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Dave Douglas: No Boundaries
by Will York
It's taken a long time for trumpeter Dave Douglas to make it down to the Triangle with one of his own groups, but it's finally going to happen. Local vets may remember his appearance with John Zorn's Masada at Duke several years ago, around which time his career was just beginning to snowball into the four-album-a-year, poll-winning monster that it has become. Praised by everyone from the Wire to Downbeat (and how many folks can you say that about?), Douglas has led a variety of his own groups - no less than six, in fact - and has taken part in recordings and/or performances led by avant-jazzers Myra Melford, Don Byron, ROVA, and Mark Dresser, turntablist David Shea, prog-metal-jazz group Dr. Nerve, and pop stars Cibo Matto. All of this comes in addition to his 12-and-counting albums with Masada, as well as collaborations with experienced masters like Han Bennink, Anthony Braxton, and Wadada Leo Smith. His own groups include his more directly jazz-oriented quartet and sextet projects, the successful contemporary classical/jazz hybridizing of his five-piece String Group, and the Balkan-leaning sounds of his otherwise genre-defying Tiny Bell Trio. His recordings for heavy-duty labels like hatArt, Soul Note, Arabesque, Winter & Winter, New World and Avant have won consistently high marks; an in-depth list of star-ratings and end-of-year critics poll results would get boring pretty quickly, so let's just say he's done pretty well for himself, and then get on with the concert details.
Douglas will be bringing us the aforementioned Tiny Bell Trio, which also features brilliant drummer Jim Black and guitarist Brad Shepik, and has been together since 1993. Like many groups working out of the New York downtown scene over the past decade, the TBT offers a combination of Eastern European folk music and jazz-based improvising.
Their sound, however, is distinct and easily identifiable, even when held side-by-side with NYC counterparts like Pachora that share band members. (Pachora, as some will remember, includes both Black and Shepik, and played the Duke Coffeehouse in early '98). A primary reason for this distinctness is the instrumentation, which requires constant and frequently role-switching contributions from each member. In fact, of the many groups led by or featuring Douglas, this is perhaps the one that puts his trumpeting abilities to the greatest test. Whether he is out in front soloing, in the midst of a three-way group improv exchange, or backing up Shepik in a rhythmic or harmonic capacity, he is nearly always contributing in some fashion. The same could be said for Black's space-filling drum work, which moves with ease between complex-metered grooves, quiet, timbral sections, and frenetic breakbeat-inspired outbursts. Both Black and Douglas manage to stretch and redefine their instruments, reflecting a wide range of influences while retaining highly personalized sounds. Shepik could be described as the glue that holds things together, serving up both tasteful chordal accompaniment as well as nimble-fingered single-note runs, all the while eschewing the processed sounds favored by many current electric 'jazz' guitarists. All in all, the group creates a remarkably full sound while retaining the improvisational flexibility offered by such a pared-down lineup.
In addition to showcasing his trumpet work, the Tiny Bell Trio serves as an ideal outlet for the mid-length, narrative-type pieces at which Douglas the composer excels. For example, Live in Europe's "Song for my Father-in-law" (the title perhaps being a nod to his days with hard-bop legend Horace Silver) builds around a recurring theme that enters quietly and periodically resurfaces, unexpectedly, amidst sections of steadily building group improvisation. The effect is both suspenseful and oddly humorous, perhaps suggesting a melodramatically disastrous soap opera scenario. Douglas supplies the bulk of the group's repertoire, which tends toward similar unpredictability and drama, although they have also touched on the music of Herbie Nichols, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Kurt Weill, and even Robert Schumann in performances and recordings.
The wide-ranging sound of the Tiny Bell Trio should appeal equally to open-minded jazz fans, improv lovers, and anything/everything in between. Don't miss it.
The Tiny Bell Trio (Dave Douglas - trumpet, Brad Shepik - guitar, Jim Black - drums) will perform Saturday, Sept. 18, 8 pm at the Reynolds Theater in the Bryan Center at Duke University. Tickets are $16 reserved, $14, and $8 students, available at the door or in advance at the Page Center Box Office (684-4444). Co-sponsored by the Duke Institute of the Arts.
Will York is a dj at WXYC and has recently begun writing on jazz for the Spectator.
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