Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » David Friesen: Day Of Rest

5

David Friesen: Day Of Rest

By

View read count
David Friesen: Day Of Rest
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 late career productivity—and quality of artistry—for Origin Records parallels reedman & composer Henry Threadgill's ongoing stint with Pi Recordings which began in 2001. Like Threadgill, Friesen is a brilliant and somewhat overlooked and uncompromising artist who has followed his muse. His approach is unpretentious and genuine concerning the crafting of his sound.

Post-Testimony Friesen released—again, on Origin Records—Passage (2021), a duo outing with pianist Bob Ravenscroft. With Day of Rest, his second 2021 release for the record label, Friesen presents a solo piano set which is introspective, tranquil, sparely articulated and starkly beautiful.

Though best known as a bassist & composer, Friesen plays piano more than competently—he sat at the keyboard, skillfully, in parts of his previously- mentioned Testimony. Bassist Charles Mingus' Mingus Plays Piano (Impulse!,1964) is an apt comparison for Day Of Rest. In terms of technical virtuosity, no-one was running around comparing Mingus to Bill Evans back in the day; and no one will compare Friesen to Keith Jarrett or Brad Mehldau, but both Mingus and Friesen had/have deep personal powers of expression, spirituality and soul— music in the marrow of their bones—and the ability to express the emotions of artistic world views on an instrument not considered their number one means of creating sound.

Directness and (relative) simplicity, compassion and an uncluttered pursuit of excellence are the trademarks of the twenty brief tunes presented here. It is an alluring sound, an auditory experience with a spiritual feeling as it presents Friesen's world view, providing peaceful reassurance and understated beauty.

Track Listing

Backward Glance; Day Dream; Goal In Mind; Green Hills Slowly Passing By; Remembering The Moment; Day Of Rest; Distant Shores; Everything We Are; In The Moment; Lovely Lady; Meaningful; Mindful Of Your Tears; My Dance; My Dog Ellie; Place Of Point; Shining Star; Song For Tristan; Time Never Ends; Unfolding; Going Forth.

Personnel

Additional Instrumentation

David Friesen: Ravenscroft Grand Piano.

Album information

Title: Day Of Rest | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Origin Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.