toned guitarist Larry Koonse. The result on the former is a tender and reflective mix of pieces such as the nimble grooved "Martin's Balcony" with delightful soprano and a warm vibrato’ d "Brilliant Heart" featuring a warm tenor. Friesen throws in a little piano on the post bopping "New Hope" and pastoral "Going Forth" while his bass is attractively tensile on "Roof Tops."

With Koonse, the moods go chamber soft on "Make Believe" with an easy, calm bop during "Romantic." The strings create dewdrops of delight for "My Faith, My Life" and do wonders with watercolors on the pastel-toned "New Hope." Saying much by whispering.

The stamp of protean bassist David Friesen is all over this resonant album which ends too soon despite a length of nearly an hour. From the striking cover art to Friesen's 11 originals, Triple Exposure exemplifies individuality. At the same time, it's profoundly collaborative, a celebration of interplay rather than ego.

On tunes such as the rolling "Rainbow Song" and the wistful "Another Time, Another Place," Friesen, pianist Greg Goebel and drummer Charlie Doggett never intrude on each other, let alone the listener. Their weave draws the listener in to a unique collective consciousness.

The soundscape is as equitable as the music on an album bracketed by "Whetstone," a sparkling track propelled by the bright churn of Doggett's drums, and "Open Country," a medium-tempo showcase for Goebel's darkling pianistics and Friesen's carefully chosen notes.

Based in Portland, Oregon, the Circle 3 Trio speaks of deep respect, a joyous and thorough work ethic and a geniality that brings sunlight to even the grayer, more deliberate tracks like "Side Step" and "Right From Wrong," a tune that begins in a brooding fashion, then brightens and accelerates.

A similar kind of tension characterizes "Let It Be Known," an elegantly martial, ultimately bristling tune paced by Friesen's Hemage bass, a custom Austrian instrument that gives this group extra, unusually plummy, pop. While Friesen rarely solos, his distinctive sound is a constant.

Ultimately, Triple Exposure is a successfully intended pun. As the members of this trio circle each other, they make the listener part of their musical family.

Widely acknowledged as one of the finest bass players over the last forty years, David Friesen's Circle 3 Trio and Where the Light Falls may be his finest release yet.

Remember melody? Improvisational music was built around the strength of melody long before meter and technique moved to the head of the class. Friesen never forgot melody, he manipulates and manufactures all the possibilities that exist in a simple unadorned melody. David Friesen's technique speaks for itself.

A couple of points immediately jump out with the first being that this two disc set happens to be from some live shows in Arizona and Oregon. The fabulous guitarist Larry Koonse joins the ensemble and the melodic adventures are steeped in color and are delightfully nuanced. Simplicity may be the ultimate in sophistication but Friesen elevates the melodic flow and the other music co-conspirators would seem to follow suit. Another point of note would be all compositions are originals and the consistency in ebb and flow is amazing.

There may be bass players that are technically more proficient purely from a "flash" point of view but one would be hard pressed to find a better artistic approach to melody that David Friesen.

A stunning recording. Rich yet organic. Melodic yet free from convention. David Friesen is certainly considered one of the finest artists over the last forty years for a reason.

I have a number of 70s and early 80s chamber, quasi-chamber, and Avant-chamber jazz LPs that get a LOT of play on my turntable: Burton, Coryell, Oregon, and so on, and I really liked David Friesen's sides back then (and still do), especially with John Stowell, because Dave's bass work stood so clearly out within the trio formats he tended towards, excavating rich interplay within intriguing spaces, reifying the instrument to an equal voicing with other participants. Waterfall Rainbow, Through the Looking Glass, Storyteller, Star Dance, Inner Voice, and others—maaaaaan, were those great slabs! Thus, not having picked up his output for quite a while, I was a touch wary when receiving this latest from the guy. Had he sold out and gone jazz lite on us? That old literate eloquence, had it survived the decades? His absorbing post-bop semi-neoclassical attitude, was it still there? I worried as I tore away the shrink-wrap and tossed the disc in the player.

Well, I needn't have invested so much paranoia in my cerebrations 'cause this is a really fine outing finding Friesen companioned by about as consummate a set of kindred spirits as ever he's recruited. One of the few qualitative differences is that his bass isn't always quite as front stage as it used to be, though ever detectable and as inventive as back in the heyday. Painting the Blues, for one, gives him a rostrum on which to expound, and the result is marvelous. There are so few bassists who wring as much out of the instrument as he does, and the axe he's using, the Hemage electric upright, is an astonishing instrument, the perfect cross between acoustic and electric but vastly favoring the archetypal contrabass resonance over electric tonicities. In fact, the sound is so overwhelmingly appetizing that I'm now thinking of purchasing one.

Brilliant Heart is titled for Friesen’s son, Scotty, who passed away at the much too young age of 41 in 2009, and the art shown throughout the release is his: one piece a sort of cross between Marshal Arisman and Picasso (the cover), another an arresting dimensional kineto-abstract work (the centerfold of the liner), among others. His dad's music has always been among the more ineffable bodies of work in jazz, so it's hardly surprising Scotty's would have been an unorthodox mind and spirit. Greg Goebel mans a piano with two sophisticated hands, old pro Larry Koonse wields a boppy guitar, and drummer Charlie Doggett, frequently absent from the cuts, exhibits wondrous use of his percussive sounds, truly remarkable discernment (start with Want of Method and go forward from there), but the sum of the whole, as is always the case with Friesen's collogues , is far greater than the figuration of its parts. He has forever tread outside the ordained paths and will never cease to do so, so you can begin with confidence from any point in his career—with this CD, with his debut, anywhere—and be dumbstruck with awe at the pure artistry of it all.

“Only connect …,” E.M. Forster wrote as an epigraph to his novel Howards End. Connection—or heightened musical (and human) interaction—is the hallmark of David Friesen’s newest CD, Five & Three, which features offsetting work by his quintet (David on Hemage bass, John Gross on tenor sax, Rob Davis on tenor and soprano sax, Dan Balmer, guitar, Gary Hobbs and Charlie Doggett, drums) and a trio consisting of David, Rob Davis on tenor sax, and Greg Goebel on piano.

These original compositions by David Friesen are not just interpreted but created by superior musicians—all of whom hail from Portland, Oregon or the Northwest area—totally at home with one another, a genuine musical family. Medieval mystic Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” This recording is filled with such gratitude, and the overall effect is one of constant appreciation and awe.

Never talk to your neighbor during the bass solo. You’ll miss the best part of many a performance. The artist moves up and down that delicate, centuries-old instrument, plucking one melody after another. By working in duo format with pianist Gary Versace, bassist David Friesen ensures that no one will care to converse during the performance. The pair captures your attention with gentle rhythmic motion and light, ethereal harmony. The session builds on tradition to express fresh ideas.

Standards “You and the Night and the Music” and “All or Nothing at All” receive mellow recognition at the start and finish. The remainder of each tune, however, allows space for each artist to explore. Pleasant and tranquil, the result carries the listener on a mid-summer journey through the country. The rest of the program is original music that both have contributed. “Sal’s Lament,” by the pianist, sums up most of the session thoroughly. On legato phrases, Versace overlaps tones and allows the harmony to penetrate the senses. It’s gentle music for gentle ears. In his more energetic explorations, however, the pianist whips up a gentle storm with clipped phrases and detached themes. Versace’s drier, up-tempo counterpoint contrasts markedly with Friesen’s seamless approach. The bassist allows his tones to ring fully and connects phrases naturally. At times, you can even hear him breathing in time with his bass phrasing. It’s that contrast and the gentle approach that makes this recommended album so interesting. Variety keeps the session fresh, while artistic expression captures your focused attention.

The times Mal and I spent together on the road playing music or visiting with each other in each other’s home were always filled with laughter, great conversation and food and at least a dozen or more games of chess. I never met a musician whose concentration was more focused and centered on the music. His intensity filled the room. Our music together was based upon mutual trust and respect…the space that initiates independence was always a necessary and positive factor for us both.

Deep inside, music was Mal’s life…a place where he knew that if he stopped…so would his breathing. A totally unique person and musician, unpretentious in every way and always giving no less than one hundred percent when composing or playing the piano.

Saying bassist David Friesen is a special musician is an understatement. He gets so deep within a song, be it a standard or an original, that a rare sense of wholeness is achieved, with nothing left to mine. The tales Friesen tells contain an almost spooky sense of peace, extended by an equally rich melodic and rhythmic gift. "Spiritual music" is a corny label, but Friesen's music breathes with something beyond the typical language of improvisation. Disc 1 with guitarist Larry Koonse sometimes recalls the idyllic ambience of Pat Metheny's BRIGHT SIZE LIFE. This is due in some part to Koonse's similar tonal palette, but also in the interaction between the musicians: Their effortless conjuring of a mood akin to a clear mountain stream is undeniably Metheny-esque, and just as sublime.

The inclusion of Joe La Barbera to the improvisation on disc 2 at first seems a distraction. The Friesen-Koonse duo works on such an intimate level that the drums almost break up the mental flow, moving the listener from the first row to middle of the house. But soon enough the ears adjust and Friesen's magic returns.

These original compositions by David Friesen are not just interpreted but created by superior musicians—all of whom hail from Portland, Oregon or the Northwest area—totally at home with one another, a genuine musical family. Medieval mystic Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” This recording is filled with such gratitude, and the overall effect is one of constant appreciation and awe.