On January 27 Bluebird will release Dave Douglas’ Strange Liberation, a new studio effort from the trumpeter that features guitarist Bill Frisell on eight of its 11 tracks. Also on January 27, a bunch of people who buy Strange Liberation will be wondering what happened to the computer-aided electronic groove Douglas explored on his last album, Freak In.
Jamie Saft, the producer and keyboardist/programmer who added so much electronic whatnot to Freak In, is missing this time out and Douglas is back to his regular quintet lineup, which is now four year old: keyboardist Uri Caine (who plays Fender Rhodes piano throughout the set), reedist Chris Potter (on tenor and bass clarinet), bassist James Genus (on both acoustic and electric instruments) and drummer-percussionist Clarence Penn. When Frisell shows up on guitar, you sure know it’s him.
All of the album’s songs are new Douglas originals that the trumpeter says are “coming from the classic concept of a small-group jazz album.” That could mean a number of things, Dave. Shouldn’t you just say that the songs are kinda coming from a mid- to late-’60s Miles thing? The tune that likely inspired Frisell’s guest spot on the album, “The Frisell Dream,” came to Douglas in his sleep. “I 1996 or ’97 I had a dream: I was at a Bill Frisell Trio gig and they were playing this song,” Douglas says. “I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote most of it down.”
Douglas is listed as Strange Liberation‘s producer, but Joe Ferla, who produced Douglas Grammy-winning The Infinite in 2002, came back to D.D. to co-produce the new album, which contains the following songs:
A Single Sky (2:06)
Strange Liberation (8:06)
Skeeter-ism (6:01)
Just Say This (6:34)
Seventeen (8:42)
Mountains From the Train (5:17)
Rock of Billy (5:59)
The Frisell Dream (3:58)
Passing Through (1:38)
The Jones (4:29)
Catalyst (5:14)
According to his Web site, davedouglas.com, the trumpeter appears to be chillin’ this holiday season and will wait until the new album is released before heading out to the clubs with his band. Here are the Dave Douglas tour dates we know of:
Quintet U.S. tour:
February 3-8 • New York City • Village Vanguard
February 13 • Bloomington, IN • Buskirk-Chumley Theatre (clinic & concert)
February 14 • Chicago, IL • Green Mill
February 16 • Athens, GA • Nuci’s Space
February 18 • Cambridge, MA • Regattabar
February 19 • Cambridge, MA • Regattabar
February 20 • Appleton, WI • Lawrence University
February 23-26 • Denton, TX • Artist in Residence clinics and performance University of
North Texas
March 16-21 • New York, NY • Iridium (non-quintet date: Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd/Dave Douglas)
(Seamus Blake will replace Chris Potter on sax for the rest of these dates)
Quintet Europe tour:
April 17 • Marciac, France • TBD
April 20 • Rome, Italy • TBD
April 21 • Espoo, Finland • TBD
April 24 • Gyor, Hungary • TBD
Quintet US tour:
May 3 • Oakland, CA •Yoshi’s at Jack London Square
May 4 • Oakland, CA •Yoshi’s at Jack London Square
May 5 • Eugene, OR • The Shedd Institute for The Arts
May 6-8 • Los Angeles, CA •Jazz Bakery
May 10 • Santa Cruz, CA • Kuumbwa Jazz Center
May 24 – June 12 • Banff, Canada • Artist in Residence,
Banff International Jazz Workshop The Banff Center
