Both virtuosos, the subtle interplay of David Friesen and Joe Manis, some surprising, amazing details and the overall warm-hearted mood carried throughout the concert. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

It’s been said of David Friesen that He does for the art of bass playing what Pythagoras did for the triangles. (Patrick Hinely, Jazz Times)

David Friesen has recorded over 77 CD's as a leader/ co-leader and appeared as a sideman or featured artist on more than 100 recordings. He has performed and/ or recorded with many of the great names and legends of jazz including: Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Sam Rivers, Michael Brecker, Bud Shank, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Shaw, Freddy Hubbard, Art Farmer, Clark Terry, Joe Venuti, Mal Waldron, Jaki Byard, Kenny Drew Sr., Chick Corea, Milt Jackson, Slim Gaillard, John Scofield, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Paul Motian, Jack Dejohnette, Airto Moreira, and many others. He has performed in concert as a soloist (Friesen is one of two or three bassists in the world that is able to play a solo concert and keep an audience riveted) and with his own groups throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Turkey, Poland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, China, Russia, Lithuania, Czech Republic and the Ukraine.

David Friesen is included in 2 recent separate polls as one of the 100 Greatest Jazz Bassists of all time, and one of 20 of the most influential jazz bassists in the history of jazz. In 1997 he was nominated for the best jazz bassist in the American Jazz Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Friesen was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame at the first induction ceremony Sept. 2007 and the Oregon Jazz Society Hall of Fame May 2012. Friesen has written two musical scores for animated shorts, both of which have been Academy Award Nominees. David Friesen’s original composition Playground placed 2nd in the 2014 International Songwriting Competition with over 18,000 applicants.
Bassist David Friesen is a phenomenon, a player whose musicianship, tone, time and imagination are uncategorizable. (Nat Hentoff)

SteepleChase recording artist Joe Manis is noted for the strength of his "intense, updated take on the glorious Rollins-'Trane tradition." (Willamette Week) He released his debut album Evidence in 2009. Manis was the recipient of a 2013 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. Manis plays alto saxophone with the Alan Jones Sextet, has toured Europe as a duo with David Friesen, and plays with Friesen's Quartet and Quintet. He also appears on Risky Notion (Four stars & Best Albums of 2015, DownBeat Magazine) on Origin Records with George Colligan's Theoretical Planets. Manis has played with Dr. Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, including a performance at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, and appears on their album Rise Up! on Real World Records; he has also performed with the George Colligan Quartet, the Chuck Israel’s Jazz Orchestra, the Ken Schaphorst Big Band, the Temptations, comedian Bob Newhart, Wayne Newton, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, and the Eugene Opera.

Manis has presented jazz masterclasses across the country, including at Whitman College, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Oregon, Ferris State University, Willamette University, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, Portland Community College, Spokane Falls Community College, and Lane Community College. He received a Master of Music in Jazz Studies-Performance with Academic Honor from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon. Additional studies were at the Eastman School of Music. He is a current faculty member at Portland State University and Mt. Hood Community College and a former music faculty member at Umpqua Community College. His article "Rhythmic Analysis: Jeff 'Tain' Watts - 'Housed From Edward'" was published in the March 2012 edition of JAZZed Magazine. Manis also writes for the Jazz Society of Oregon's Jazzscene.

One of the most eminent exponents of the instrument, he maintains an astonishing level of virtuosity. (Los Angeles Times)

With 50 years of designing sublime musical architecture where risk-taking, rhythmic rapport, originality, and giving of oneself to the music are the vital ingredients, legendary bassist David Friesen has reached a creative pinnacle. The two-disc set, "Structures," highlights his capacities and his original compositions through duos with two dynamic improvisers he's partnered with over the years. Disc One offers the great saxophonist Joe Manis and Friesen in a live duo performance in Ukraine while on tour in early 2017. On Disc Two, David carries on with an eclectic musical relationship started back when master guitarist Larry Koonse was still a student. Together, Friesen, Manis and Koonse...they have created an intimate album, sharing conversations full of vitality, warmth, and great musical respect. "Few solo musicians on any instrument have made music as powerful and deeply moving as David Friesen." (Oakland Tribune)