COMPOSERS: Dave Douglas
LABELS: Arabesque Jazz
ALBUM TITLE: Dave Douglas
PERFORMER: Dave Douglas (t), Chris Potter (ts), James Genus (b), Ben Perowsky (d)
CATALOGUE NO: AJ 0145
Prolific Dave Douglas wrote all 11 compositions on Leap of Faith, which begins uncompromisingly with ‘Caterwaul’ – brief, angular and dramatic, with a far-out, very free trumpet solo, after which Douglas duets with Potter’s saxophone.
Douglas’s compositions are hugely varied, ranging from the bravura title track with its juxtaposition of fast virtuoso solos by him and Potter and quiet thoughtful interludes, to the funk of ‘Millennium Bug’, and the elegiac beauty of ‘Continental Divide’, with Potter’s beautiful tenor solo and Douglas’s final stratospheric trumpet.
This magnificent quartet seems able to handle any musical style or form with utter mastery, and this album is a joy.