Wendy Friesen

As early as 1976, Nat Hentoff wrote: "Once in a great while, a musician emerges with such authority and such seemingly effortless originality that his place in the front ranks of his instrument is unquestioned." Hentoff was not speaking of promise or potential, but actual performance, and forty-two years later, with My Faith, My Life, bassist David Friesen has added immeasurably to his stature. With its two CD suites complementing each other so fully, it's an epochal achievement - a testament to the offers of faith, matched with a purposeful life. Disc One is a 13-piece solo performance on his Hemage Bass, which calls attention to the intimacy and immediacy of his compositions. The solo piano of Disc Two highlights Friesen's supple touch on an instrument he's not generally known for. Closing the set, the composition "My Faith, My Life" sums it all up: a credo, affirmation, reverence - lower register continuity laced with sublime melody: a hymn to the Source of all song, with a fitting Amen at the close.

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.

On first glance, Through the Listening Glass is a duet recording between bassist David Friesen and guitarist John Stowell, at the time two burgeoning jazz fusion musicians whose kinship to the world sound of the group Oregon is easy to recognize. As one absorbs this music, you realize this album could easily be titled "The Art of the Overdub." Using multiple basses and guitars, percussion instruments, and the soprano sax of Gary Campbell, Friesen and Stowell create landscapes and skyscapes of sound on sound, at times a bit busy, mostly reaching for inner truths and a connection to some other dimension. There's no modicum of earthiness, but they strive to reach for the heavens, and use the technology of the times to create conversations within basic texts, layering them to a degree approaching epiphany…

One of bassist David Friesen's better jazz sessions as a leader, this set has some excellent playing by tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson on "Amber Skies" and "Underlying," a rare opportunity for flutist Paul Horn to take a solo in a straight-ahead setting ("Blue and Green"), and was the first opportunity that pianist Chick Corea and drummer Paul Motian had to work together; percussionist Airto completes the sextet. The diverse originals, all by Friesen, feature each of the players quite favorably, and the overall results are stimulating.

Having lent their esoteric funk-folk stylings to Prince & The Revolution during the late legend’s purple reign of the early-80s, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman left the band to pursue their own maverick musical path in 1986. Fan-favourite Eroica, their third and final album for Virgin Records, saw the duo hit a new creative peak – drawing on influences ranging from Sly Stone to Joni Mitchell to create a vibrant psychedelic-funk- folk sound that was uniquely their own.

In the late 80's, a group of friends who usually joined in an Amersfoort (the Netherlands) Pub to talk about music while taking some drinks shouted one day they wanted to form a band. After seven years Bert Heinen (one of the pub guys) had gathered enough material to release an album and he started to send some demos to different magazines and after a good response from Background Magazine and his lead to a contract with LaBraD'or records in 1997.
In 1998 with Bert in the Guitars, Keyboard and vocals plus Marien in drums and additional keyboards, Like Wendy releases "The Storm Inside" with a very melodic approach to Marillion, Pendragon, Pallas and IQ. The albums consisting of the demo tracks plus two new songs, was quite simple but pretty effective and received favorable comments of the critics…

A blend of myth and memoir, First There Were Feathers is an exciting album in which Wendy McNeill’s folk noir roots and passion for storytelling have grown to include elements of Jazz and World music as well as echoes of Beatles, early Bjork and Radiohead.