Present Joys (Greenleaf Music)

Dave Douglas & Uri Caine

Released July 22, 2014

The Guardian 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2014

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nTyWLtB4G1wKWHOFPBWs2U_GeHx-gd88s

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5n1V8jcYlju53Q7NCprkCt?si=htKzhSy0Rm6sOhQm906Wug

About:

“Present Joys” brings Douglas and Caine together for an intimate but exploratory outing inspired by “The Sacred Harp” tradition. The pair take on five pieces from shape-note tunebooks, as well as several new Douglas compositions undertaken in the same vein. These ten pieces engage Douglas’ trumpet and Caine’s piano in a captivating conversation full of memorable melodies and intricate digressions.

“I’ve always loved the Sacred Harp songs and started thinking about how to do them in the wake of ‘Be Still,’” Douglas says.

“Playing duo is a special challenge, especially when accompanying a singer or horn player,” says Caine. “The pianist is often responsible for keeping the groove happening as well as creating textures for the soloists. There is also a lot of freedom in playing duo as well as the chance to create a dialogue with another musician, which is a lot of fun with a musician like Dave.” “The Sacred Harptunes are very heartfelt pieces, and I had no intention to play them with any irony,” says Douglas. “I think the music is really beautiful and hopefully the way that we play them allows the tunes to ring through in a way that jazz listeners and ‘Sacred Harp’ fans will appreciate and value.”

Track Listing:

1. Soar Away (A.M. Cagle) 03:58

2. Ham Fist (Dave Douglas) 05:04

3. Bethel 04:53

4. Present Joys (A.M. Cagle) 04:57

5. Supplication (Floyd M. Frederick) 03:02

6. Seven Seas (Dave Douglas) 04:29

7. Confidence (Oliver Holden) 03:45

8. End to End (Dave Douglas) 03:02

9. Old Putt (Dave Douglas) 03:55

10. Zero Hour (Dave Douglas) 05:26

Personnel:

Dave Douglas: trumpet
Uri Caine: piano

Recorded and mixed live to 2-track by Tyler McDiarmid on December 16 – 17, 2013 at The Loove, Brooklyn, NY.
Assistant: Jeff Ryan
Mastered by Tyler McDiarmid
Produced by Dave Douglas
Masonite cuts by Peter Schumann, Bread and Puppet. Glover, VT
Art Direction and Design by Emily Rabin

Review:

Trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Uri Caine share a lot – big techniques, innovative intelligence, multi-genre fluency and connections with John Zorn, for starters – but this melodious balance of old Protestant hymn themes, postbop swing and a little free improv is their first duo project together. On Present Joys, they adapt five pieces from New England’s church-song traditions, and five compatible Douglas compositions, furthering the approach the trumpeter pursued on his haunting 2012 valediction to his mother, Be Still. The mix sounds alluring from the off, with Douglas’s warm, low-register sound and Caine’s attentive countermelodies joined on the lovely theme of Soar Away. Douglas’s Miles Davis allegiances surface in the forceful Ham Fist, with Caine walking a swing line beneath; the title track is a country dance that flips into swing and some casual bebop-quoting; and more diffuse pieces such as the wandering Seven Seas or the brittle End to End provide some edgy surprises. It’s a 2014 jazz highlight.

John Fordham (The Guardian)