David Friesen: This Light Has No Darkness, Volume 1

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 with A Day Of Rest and Passage, both on Origin Records, both released in 2021. The former is a piano solo set—Friesen is, as was Charles Mingus, more than competent on the piano—and the latter a duo set with Friesen back on his distinctive Hemage bass, joined by pianist Bob Ravenscroft.

His 2021 recordings are beautiful, on a smaller scale than that of Testimony, but every bit as steeped in Friesen's spiritual vision. 2024's This Light Has No Darkness, Volume 1 returns Friesen to a grander form of expression, with twelve tunes orchestrated for a 33-piece chamber orchestra. The work, written by Friesen, was originally planned for a premiere in the Philharmonic Hall in Kyiv in May of 2022. He could not have known the Russians were coming. So plan B was put into place: Kyle Gordon, his home studio and sample library, and his experience with sweeping T.V. and movie soundtracks was put to work sculpting lush atmospheres to embrace the sounds of Friesen and his jazz cohorts, pianist Paul Lees, and percussionists Charlie Doggett and Rob More.

The Light That Has No Darkness, Volume 1 is every bit as expansive as its orchestral predecessor, Testimony, but it exudes a more delicate and ethereal quality. It soars. It sounds like a tranquil celebration, more classical than jazz, more spiritual than temporal. The interludes of the bass, piano and percussion—moments surrounded by Gordon's exquisite arrangements, orchestrations and chamber ensemble programming—are lilting and understated. This ambitious suite—with sections titled "Perseverance," Innocence" and "Motivation"—is a testament to the depth of Friesen's Christian faith, to that faith's aspect of forgiveness in particular, while the closing hymn-like composition, "Return To the Father," was penned by Friesen for his wife of 58 years, Kirsten Friesen, who passed the week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

David Friesen's motivation and perseverance has turned a missed opportunity caused by war into a magical work of music.