from the Washington City Paper
New jazz records that are adventurous, genre-hopping, and conversational
By Geoffrey Himes
Douglas has recorded a tribute album to Joni Mitchell and has worked with cello, accordion, and tabla. Keystone, his current band, features tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, bassist Brad Jones, drummer Gene Lake, electric keyboardist Adam Benjamin, and turntablist DJ Olive. Douglas has found ways to integrate these electric and acoustic instruments so the former don't overwhelm the latter but engage in an equal back-and-forth. That balance is perfect for a soundtrack about Frankenstein, the tale of decaying nature jolted back to life by a mad scientist's voltage, and Spark of Being does, in fact, stem from the score for Bill Morrison's experimental Frankenstein film of the same title. The newly released version of Spark of Being: Expand is not the Morrison soundtrack, but rather a jazz exploration and expansion of seven themes from that film score. (On Sept. 21, though, Douglas will release a three-CD box set that will include this album, the actual movie soundtrack, and a third CD of music composed for the movie but not used.
Read the entire review here
New jazz records that are adventurous, genre-hopping, and conversational
By Geoffrey Himes
Douglas has recorded a tribute album to Joni Mitchell and has worked with cello, accordion, and tabla. Keystone, his current band, features tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, bassist Brad Jones, drummer Gene Lake, electric keyboardist Adam Benjamin, and turntablist DJ Olive. Douglas has found ways to integrate these electric and acoustic instruments so the former don't overwhelm the latter but engage in an equal back-and-forth. That balance is perfect for a soundtrack about Frankenstein, the tale of decaying nature jolted back to life by a mad scientist's voltage, and Spark of Being does, in fact, stem from the score for Bill Morrison's experimental Frankenstein film of the same title. The newly released version of Spark of Being: Expand is not the Morrison soundtrack, but rather a jazz exploration and expansion of seven themes from that film score. (On Sept. 21, though, Douglas will release a three-CD box set that will include this album, the actual movie soundtrack, and a third CD of music composed for the movie but not used.
Read the entire review here
