Photo by Paolo Peviani
The I Suoni delle Dolomiti festival takes place high in the Italian Alps, with both musicians and audience hiking to the concert location. For this year's program, Dave and Chet substituted Steve's bass with the trombone of newcomer Andy Clausen and turned "Riverside" into "Mountainside".
Read a review of the festival here (in Italian).
By Bill Milkowski
“Nobody knows what’s gonna happen—not you, not me, not even the musicians,” promoter Adam Schatz told the Town Hall audience on May 14 at the second edition of “A Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets,” a program of intriguing, unlikely duo performances that merged electronic experimentation with jazz improvisation.
The event, which was part of the Undead Music Festival and co-presented by Red Bull Music Academy, featured an all-star cast of musicians, including guitarists Marc Ribot and Nels Cline; pianists Marco Benevento and Allen Toussaint; trumpeters Dave Douglas and Wadada Leo Smith; and saxophonists Dave Murray and James Carter, among others. The result was a continuous flow of music that lasted two hours and highlighted some compelling pairings along the way.
Read the rest in DownBeat.
Photo by Kim Macari
By Kim Macari
The full house who turned out for trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Uri Caine at Howard Assembly Room, their only UK appearance, waited in quiet anticipation to hear how these two internationally renowned improvisers would approach a duo gig. It's an interesting format to hear jazz musicians perform in. Exposed, risky and with has the potential go in any number of directions, it felt like the perfect setting to hear creative musicians.
The pair opened the concert with a medley of 300 year old North American folk tunes. Gentle and hymn-like, Uri Caine's lightness of touch and the warm, airy sound produced by Dave Douglas conveyed a sense of reverence - a feeling that returned many times throughout the evening. This was followed by an original of Douglas's, Ham Fist. Proving that they could switch directions with ease, Douglas introduced the angular melody before being joined by Caine.
Read the rest here.
By Niccolò Lucarelli
Il numeroso pubblico dell'Auditorium RAI affascinato dal jazz con incursioni folk del celebre duo americano.
TORINO - Il jazz è una forma d'arte, e come tale non può esimersi dall'accompagnare l'uomo nella sua quotidianità, proponendo letture e opinioni talvolta innovative, talvolta legate alla riscoperta del passato, attraverso un amarcord scevro di retorica, ma che invece ci spinge a riscoprire le radici di qualcosa. È accaduto ieri a Torino, in quello che è stato fra i concerti clou della terza edizione del jazz festival, quando sul palco dell'Auditorium RAI sono saliti Uri Caine e Dave Douglas, il pianista di Philalephia e il trombettista di Montclair, che costituiscono uno dei più raffinati sodalizi artistici del panorama musicale internazionale. Il concerto torinese è stata l'anteprima assoluta in Italia per i brani di Present Joys, l'album del duo in corso di pubblicazione in tutto il mondo; una raccolta di vecchi standard americani del XIX Secolo, un'epoca, ricorda lo stesso Douglas, in cui gli Stati Uniti erano una realtà politica molto diversa, ancora nella fase embrionale, quando il meltin pot che li caratterizza si stava appena formando, e la mitica Frontiera Occidentale era un qualcosa di estremamente fluido. Da questo punto di vista, con la gobalizzazione che, nel bene e nel male, ha resi labili confini che resistevano da secoli, con un massiccio aumento dell'emigrazione, la situazione sembra essere tornata fluida come nell'America di Present Joys. Un album che si presenta come l'elegia di un Paese ricco di contraddizioni, ma comunque grande nei suoi pregi come nei suoi difetti, un Paese nato come un esperimento della libertà, ma che in larga parte è nato sul lavoro degli schiavi o della manodopera operaia sottopagata, un Paese formatosi domando palmo a palmo la natura selvaggia delle praterie e delle grandi foreste, dei deserti e dei ghiacciai. La poetica e spendida esibizione di Caine e Douglas racconta, senza sentimentalismi, una storia di fatica quotidiana, ideali, tragedie, immancabili ingiustizie, e l'ottimismo di chi ha comuqneu davanti un Paese da costruire. Un messaggio valido ancora oggi, con la recessione mondiale che si lascerà alle spalle un'umanità provata da anni di delusioni, e fortemente impoverita; sin da adesso serve quell'entusiasmo pionieristico per ricominciare, e il jazz, forma d'arte legata al sentire dell'uomo, ci lascia un messaggio d'incoraggiamento. Una storia di fatica e rinascita, magari portandosi dietro un senso di perdita che comunque fortifica l'animo; questo narrano il piano di Caine e la tromba di Douglas, vicini a certa narrativa di sostanza che scende nel cuore dell'uomo, fermando sulla carta stoire di ordinario eroismo quotidiano. Raymond Carver ne è solo un esempio. Per questo motivo, il concerto non è stato una semplice riproposizione di standard, bensì una vera e propria riscrittura, che attualizza quella musica e la adegua al contesto moderno in cui viene eseguita.
Read the rest here (in Italian).
What’s become clear from the past decade’s Americana explosion is that whether people admit it or not, pretty much everybody likes country music. And more and more musicians, whether they genuinely enjoy it or not, seem hell-bent on trying to capitalize on that. Groups that would have been stone cold top 40 or Warped Tour punk-pop back in day have traded in the drum machines and Strats for banjos and mandolins. And a lot of jazz people are following suit. Some of it’s good to hear – and some of it’s pretty dubious.
When you consider an artist from a previous era like Bob Wills, it’s a reminder of how much less of a divide between jazz and country there used to be. What trumpeter Dave Douglas and reedman Chet Doxas are doing on Riverside, their turn in an Americana direction, is as much a toe-tapping good time as it is sophisticated. But it’s 2014 jazz, not western swing. They take their inspiration from reedman Jimmy Giuffre, who was jazzing up riffs from country and folk music fifty years ago. And they’re not afraid to be funny: there’s only one aw-shucks cornpone number on the new album, but there’s plenty of subtle, tongue-in-cheek drollery throughout the other tracks. The group, which also includes Doxas’ brother Jim on drums and former Giuffre sideman Steve Swallow on bass, kick off their North American tour for the album at the Jazz Standard Tuesday and Wednesday, April 15 and 16 with sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM; cover is 25 and worth it.
Read the rest here.
By Maxime Bouchard
Il y a déjà presque deux ans, Dave Douglas (trompette) et Steve Swallow (basse) nous rendaient visite à Montréal à la Sala Rossa. Pour l'occasion, ils étaient accompagnés des frères Doxas, Jim à la batterie et Chet au saxophone.
La musique proposée rendait hommage au pionnier saxophoniste et clarinettiste Jimmy Giuffre, grande inspiration des deux souffleurs. J'y étais et ce fut une superbe soirée.
Read the rest here (in French).
By Ken Micallef
With his endless energy and boundless invention, trumpeter Dave Douglas takes on new projects as if changing suits—or in his case, caps. If Douglas ever chooses to settle down, Riverside (Greenleaf)—his new album (and band of the same name) with Chet Doxas (clarinet and saxophone), Steve Swallow (electric bass) and Jim Doxas (drums)—would be an ideal place to sit a spell. The quartet presented the album’s Americana-meets-jazz sounds at New York’s Jazz Standard on April 15–16.
Douglas explored hymnal jazz on 2012’s Be Still (Greenleaf), big band jazz on 2009’s A Single Sky (Greenleaf) and paid tribute to pianist Mary Lou Williams on 2000’s Soul On Soul (RCA). The trumpeter changes direction so adeptly—typically bringing to bear eclectic styles and sources on his increasingly wide-ranging music—that it is impossible to pigeonhole the musician behind the music.
Riverside is a tribute to composer-clarinetist-saxophonist Jimmy Giuffre (1921–2008). According to the liner notes, “Jimmy blazed many trails in music. He inspires us to new levels of melodic invention, rhythmic subtlety, and true freedom in the practice of improvisation.” The album consists of original compositions by Douglas and Chet Doxas, respectively, as well as one Giuffre tune (“The Train And The River”) and a cover of Johnny Mercer’s “Travelin’ Light,” the title track of Giuffre’s 1958 trio album.
Read the rest here.
