There is no current major jazz musician with an oeuvre more diverse than trumpeter Dave Douglas’. He has recently been associated with at least 10 very different working ensembles. Now there’s another, Nomad, formed for Douglas’ new album and new record label.
Nomad is Douglas, reedist Michael Moore, tuba player Marcus Rojas, cellist Peggy Lee and drummer Dylan van der Schyff. The label is Greenleaf, for which Douglas serves as artistic director. The album, Mountain Passages, began as a commission from the Sound of the Dolomites festival in Northern Italy, which asked Douglas “for music to be played between 9,000 and 12,000 feet.” The music is also in memoriam to Douglas’ late father, Damon, who loved to run on mountain trails. - Thomas Conrad
Trumpeter, composer, and musical alchemist extraordinaire Dave Douglas crafted another fascinating album with MOUNTAIN PASSAGES. The result of a commission from the sponsors of Italy's Sound of the Dolomites Festival, this music was composed expressly for performance in the Dolomite Mountains in 2004. Performers and audience both hiked up to the festival grounds. One of the stipulations of the commission was that Douglas write music to "be played between 9,000 and 12,000 feet," and the heady, fluttering, graceful sounds herein appropriately evoke a feeling of lofty elevation. Inspired in part by the region's local Ladino music, Douglas's compositions are by turns stately, cacophonous, elegant, complex, folksy, elegiac, and funky. The instrumentation, consisting of drums, tuba, cello, sax, clarinet, and trumpet, makes for a particularly unique blend--the ensemble sounds like a cross between an avant-garde classical group and a drunken marching band. As usual, Douglas blurs the line between post-bop and free jazz, between rigorous formal architecture and wild improvisation, touching on a wide range of tones and moods along the way. This is another stunning addition to the discography of one of the most creative and exciting artists in modern music.
Tracks
01. Summit Music
02. Family Of The Climber
03. Gnarly Schnapps
04. Gumshoe
05. Twelve Degrees Proof
06. North Point Memorial
07. Cannonball Run
08. Palisades
09. A Nasty Spill
10. Purple Mountains Majesty
11. Off Major
12. Bury Me Standing
13. Encore·All Is Forgiven
MICHAEL MOORE alto saxophone
PEGGY LEE cello
DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF drums
DAVE DOUGLAS trumpet
MARCUS ROJAS tuba
All music composed by Dave Douglas
Recorded June 26, 2004 at The Factory Studios
Greenleaf Music - GRE-01