Everything the trio plays is colored with a pronounced individuality. The harmonic depth, intense rhythm and subtle interaction they employ mesmerizes an audience.
Creating sublime musical structures over the last five decades, where risk-taking, rhythmic rapport, and giving of oneself to the music are the essence, legendary bassist David Friesen's music continues to reach new pinnacles of profound expression. On disc one, his long-touring, closely knit trio with saxophonist Joe Manis and drummer Charlie Doggett went into a Portland studio to record 13 new works by Friesen. Disc Two, with Manis and Australia-based drummer, Reuben Bradley, is a bristling live performance from Vienna's Porgy & Bess jazz club during their Spring 2019 European tour. Thriving on selfless awareness and their uncanny compatibility, the trio's joyful interactions offer surprise, beauty, and depth at every turn.
"...a fabulous musical fabric with rippling and sometimes broodingly percussive, tumbling grooves upon which foundation he creates a unique sonic architecture." - JazzDaGama
Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Neves 4:02
2. Cross Fire 3:58
3. Sequence 7:03
4. Flight of the Angels 4:12
5. New Tune Blue 3:50
6. Exclusively Yours 5:34
7. 1969 Rolls Royce 4:20
8. In House 4:34
9. Interaction 4:54
10. Soft as Silk 6:06
11. Skip Trip 4:51
12. No Dollars, No Cents 4:29
13. Evening Spring 3:11
Disc Two
1. Song For Tristan 5:03
2. Flight of the Angels 3:53
3. Skip Trip 8:39
4. Going Forth 5:42
5. At Last, At Rest 7:05
6. Off Center 6:23
7. Distant Shores 4:36
8. Basic Strategy 7:01
9. My Faith, My Life 3:34
All music composed and arranged by David Friesen
Performers:
David Friesen - hemage bass, piano (One: 3,7,10,13, Two: 4,9)
Joe Manis - tenor, soprano sax
Charlie Doggett - drums (Disc One)
Reuben Bradley - drums (Disc Two)
Production Info:
Produced by David Friesen
Executive Producer: David Friesen
ONE: Recorded by Mike Moore at Dead Aunt Thelma's, Portland, OR on August 17, 2018
TWO: Recorded live at Porgy and Bess Jazz Club, Vienna, Austria on March 17, 2019
Mixed by Mike Moore & David Friesen, Portland, OR
Mastering & Post Production by Dana White, Specialized Mastering, Portland, OR
All paintings by David Friesen
Cover Design & layout by John Bishop
Reviews of Interaction
Midwest Record (Chris Spector)
A twofer made up of a studio recording and a live set, the bass ace finds himself in the company of two different drummers, each bringing a different coloration to the sound. Never straying far from his jazz/new age/world vibe, if you listen to this on a play list and don't check what's going on, you could almost mistake this for an Oregon record ...
Rifftides (Doug Ramsey)
Among the dozens of recent releases that deserve serious attention, a few will get it. Among those those receiving it here is bassist David Friesen's new album. From the Portland, Oregon, sinecure in which he thrives when he's not touring the world, bassist Friesen has been performing at home and abroad with his Circle 3 Trio. They are Friesen on ...
Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
David Friesen plays the Hemage bass for the most part and occasionally the piano on this two disc set with saxist Joe Manis and drummers Charlie Doggett or Reuben Bradley. The firstr disc was recorded in Portland, and features nimble interplay between the three. Friesen's warm piano teams well with Manis' soprano on "Soft As Silk" and "Sequence" wh ...
DownBeat (Suzanne Lorge)
3 1/2 STARS For his third Origin album with the Circle 3 Trio, Interaction, bassist/pianist David Friesen debuts some new material while borrowing strategically from his earlier Origin albums like My Faith, My Life; Structures; and Bactrian. Captured on two discs—one a studio session and the other a live recording—the contrasting versions of t ...
Jazzthetik (Germany) (Jan Kobrzinowski)
5-STARS David Friesen is one of the few who have really given the electric double bass its own "acoustic" voice and handwriting. Anyone who knows the intimacy of his solo concerts, for which Friesen is a pioneer, hardly misses it when he is in the trio with his music with his trio partners Joe Manis (ts, ss) and the drummers Charlie Doggett (CD 1) ...
JazzdaGama (Raul da Gama)
Circle 3, bassist David Friesen's exploratory trio is no ordinary threesome. On Interaction this is principally a chordless trio – "principally", because Mr Friesen sometimes deems it fit to add piano to the proceedings – where considerable musical exploration takes place as the music progresses and melodies are tossed around, now feather-light ...
Jazz Journal (London) (Fred Grand)
I don't think it would be unkind to describe 77-year old David Friesen as an under-sung giant of the post-bop era. Adding his considerable musical muscle to several classics in waiting from the 70s by Joe Henderson, Billy Harper and Kenny Drew, he went on to tour with Sam Rivers, Paul Horn, Stan Getz and Dannie Richmond amongst others. With the hel ...
