Dave Douglas: Gifts
Greenleaf Music

Personnel is key to any outfit, and the quartet Dave Douglas assembled for Gifts is no exception. Joining the NYC-based trumpeter are tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and two members of the post-rock trio Son Lux, guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Lewis has received deserved attention for his Red Lily Quintet albums Jesup Wagon and To Mahalia, With Love and leaves a strong mark on Gifts, despite the fact that he's on only half of the ten tracks, and Bhatia and Chang have both worked with Douglas on previous projects, shared experience that helps distinguish the pieces.

Two details stand out immediately: first, bass is conspicuously absent, with Bhatia often the compensating factor, and second, positioned midway through the set are four Billy Strayhorn songs, “Take the A Train,” “Rain Check,” “Blood Count,” and “Day Dream,” the rest Douglas originals. Recorded on December 11, 2023 at The Bunker in Brooklyn, the performances are guided by his assured horn and exemplify an openness to wherever the material might lead. The album title is intended to convey the leader's appreciation for the many blessings music bestows on performers and listeners alike and from one generation to the next. Certainly Douglas has shared generously of his own gifts in the countless groups and albums with which he's been involved and through the recordings he's issued through his Greenleaf Music label. In his words, “Cherishing the music of the past blesses us to make the music of the future.”

The sound field is acoustic but for the myriad textures Bhatia coaxes from his array of pedals, Eventide H90 processor, and Ableton Live manipulations. Coupled with bells, the guitarist's atmospheric effects establish a ground for Douglas's entrance on the opening title track before Lewis enters to intensify the rubato-esque sprawl the four get up to. “Gifts” is in many ways emblematic of the album's adventurous spirit and at eleven minutes offers ample room for tangents to be explored. As the saxist and leader deliver their first solos, Bhatia and Chang respond attentively with colourations that adapt fluidly to the performance as it develops until the guitarist floods the space with molten fire. Shifting gears, “Kind of Teal” is animated by a slow, low-down shuffle with the four getting greasy as they make their way through the bluesy swamp.

In recasting it as a grooving riff on funk rock, “Take the A Train” gets a makeover so fresh, it renders the warhorse almost unrecognizable; the joyous result is in no way objectionable, however, especially when the singing horns parry so powerfully. The other Strayhorn songs find Lewis sitting out, but the renditions by the trumpet trio have their own appeal. Whereas the shuffling “Rain Check” exudes a bit of a New Orleans-styled flavour, “Blood Count” unfolds as a warm, ballad-styled rumination that turns scalding when the spotlight shifts from Douglas to Bhatia and Chang. Elsewhere, the quartet digs into the molasses-thick sludge of “Seven Years Ago,” and the wistful trio expression “Third Dream” mixes things up in featuring Douglas on mute and Bhatia opting for lyrical restraint.

May 2024