Dave Douglas charts a musical future
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, July 8, 1999) -- Just two weeks ago in New York, trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas walked away with four awards -- musician of the year, composer of the year, innovator/explorer of the year and trumpeter of the year -- at the second annual Jazz Awards, given in conjunction with that city's annual Bell Atlantic Jazz festival.

In spite of such recognition among his peers - voters for the awards included jazz critics, musicians and members of the recording industry - Douglas remains a relative unknown outside of the few who closely follow cutting-edge jazz.

While Douglas is equally as prolific as Wynton Marsalis in terms of performing and recording, most of his work happens far outside the mainstream. Except for the occasional gigs as a session musician on pop albums (including Suzanne Vega, Sean Lennon and Cibo Matto), most of Douglas's recorded work is only available on obscure, independent European labels such as Soul Note and Winter & Winter, or on Arabesque and Tzadik in the U.S., whereas Marsalis enjoys the corporate backing of Sony Music as its poster-child for jazz.

And while Marsalis sits comfortably ensconced and institutionalized at the head of Jazz at Lincoln Center, with its orchestra at his disposal and high profile gigs -- such as this summer's appearance at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (July 24) -- his for the asking, Douglas leads his own ensembles - the Tiny Bell Trio, the Dave Douglas String Group, Sanctuary, Satya and several other groups -- in relative anonymity. Outside of a few forward-looking festivals in major cities, he even has a hard time getting booked at so-called "jazz" festivals, much less at such august, musical establishment institutions as Tanglewood.

What is all the more ironic is that, at least on the surface, Douglas and Marsalis have more in common than not. Besides both being virtuosos of the trumpet, they both are neo-traditionalists with strong backgrounds in the classical repertoire. They are the same age, and they both are in demand as composers for contemporary dance, which is what brings Douglas to Jacob's Pillow in Becket this weekend (July 8-11), to perform his original score to "Five Part Weather Invention," a three-way collaboration with choreographer Trisha Brown and abstract painter Terry Winters. The world premiere runs Thursday at 8, Friday and Saturday at 8:30, with matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday at 2.

In addition, Douglas's ensemble Charms of the Night Sky, which features accordionist Guy Klucevsek, violinist Mark Feldman and bassist Greg Cohen, will give a free concert on Friday at 7 on the Pillow's Inside/Out stage. For more info call (413) 243-0745.

Not to belabor the comparison between Marsalis and Douglas - there is plenty that differentiates the two. For all his versatile strengths, Marsalis is firmly rooted in a linear tradition running from New Orleans jazz through Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington and leapfrogging the rest of jazz history to himself.

This is where the two diverge, for Douglas's most striking characteristic, beyond his incredibly evocative playing, is his refusal to pay heed to any one tradition, genre or style. In fact, to call Dave Douglas a jazz musician is really to play fast and loose with the term "jazz," for Douglas's music is equally informed by a host of other influences. His wide-ranging musical curiosity has taken him deep into ethnic styles including klezmer, Lebanese, Indian, Burmese, Egyptian and Balkan music. His composition for the Trisha Brown dance piece was inspired by Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky's neo-classical period of the 1930s. One number on his most recent album, "Convergence" (Soul Note), explores the common ground between 1930s French composer Oliver Messaien and '70s jazz-fusion group Weather Report.

In his ability to assimilate influences from so many different, seemingly disparate musical traditions - Eastern European folk, free jazz, new-classical, even Joni Mitchell -- and integrate them into accessible pieces of music that are recognizably part of our own "jazz" or "classical" heritage, Douglas may well be pointing to the direction in which new music can or must go in the 21st century in order for it to have any meaning or significance in our lives.

"I am an improviser," said Douglas, in an interview last week from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y. "I'm making it up as I go along. And I'm most inspired by musicians who have done a lot of different things and turned them into their own music - people who have a long legacy, whether it's Miles Davis or Igor Stravinsky or Stevie Wonder - people whose music has gone through radical transformations and have swallowed and figured out the music of this century, which is so diverse. That's where I'm coming from."

The most obvious example of Douglas's interest in radical music is his use of non-traditional instruments in an improvisational setting, such as his Charms of the Night Sky quartet for trumpet, violin, accordion and bass. The ensemble's music has a strong Eastern European-folk feel to it, as if after playing a few hours of dance music, Miles Davis and a band of Gypsy musicians chilled out by jamming on some quiet tunes a la "Kind of Blue."

Composing music for modern dance is also a challenge with its own inherent risks, especially when it involves improvisation. "I think when we make art we're always asking for trouble," said Douglas, who composed a piece for the Lynn Shapiro Dance Company in 1995. "In my music, improvisations are always coming out of a strategy that's developed out of the written notes and that we talk about a lot and has a specific direction and parameters within which it can develop.

"I think what's interesting about Trisha's choreography with this piece is that she's used a similar system with her dancers. So when I'm playing with her and I'm watching the choreography, I don't feel like the steps are exactly the same each time, but there is a parameter within which things can shift. That's what's so exciting and vibrant and makes it so much fun."

In Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal's liner notes to "Convergence," Douglas is quoted saying, "I've always wanted to play jazz, and incorporate all these different ideas. Blending composition and improvisation in the tradition of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, John Cage, Harry Partch and others is the most American thing one could do. I'm not talking about throwing different genres together without any meaning, which is what some people mean when they speak negatively of 'post-modernism.' I'm talking about going inside, finding something that's honest and genuine, and having an ensemble of people I can rely upon to help me get there."

Before coming to New York in 1984, where he completed his studies at New York University while performing as a street musician, Douglas studied composition and performance in Boston at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. After graduation, he toured with hard-bop pioneer Horace Silver's ensemble, and he has lent his talents to recordings by Don Byron, Fred Hersch, Anthony Braxton, Han Bennink, Tim Berne, Uri Caine, Mark Dresser and John Zorn, with whom he performs in the new Jewish music group, Masada.

In addition to his Charms of the Night Sky ensemble, Douglas also leads his own jazz quartet, as featured on the critically-acclaimed CD "Magic Triangle" (Arabesque), which includes saxophonist Chris Potter and drummer Ben Perowsky. This recording in particular garnered Douglas comparisons to Ornette Coleman and other jazz greats, with noted jazz critic Francis Davis writing that "Douglas is as close as anyone has come, in terms of his potential impact," to Miles Davis.

Douglas's moment has clearly arrived, and he is slowly but surely being recognized by a handful of observers for his all-encompassing musical vision. In the meantime, it's a bit ironic - and totally to the dance festival's credit - that you will find Douglas at Jacob's Pillow this summer and not at Tanglewood or at the "National Music Center."

We are lucky to have musicians like Douglas, along with John Zorn, Uri Caine and Anthony Coleman - not to mention Philip Glass (July 17) and Phillip Johnston (Aug. 28), who will perform at Mass MoCA in upcoming weeks --charting a genre-busting path for new music as we approach a new century. Let's hope that along the way the music establishment doesn't get left behind, shaking the dust of its feet, scratching its head, and wondering where the music went.

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[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on July 8, 1999. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1999. All rights reserved.]