Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity
| Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity | ||||
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| Studio album by Dave Douglas | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Greenleaf | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, download |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
58:09 |
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Dave Douglas |
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Studio (s) |
The Bunker Studios, Brooklyn |
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Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity is a jazz album by Dave Douglas . The recordings, made on September 2, 2019 in Bunker Studios, Brooklyn, were released on May 1, 2020 on Greenleaf Music.
background
Trumpeter Dave Douglas has previously dealt with “greats from the past” in several productions, with pianist Mary Lou Williams in Soul On Soul (Sony Legacy, 2000), with Booker Little on In Our Lifetime (1994), and saxophonist Wayne Shorter in Stargazer (Arabesque, 1997) and on several other albums exploring the music of Jimmy Giuffre and Carla Bley , Dan McClenaghan wrote. But Douglas deviates from the direction of imitation and rather strives for a modernization and reinterpretation of the chosen musical visions. Seven of the nine pieces on the album are original Douglas compositions, along with Gillespie's “Manteca” (1947) and “Pickin 'the Cabbage”, a 1940 track from Gillspie's time with Cab Calloway and His Orchestra. Dave Adewumi , Matthew Stevens , Fabian Almazan , Carmen Rothwell and Joey Baron play in the trumpeter's sextet .
Dizzy Atmosphere began as a concert program put together for a performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center that took place in February 2018. Douglas performed this with a sextet that included Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, guitarist Bill Frisell , pianist Gerald Clayton, and bassist Linda Oh May Han and Joey Baron on drums. To record this program, however, he put together a different group; some of it had to do with the availability of the original musicians. Just like he had used Akinmusire at Lincoln Center, Douglas wanted a younger voice on the trumpet for the record. “That was something Dizzy always did in his own work,” he says. “ To nurture a generation of players who are after him.” Lee Morgan's role on the album was then played by Dave Adewumi, whom Douglas first heard in a composition workshop in the Juilliard School's Jazz Masters program . Instead of Frisell, Douglas brought in the guitarist Matthew Stevens , who became known through his work with Esperanza Spalding .
Track list
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- Dave Douglas: Dizzy Atmosphere - Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity (Greenleaf Music GRE-CD-1076)
- Mondrian 5:33
- Con Almazan 8:13
- Cadillac 6:07
- See Me Now 4:34
- Manteca (Gillespie, Chano Pozo , Gil Fuller ) 7:42
- Pickin 'the Cabbage (Gillespie) 4:45
- Pacific 9:28
- Subterfugue 6:23
- We Pray 5:24
Unless otherwise stated, all compositions are by Dave Douglas.
reception
Matt Collar gave the album four stars in Allmusic and wrote: “In both cases Douglas combines the kinetic energy of Gillespie's swinging 1940s ensembles with the nervous harmonies and unusual improvisations of his own group.” Douglas originals such as “Con Almazan” are just as synergistic ”And“ Cadillac ”, which refer to Gillespie's“ Con Alma ”and“ Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac ”, but take them in unexpected directions and deconstruct their groovy and soulful Latin American rhythms into dramatically broken soundscapes. Similarly unexpected are cuts like the capricious "See Me Now" with its juxtaposition between Stevens' shimmering high-end guitar lines and Almazan's burnished low-end piano as well as the lively "Subterfuge", whose sparkling, harmonized trumpet melody still reminiscent of Gillespie's brightly toned Big -Band-Arran reminds gemstones.
According to Dan McClenaghan, who reviewed the album in All About Jazz , Douglas tries, as in the previous musical honors, to delve into the legacy of the subject and to modernize it. It begins with “Mondrian”, an allusion to the Dutch artist and jazz fan Piet Mondrian , who is brought to life with a stentor-like two-trumpet celebration that will continue into the 21st century. “Con Almazan” - a Douglas original, which refers to Gillespie's “Con Alma”, has the impression of a soundtrack , matching the trumpet spaceship circling in orbit on the cover. This is "a wonderfully distorted version of the melody, with guitarist Matt Stevens sending out a searing solo that may be supposed to leave the solar system to travel to interstellar space, with pianist Almazan breaking into a sea of starlight."
Mat Micucci named the album in Jazziz's Recommended Release of the Month and wrote that Dave Douglas expanded the concept of the tribute album with his deep celebration of Dizzy Gillespie. Dizzy Atmosphere is understood as both an exploration and an evocation and, in a sextet with two trumpets, delves deep into the works of the jazz legend as well as into his harmonious ideas and his unsurpassed creative spirit. Seven of the songs on the album are originals, but even the two covers are inventive, avoiding imitation and modernizing Gillespie's legacy in the process, according to the author.
Tony Dudley-Evans wrote in JazzTimes that the sextet that interprets the material is a top group with a double trumpet frontline. As Gillespie has always endeavored to advance the careers of younger trumpeters like Lee Morgan , Jon Faddis and Clifford Brown , Douglas continued that tradition by sharing the headgame and solos with Dave Adewumi, a young New Hampshire player with Nigerian heritage, that he had first met in a Juillard composition class. There is a wonderful interaction between the two with no ever feeling of competition. The album, the author sums up, is a nice homage to one of the greats of jazz, who was led by one of today's main characters.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Dan McClenaghan: Dave Douglas: Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie At Zero Gravity. In: All About Jazz. April 20, 2020, accessed June 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Dave Douglas - Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity at Discogs
- ↑ Mat Micucci: 10 Albums You Need to Know: May 2020. In: jazziz. May 1, 2020, accessed June 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Tony Dudley-Evans: Dave Douglas: "Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity". In: London JazzNews. July 20, 2020, accessed on July 27, 2020 .