Dave Douglas: Gifts

When does one become an elder statesman in jazz? Is it a function of age? Awards? Discography? While that question is up for debate, it is beyond doubt that Dave Douglas is an éminence grise, except one who definitely does not work behind the scenes. When did he achieve this status? Was it when he was awarded a Guggenheim? Or the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award? Maybe it was when he started the label Greenleaf Music. A better case can be made by citing his recorded output as a leader. We can go all the way back to his Tiny Bell Trio, Songs Of The Night Sky, and Keystone recordings to cite him as an elder, by that I mean patriarch.

Douglas enlists musicians two and nearly three decades his junior to create Gifts. Douglas' trumpet is joined by guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang from the post-rock outfit Son Lux, plus tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. What might have been a peccadillo a few decades ago—that is, the use of rock musicians by a jazz artist (cough, cough "fusion" more coughing)—is common today. Lewis recorded the heavy electric/funk free An UnRuly Manifesto (Relative Pitch, 2019) and can be heard on the latest from The Messthetics, made up of ex-members of the punk band Fugazi.

With Gifts, Bhatia and Chang bring their experimental sound to a jazz recording. Douglas composed six of the ten tracks with an addition of four Billy Strayhorn cover songs, three of which are heard as a trio, plus "Take The A Train" with Lewis' tenor saxophone. The latter track hints at a rock pulse, that might irk a traditionalist, but is rescued by the Douglas/Lewis front line and the light crunch of Bhatia's guitar. Strayhorn's "Blood Count" builds upon Douglas' opening trumpet statement into a guitar/drums crescendo. Bhatia's guitar effects are featured on tracks such as "Seven Years Ago" and "Small Bar." Both tracks edge outward, yet remain within the jazz idiom with alternately Lewis' saxophone and Douglas' trumpet technique. The push and pull here are hallmarks of not only youthful explorations, but the wisdom of a jazz elder statesman.