Dave Douglas

Gifts

Greenleaf Music

Trumpeter, composer, and label owner Dave Douglas convenes a new trio/quartet for new originals and four Billy Strayhorn pieces reimagined for this bass-less group. Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis seems practically ubiquitous lately and appears on five of the ten tracks. Joining those two are two members of the Oscar-nominated post-rock trio Son Lux – guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. While previous Douglas offerings have been centered on protest, or in a sacred, historical vein, here Douglas is just appreciative of the kind of music that Strayhorn composed and honors that, while striving to be commensurate in his own writing. The lack of bass frees up the soundscape with Bhatia uniquely framing either Douglas’s trumpet or the trumpet-tenor interplay.

The connections here are worth mentioning.  Lewis was a student of Douglas years ago at Banff summer camp and joins a renowned list of saxophonists who have graced Douglas ensembles including Chris Potter, Donny McCaslin, Marcus Strickland, Jon Irabagon, and Joe Lovano.  As for Bhatia and Chang, Chang appeared on the 2018 subscriber only UPLIFT while this is Bhatia’s fourth Douglas project, prior ones including, 2015’s High Risk and 2020’s Marching Music. Neither has previously played with Lewis but share the ANTI-Records label with the saxophonist’s Eye of the I, and Lewis’ ties to Bhatia’s Buffalo-based cousins.

Having mentioned the tenor chair, the guitar chair also boasts a host of luminaries who have come through Douglas’ bands including Julian Lage, Mary Halvorson, Marc Ribot, Matthew Stevens, and Jeff Parker. Bhatia is a wizard with pedals, creating these atmospheric backdrops which we first hear in the lengthy opening title track as Lewis blows his lines and Douglas finishes the sentences as the instruments mesh in reverberating glory, though dark and mysterious in tone. One feels a deep, spiritual kind of emotion transmitted between the players. Even though there are solo passages and fiery, soaring ones from both Douglas and Lewis, the emphasis is clearly on the collective group sound. Bhatia and Chang serve more as harmonic layers than as a rhythm tandem prodding the horns. Lewis’ original, clearly a nod to Miles Davis, “Kind of Teal” follows in a similar sonic vein, with an accent on the colors rather than melody or rhythm though Bhatia impresses with his ringing chords and Chang rouses more kinetic on the traps.

The four-song Strayhorn sequence features Lewis only on “Rain Check,” the other three rendered in a trumpet-guitar-drums trio much as Douglas did with his Tiny Bell group. The timbre of the record changes dramatically as the trio rocks hard on “Take the A Train,” Douglas and Bhatia locked into unison lines, before the guitarist plucks his bass strings in an animated solo, and drummer Chang gets his say as well. Lewis joins for the hip and lightly swinging Latin tinged reading of “Rain Check” while Douglas channels his spiritual Charles Lloyd side in the extensive “Blood Count,’ passing the baton to Bhatia for explorative statements before returning to close the piece. Chang stirs it up for “Day Dream,” establishing a brisk tempo that Douglas and Bhatia surf playfully.

The trio returns to their atmospheric state in “Small Bar’ with Bhatia and Chang delivering agitated, staccato punctuations that disturb the otherwise smooth canvas painted by Douglas in the first section with the trio working a probing, animated approach in the latter half, led by the soaring trumpet. “Third Dream” is on the gentler, meditative side though it too, has some unexpected turns and per usual, intriguing blending of the guitar and trumpet.

Lewis also makes it a quartet for “Seven Years Ago,” opening in unison with Douglas before morphing into some weird electronic passages and explorative forays, leading to a nice, tight finale. The foursome close out with “Goodbyes,” beginning in unison and employing similar sonics as in the opener. The sound washes over the listener in undulating waves, even through the solos of Douglas and Bhatia, the latter of whom makes a departure by launching bluesy riffs in his second turn.

This is, as you’d expect from Douglas, a heady marriage of tradition and contemporary, rendered fusion style, ever intriguing and adventurous with the harmonic blends holding sway.

• Jim Hynes

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