DAVE DOUGLAS

DAVE DOUGLAS
STRANGE LIBERATION (2003)
320 KBPS

He may deny it, but trumpeter Dave Douglas is straight out of Miles Davis. Nothing aurally illustrates that influence more clearly than this small-combo recording with Uri Caine on Fender Rhodes piano, drummer Clarence Penn, bassist James Genus, and bass clarinetist-saxophonist Chris Potter. Douglas has recorded a number of ambitious projects over the years--from Middle-Eastern-inspired compositions to hip-hop-oriented works--but in this tried-and-true format, he extends and elaborates on the mid-'60s sounds of Davis's Miles in the Sky and Filles de Kilimanjaro. Like that of the Prince of Darkness, Douglas's trumpet beams with the same bravura, backed by Caine's Herbie Hancock-style keyboard, Penn's moody and martial drumming, and Genus's rock-steady bass on the uptempo "Seventeen," the Wayne Shorter-like title track, and the bluesy "Rock of Billy." Throw the twilight-toned twang of Bill Frisell's guitar into this mix, and you've got a CD that shows how to deftly blend the electric with the acoustic, resulting in a fusion that declares it roots and points the way to the future.

1. A Single Sky
2. Strange Liberation
3. Skeeter-ism
4. Just Say This
5. Seventeen
6. Mountains From The Train
7. Rock of Billy
8. The Frisell Dream
9. Passing Through
10. The Jones
11. Catalyst