Dave Douglas: Alloy

Dave Douglas continues his alchemical pursuits with Alloy, forging a trumpet-centric ensemble that elevates group dialogue to new heights—proving that in jazz, three is not a crowd, it is a conspiracy of cool. Commissioned for the 23rd season of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the project pairs the leader with British trumpeter Alexandra Ridout and New Hampshire's Dave Adewumi, creating a brass coalition where collaboration outshines competition, like diplomats dodging discord. The title nods to the art of melding diverse materials for superior resilience—a principle Douglas and company realize with exacting craft and vibrant spontaneity, turning potential clashes into harmonious gold.

Backed by Patricia Brennan on vibraphone and electronics, Rudy Royston on drums, and Kate Pass on bass, the group cultivates a transparent soundscape that lets the horns intersect and diverge with ease, embracing calculated frictions along the way—think polite anarchy in brass.

The opener, "Announcement: Vigilance," lays out the album's ethos of shared expression, with the trumpeters' seamless handoffs, contrasting statements, melodic extended notes and a lighthearted swing vamp, tinted and peppered by Brennan.

The namesake "Alloy" constructs thick harmonic textures without opacity, as Douglas' muted exchanges with Ridout build to a panoramic three-horn accord across wide registers. Intensity mounts under Royston's driving pulse, yielding to a reflective close that may leave you pondering the quiet after the storm.

"Fields" ventures into edgier realms, channeling disciplined disorder where the players flirt with dissonance yet prevail, dodging musical mishaps with the grace of acrobats on a tightrope. Here, Brennan's impact resonates deeply, with rhythmic contrasts and colorful hues as the band institutes off-centered spins on traditional jazz, followed by the group's blistering escapades.

Within Douglas' legacy of reimagining jazz configurations, Alloy emerges as a potent entry, valuing singular contributions amid broader explorations. Navigating jazz's divide between orthodoxy and extremism, it carves a middle ground: inspiring and anchored in essential group dynamics, sidestepping the pitfalls of purism or pretension.