Dave Douglas is a trumpeter whose adherence to basic jazz values fully justifies the title of the new album he shares with pianist Uri Caine and drummer Andrew Cyrille in their unusual trio. Unusual? Yes. For one thing, there is no bass player to help with harmonic and rhythmic responsibilities. At the piano, Caine takes care of business in both departments, abetted by Cyrille, a drummer whose strength and drive have seemed to intensify as he built on the qualities that first brought him to listeners’ attention when he worked with guitarist Eric Gale in the early 1960s. He went on to make his mark with Cecil Taylor and other free jazz leaders. Free jazz is only one of the genres that captivates Douglas. Trace his career, and you’ll find that he is familiar with–in fact, captivated by–music of all jazz eras up to and following bebop. As an example, here are Douglas, Cyrille and Caine in a piece dedicated to Mary Lou Williams. They titled it, “Rose And Thorn.” We follow it with two pieces that capture the joy in performance that helped make Williams one of the most prominent performers and composers of the late 1920s and early thirties.
Dave Douglas, Uri Caine and Andrew Cyrille followed by Mary Lou Williams with, “My Mama Pinned A Rose On Me” and “Fandangle.”