Dave Douglas Music

This album features the same lineup as Strange Liberation with the exception of Donny Mccaslin replacing Chris Potter on Tenor Sax and there is no Bill Frisell. I'm a Chris Potter fan, so at first I thought I might be dissapointed in his replacement, but McCaslin's playing is flat out amazing. McCaslin and Dave Douglass have excellent chemistry and there are several songs that feature intertwining solos and melodies. The song writing is great on this album there is a lot of space and everyone which gives all the members of the band a chance to express themselves. There is nothing radically new happening here, but if you want to hear an album with creative song writing and excellent playing then pick this one up. Highlights on the album are Culture Wars and Elks club. Apparently Elks club was inspired on a recent trip to Banf where Dave encountered an Elk while writing the song on vacation.

This album features the same lineup as Strange Liberation with the exception of Donny Mccaslin replacing Chris Potter on Tenor Sax and there is no Bill Frisell. I'm a Chris Potter fan, so at first I thought I might be dissapointed in his replacement, but McCaslin's playing is flat out amazing. McCaslin and Dave Douglass have excellent chemistry and there are several songs that feature intertwining solos and melodies. The song writing is great on this album there is a lot of space and everyone which gives all the members of the band a chance to express themselves. There is nothing radically new happening here, but if you want to hear an albumn with creative song writing and excellent playing then pick this one up. Highlights on the album are Culture Wars and Elks club. Apparently Elks club was inspired on a recent trip to Banf where Dave encountered an Elk while writing the song on vacation.

This album is another in the continually expanding Dave Douglas repertoire of great jazz music. This album reminds me of the Dave Douglas I was introduced to when I first heard "The Infinite." If you enjoy Miles, then you can certainly feel his influence on this album (as well as the Infinte)...it doesn't feel like a rip-off of Miles' music, however. The writing by Douglas is absolutely solid and original on this effort, and the musicians are all top-notch performers.

There is not a bad track on this album, and each song sounds new and fresh; giving Douglas' take on what a modern, creative jazz quintet should sound like. Each track has a noticeable melody, and is improvised upon to the maximum skill of each member. "Culture Wars" is one of my personal favorites on the album, and Douglas tears it up with Donny McCaslin on t. sax, uri caine on fender rhodes (what a great, funky sound), james genus on bass, and clarence penn connecting it all together with interweaving drum lines.
This is one of Dave Douglas' best albums to date, and it is really fun to listen to. Every time I listen to this album, I hear a different line in the improv or catch a cool bit of harmony I missed on the last listening. This album will never get old, and grows on you with each listen. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to know the new shape of jazz and where it is headed.

"Meaning And Mystery" is a new one by the same group who did "The Infinite" and "Strange Liberation" (minus Bill Frisell) with one big change. Tenor man Chris Potter is replaced by Donny McCaslin. Potter and McCaslin aren't interchangeable -- they're both too good for that to be true -- but I think they're similar. So, the essence of the group hasn't changed much. Dave Douglas wrote all the songs, and they are all good. The first half of the album is stronger than the second, but my less-favorite songs like "Elk's Club" are certainly alright. The general sound of the CD is modern mainstream jazz. I say "mainstream" because there's nothing free, the songs have clear melodies and forms, but it's "modern" because they're not straightforward or predictable. Uri plays electric piano, which gives it a distinctive feel. If you like Dave Douglas or anything similar, this is a very good CD to get.

This album features the same lineup as Strange Liberation with the exception of Donny Mccaslin replacing Chris Potter on Tenor Sax and there is no Bill Frisell. I'm a Chris Potter fan, so at first I thought I might be dissapointed in his replacement, but McCaslin's playing is flat out amazing. McCaslin and Dave Douglass have excellent chemistry and there are several songs that feature intertwining solos and melodies. The song writing is great on this album there is a lot of space and everyone which gives all the members of the band a chance to express themselves. There is nothing radically new happening here, but if you want to hear an album with creative song writing and excellent playing then pick this one up. Highlights on the album are Culture Wars and Elks club. Apparently Elks club was inspired on a recent trip to Banf where Dave encountered an Elk while writing the song on vacation.

This album features the same lineup as Strange Liberation with the exception of Donny Mccaslin replacing Chris Potter on Tenor Sax and there is no Bill Frisell. I'm a Chris Potter fan, so at first I thought I might be dissapointed in his replacement, but McCaslin's playing is flat out amazing. McCaslin and Dave Douglass have excellent chemistry and there are several songs that feature intertwining solos and melodies. The song writing is great on this album there is a lot of space and everyone which gives all the members of the band a chance to express themselves. There is nothing radically new happening here, but if you want to hear an albumn with creative song writing and excellent playing then pick this one up. Highlights on the album are Culture Wars and Elks club. Apparently Elks club was inspired on a recent trip to Banf where Dave encountered an Elk while writing the song on vacation.

This album is another in the continually expanding Dave Douglas repertoire of great jazz music. This album reminds me of the Dave Douglas I was introduced to when I first heard "The Infinite." If you enjoy Miles, then you can certainly feel his influence on this album (as well as the Infinte)...it doesn't feel like a rip-off of Miles' music, however. The writing by Douglas is absolutely solid and original on this effort, and the musicians are all top-notch performers.

There is not a bad track on this album, and each song sounds new and fresh; giving Douglas' take on what a modern, creative jazz quintet should sound like. Each track has a noticeable melody, and is improvised upon to the maximum skill of each member. "Culture Wars" is one of my personal favorites on the album, and Douglas tears it up with Donny McCaslin on t. sax, uri caine on fender rhodes (what a great, funky sound), james genus on bass, and clarence penn connecting it all together with interweaving drum lines.
This is one of Dave Douglas' best albums to date, and it is really fun to listen to. Every time I listen to this album, I hear a different line in the improv or catch a cool bit of harmony I missed on the last listening. This album will never get old, and grows on you with each listen. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to know the new shape of jazz and where it is headed.

"Meaning And Mystery" is a new one by the same group who did "The Infinite" and "Strange Liberation" (minus Bill Frisell) with one big change. Tenor man Chris Potter is replaced by Donny McCaslin. Potter and McCaslin aren't interchangeable -- they're both too good for that to be true -- but I think they're similar. So, the essence of the group hasn't changed much. Dave Douglas wrote all the songs, and they are all good. The first half of the album is stronger than the second, but my less-favorite songs like "Elk's Club" are certainly alright. The general sound of the CD is modern mainstream jazz. I say "mainstream" because there's nothing free, the songs have clear melodies and forms, but it's "modern" because they're not straightforward or predictable. Uri plays electric piano, which gives it a distinctive feel. If you like Dave Douglas or anything similar, this is a very good CD to get.

This album features the same lineup as Strange Liberation with the exception of Donny Mccaslin replacing Chris Potter on Tenor Sax and there is no Bill Frisell. I'm a Chris Potter fan, so at first I thought I might be dissapointed in his replacement, but McCaslin's playing is flat out amazing. McCaslin and Dave Douglass have excellent chemistry and there are several songs that feature intertwining solos and melodies. The song writing is great on this album there is a lot of space and everyone which gives all the members of the band a chance to express themselves. There is nothing radically new happening here, but if you want to hear an album with creative song writing and excellent playing then pick this one up. Highlights on the album are Culture Wars and Elks club. Apparently Elks club was inspired on a recent trip to Banf where Dave encountered an Elk while writing the song on vacation.

This album features the same lineup as Strange Liberation with the exception of Donny Mccaslin replacing Chris Potter on Tenor Sax and there is no Bill Frisell. I'm a Chris Potter fan, so at first I thought I might be dissapointed in his replacement, but McCaslin's playing is flat out amazing. McCaslin and Dave Douglass have excellent chemistry and there are several songs that feature intertwining solos and melodies. The song writing is great on this album there is a lot of space and everyone which gives all the members of the band a chance to express themselves. There is nothing radically new happening here, but if you want to hear an albumn with creative song writing and excellent playing then pick this one up. Highlights on the album are Culture Wars and Elks club. Apparently Elks club was inspired on a recent trip to Banf where Dave encountered an Elk while writing the song on vacation.

This album is another in the continually expanding Dave Douglas repertoire of great jazz music. This album reminds me of the Dave Douglas I was introduced to when I first heard "The Infinite." If you enjoy Miles, then you can certainly feel his influence on this album (as well as the Infinte)...it doesn't feel like a rip-off of Miles' music, however. The writing by Douglas is absolutely solid and original on this effort, and the musicians are all top-notch performers.

There is not a bad track on this album, and each song sounds new and fresh; giving Douglas' take on what a modern, creative jazz quintet should sound like. Each track has a noticeable melody, and is improvised upon to the maximum skill of each member. "Culture Wars" is one of my personal favorites on the album, and Douglas tears it up with Donny McCaslin on t. sax, uri caine on fender rhodes (what a great, funky sound), james genus on bass, and clarence penn connecting it all together with interweaving drum lines.
This is one of Dave Douglas' best albums to date, and it is really fun to listen to. Every time I listen to this album, I hear a different line in the improv or catch a cool bit of harmony I missed on the last listening. This album will never get old, and grows on you with each listen. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to know the new shape of jazz and where it is headed.

"Meaning And Mystery" is a new one by the same group who did "The Infinite" and "Strange Liberation" (minus Bill Frisell) with one big change. Tenor man Chris Potter is replaced by Donny McCaslin. Potter and McCaslin aren't interchangeable -- they're both too good for that to be true -- but I think they're similar. So, the essence of the group hasn't changed much. Dave Douglas wrote all the songs, and they are all good. The first half of the album is stronger than the second, but my less-favorite songs like "Elk's Club" are certainly alright. The general sound of the CD is modern mainstream jazz. I say "mainstream" because there's nothing free, the songs have clear melodies and forms, but it's "modern" because they're not straightforward or predictable. Uri plays electric piano, which gives it a distinctive feel. If you like Dave Douglas or anything similar, this is a very good CD to get.

Stunning. This is the type of recording I've been waiting for - for a long time. Brilliant, fresh, and stellar musicianship. Highly recommended...

Overview:
Moonshine brings back the same group from Douglas's 2005 release Keystone. The muse once again is the film work of Fatty Arbuckle. However, unlike the original Keystone recording this album is not intended to be a "soundtrack" to an Arbuckle film. This allows the artists more freedom explore different sounds and really opens things up for turn table artist DJ Olive who has a much more active role on this CD than he did on Keystone. Each of the tracks is inspired by different Fatty Arbuckle films, which make the tracks on this album much more diverse than Keystone. The album is a hybrid live/studio album. It was recorded live at an Irish radio station, but the live work was then edited in a studio. The end result is an album that has much of the interesting sounds and moods of Keystone, but offers a greater variety of songs.

Songs Highlights:
Kitten - As Dave points out in his liner notes... "Kitten breathes fire". The track opens up with something that sounds like a heavy metal riff. I'm not sure how they were able to create that sound without an electric guitar, but it gets the motor going on this fast and furious track. Douglas, Saxaphonist Marcus Strickland, and keyboardist Adam Benjamin take turns with one shredding solo after another.

Tough - This track begins with a repetitive break beat by DJ Olive. The track reminds me a bit of the hip hop/jazz fusion Cataloop by US3. Very catchy.

Moonshine - The title track sounds a lot like a funkified version of Coltrane's Giant Steps. The main theme seems to borrow a small segment of the giant steps melody. Strickland's solo on this track is just ferocious and reminds me of Joe Henderson's Caribbean Fire Dance. Douglas also has some really choice wails and yelps on this track.

Dog Star - The first track on the CD bears the most resemblance to the original Keystone effort. If you like the first release of Keystone you'll love this track.

Moonshine, is another fine effort by Douglas and team. Highly recommended.

Returning with the rhythm section from Bow River Falls (Canadian husband and wife team Peggy Lee and Dylan van der Schiff), Douglas adds spectacular ex-pat wind player Michael Moore (alto sax, clarinet, and bass clarinet) and tuba maestro Marcus Rojas. The result: a richer and more diverse sound palette. Moore especially establishes a huge presence on this disc, finally establishing himself, one hopes, as among the greatest wind players of his generation. Just listen to his fluidly out-playing on "Family of the Climber," (and, really, on just about any number) which also features some very fine cello stylings from Peggy Lee and foundational percussions from Dylan van der Schiff.

Douglas seems to be indeed thriving in his new indie setting (this is his first disc on his self-produced label, Greenleaf, with distribution by Koch Records). Moreover, he at least distances himself from big-label capitalism, with which he apparently felt so uncomfortable in his RCA days. Freed from major label sales expectations, he's placed himself in at once more high-risk and congenial settings. Consequently, both his playing and that of his bandmates opens out into new vistas of freedom and exuberance.

Add to that a personal connection with his mountain-climbing father, who sadly passed away just before this music was released, and you have a disc of major significance.

Edgy yet accessible, with not only a brilliant concept but also huge buy-in and highest level playing from all concerned, this disc represents some of the finest jazz presented in this nascent year. I'm entirely taken by this tremendous disc.

Highly recommended.

I saw this group live and have their cd, and, as always, Dave strikes gold with Nomad and their debut release, Mountain Passages. If you like one of Dave's other groups, Charms of the Night Sky (the one with violin, accordian, etc.) then you'll love this. It has that element of hauntingly beautiful classical/chamber music, but along with a new intensity what with the reeds and drums. Its brilliant, and if you know good music, I'm sure you'll agree. Get it. I demand you to. Now. Press "buy now". Do it. Go. Now. Buy it. Now. Go. Bye.

You have to admire Dave Douglas. As a Dave fan with 12 or so cd's I can say with some confidence that this cat is always evolving, always "stretching" himself and jazz in general. Unfortunately Mountain Passages his latest leaves me cold. The tunes are short and it seems to be more like chamber-jazz as was Dave's recent[awful] Bow River Falls. There is some interesting improvisation from Douglas but not much is memorable. The tunes are almost like chamber "excercises" that are without feeling or emotion. Is it cerebral? I suppose. But as a jazz freak it's not particulary my cup of tea. Dave has dealt with strange instumentation before["Charms of a Night Sky","Five"]with varying sucess. Those cd's retained some resemblence to jazz with longer tunes,improvisation,etc. Lacking those things Mountain Passages doesn't work for me. For those of you new to Dave Douglas this is not the place to start. Better choices are "the Infinite", "Soul on Soul","Leap of Faith" and "Strange Liberation". Several of those cd's include the amazing Chris Potter on sax. Potter and Douglas are an amazing team in the vein of Miles,Coltrane of our times[hyperbole?]. I can't really reccommend "Mountain Passages" even though I love Douglas. I DO hope Dave keeps taking chances and swings for the fences. That's jazz after all.

While I believe that Dave Douglas and Nomad are very talented musicians, this compilation is way too off for my taste. I appreciate classical music and jazz but it just seems that what comes across is a discordant sound. After I heard it, I kept trying to "get it." In looking over many of his past works, there are a great deal of single reviews on individual CDs so I would suggest that anyone considering purchase look at the number of reviews and the stars and of course make their own choices.

This CD is sophisticated, intellegent, and fun all at the same time. I highly recommend any of Martial Solal's music.

Am I the first reviewer on Amazon.com to talk about this gem which came out on CamJazz records a few weeks ago ?... This is an outstanding duet between trumpetter Dave Douglas and pianist Martial Solal. Both don't need to be introduced. As for Douglas, listen to Masada quartets, John Zorn's group. As for Martial Solal, well Duke Ellington himself said that the French pianist was one of the most exciting pianist ever heard. A 50 year- carreer with a climax at the end of the 80's and early 90's... Solal has got a technique which will let you at a loss for words. I saw both men in different concerts. Hearing them both on this record is just amazing. The facilities, the technique, the way they play together, exchanging ideas, provoking each other is quite fun. There's improvisation, good sense of humour, jokes, pleasure, suspense and pleasure again. The record opens like a book with originals by Solal and Douglas and ends up with four standards. All I can say is that they tell stories in an amazing way. After 48 minutes, you remain flabbergasted. A true gem for 2006. Well done, fellows! and Thank u for this wonderful music !
PS : I listened to it twice four or five weeks ago. At first I was a bit upset. I said, it's just nice. But then, I decided to give a third listen tonight, and then a fourth. The magic had operated. I was in the right mood to listen to this one. I hope you'll enjoy it too. But don't let the first impression catch you. Give time.

Dave Douglas and Martial Solal team up to play four standards, a few songs Douglas recently recorded with his quintet on "Meaning and Mystery", and three Martial Solal songs. The opener, "July Shower", is a jumpy Solal tune with some pinched-sounding trumpet. Douglas switches to a broader, warmer tone for "Blues to Steve Lacy". On it, he plays an absolutely killer solo, making this version much better than the "M & M" version. "34 Bars Blues" is a slightly slanted blues. The blues are what make this CD preferable to some of the other piano duo CD's released this year. Solal and Douglas play with soul on this CD. "For Suzannah," which isn't on "M & M", but is ironic because a) Douglas wrote it for his wife, and b) he doesn't play on it. "Fast Ballad" isn't fast. Douglas returns to the broad tone on "Elk's Club". The four standards finish the album, and as a group are weaker than the six originals. Dave Douglas is a contemporary trumpet great, he's played well in a variety of different settings, groups, and music styles. This CD shows he conquered another setting. Martial Solal is a French jazz master, meaning his work is a lot harder to get in the US. This is my first CD with Solal playing on it. This CD shows I should pick up whatever I can find him playing on. Excellent album.