David Friesen "Star Dance" 1976

MR PC · #1 07-13-2009, 02:53 PM

Old vinyl (1976) I've got here, Inner City 1019, pulled it out to transfer, and give a listen. Extensive notes and praise by Nat Hentoff.

Paul McCandless-Oboe, English Horn
John Stowell- Guitar
Steve Gadd- Drums
David Friesen- Bass

Intense display of chops all around. Good compositions. As a matter of fact, David could have made this record a bass solo disc, and it would of had the same impact, perhaps even more.....his French Bass sounds incredible.

I love his use of EUB these days too.

Catch him live if he's performing in your area.

Marcus Johnson · #2 07-13-2009, 03:26 PM

The duo recordings he did with John Stowell at that time were nice as well. I saw them together a couple of times. That bass sounded amazing.

John came over to my house on one of their trips through... he wanted to try out a Chapman Stick that I had at the time. Nice dude, very quiet.

Ed Fuqua · #3 07-13-2009, 03:29 PM

There's quite a bit of Stowell on youtube, I really dig his approach.

MR PC · #4 07-13-2009, 03:44 PM

Yes, I listened to John and David many times live when they toured the West Coast together. Really great duo!

Friesen is known for his adamant approach to his spiritual beliefs.....really puts some people off. Pretty scary guy. Try shaking his hand sometime!

My observation was that John would go out to the van and smoke to relieve the tension.

Marcus Johnson · #5 07-13-2009, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MR PC

Friesen is known for his adamant approach to his spiritual beliefs.....really puts some people off. Pretty scary guy. Try shaking his hand sometime!

Oh yeah. Strange dude. Though he plays well, I watched him do something once that put me off of him for good.

PW and I have both experienced some Friesen moments.

TroyK · #6 07-13-2009, 05:37 PM

Interesting, I've heard this about Mr. Friessen, but my personal experience with him has never gone there. I know him through some people who are closer to him than I am, but he came to my house to give me a lesson one day and hung for good part of the afternoon, just talking about jazz and family and stuff. Nothing off-putting, as a matter of fact, I couldn't believe how cool he was.

But, I know there must be something to those stories. I'm thankful that my interactions with him have been 100% positive.

Love the afro he was rocking from back during that era.

MR PC · #7 07-13-2009, 07:13 PM

[quote=Marcus Johnson;7667474
PW and I have both experienced some Friesen moments.[/QUOTE]

I remember hearing Friesen in a trio with the wonderful Eddie Moore (RIP) on drums at the S.F. Museum of Modern Art. Eddie did a solo on an old hubcap he'd brought. Pure Genius. Big heart. Friesen started to look pretty annoyed, and it could have gone bad........Eddie just gave him a big smile and good vibes. David chilled, and smiled.

Don't confuse me as a "born again", or 'right to life" ect, BTW.

There are plenty of tales around about the angry antics of LOTS of famous bassists.

I've got a feeling that David has gone past whatever S*** he had going on in the '80's. I'd love to hear him live again.

And Troy, with that hair thing, yeah, I think Esperanza studied a thing or two about David.

jlilley · #8 07-13-2009, 07:49 PM

In addition to studying with David for a bit over a year, I've had the good fortune to share a few late night dinners with him. Good wine and good conversation, I've never found him to be anything but a good friend, generous teacher and caring human. As PC points out, where ever he was in the 80's, he really seems to have moved past it...
John

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #9 07-13-2009, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MR PC

Friesen is known for his adamant approach to his spiritual beliefs.....really puts some people off. Pretty scary guy. Try shaking his hand sometime!

I just got done teaching two weeks with David at the Aebersold camps, and I have to say that - there, at least - he's a real pussycat and a real gentleman. A year or so ago he and Kenny Werner played a trio set with Steve Davis that was one of the best camp concerts I've heard in my dozen or so years teaching at the camp. I don't have any desire to play EUB, but it's his voice and he sure makes it sound good.

Marcus Johnson · #10 07-13-2009, 09:55 PM

To be fair to Mr. Friesen, the incident in question was a LONG time ago. I would hate to watch a compilation video of my own antics during that same time frame.

JLubinsky-Mast · #11 07-13-2009, 10:31 PM

Star Dance was one of my first Jazz records ever. I found it in an antique emporium down the road from my Grandmothers house on Vancouver Island (I think I bought it for the bass on the cover). About a month ago I was there again and found "Colour Pool", another great album. There is a clip I stumbled across on you-tube where he gives an interview, he definitely comes across as a gentleman

Michael Glynn · #12 07-14-2009, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

I don't have any desire to play EUB, but it's his voice and he sure makes it sound good.

One of my favorite things about Friesen is that he sounds so great on EUB and on his "real" bass. Many people who tour try to get their EUB to sound as much like their double bass as possible. Friesen seems to take a different approach, seeing them as different, but related, instruments and recognizing the advantages and disadvantages of each. On the EUB, he uses (last I saw) all Spirocores, and makes use of all kinds of electronic effects. On his double bass (a very nice old French bass I got to play once), he uses gut strings on the G and D, uses a mic, and generally tries to emphasize the true acoustic sound of the instrument. Either way, he kills. Oh yeah, and the one time I interacted with him in person, he was nothing but warm and kind and full of good bass playing advice.