Gobi Canticle brings together eleven works for solo violin, violin and viola, and violin duo by ten composers of Asian heritage, many presented here in first recordings. Performed by Natalie Lin Douglas and Patrick Yim, longstanding advocates for new music with extensive experience commissioning, premiering, and recording contemporary repertoire, the album spans a wide expressive range from ritual and folk-derived sound worlds to contrapuntal studies and contemporary virtuosity. At it's centre is Lei Liang's Gobi Canticle, shaped by Mongolian musical traditions, microtonal inflection, and percussive string techniques. Zhou Tian's Duo provides a compact, high-energy showpiece, while Chen Yi's Energetic Duo distils rhythmic drive and color into a striking miniature. Several works draw on literary and seasonal imagery: Kai-Young Chan's Echoes of the Autumn Night reflects Tang-dynasty poetry through Cantonese speech rhythms, and Jungyoon Wie's Dan Poong traces the quiet transformation of autumn leaves. Across the program, composers engage imaginatively with string technique-scordatura, harmonics, ricochet bowing, hocketing, and microtonal tuning-creating a palette that is both refined and immediate. The result is a coherent collection that highlights individual compositional voices while revealing shared concerns with timbre, gesture, and cultural memory. Recorded in Watertown, Massachusetts, Gobi Canticle documents a significant body of contemporary duo repertoire and showcases two performers deeply committed to new music and collaboration.

Prolific trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas announces the release of Transcend, featuring his all-star GIFTS Quintet. Blending electronics, lyricism, and high-energy interplay, the ensemble operates at full force, driven by a clear spiritual vision. Following his 2024 release GIFTS - honoring Billy Strayhorn - Transcend continues Douglas' exploration of legacy, spirituality, and ensemble innovation. Transcend features the same core group as GIFTS, including DownBeat Artist of the Year tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and two members of the Oscar-nominated post-rock trio Son Lux: guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Expanded with the addition of cellist and MacArthur Genius Awardee Tomeka Reid, the quintet employs a radical new instrumentation. Douglas' new offering Transcend is created in observance of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts, landmark works performed between 1965-1973, and widely regarded as the spiritual culmination of Ellington's career. Douglas draws inspiration from this ethos, by engaging with the spirit of openness, reverence, and humanity.

On Four Freedoms, trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas convenes a remarkable new quartet including the brilliantly inventive pianist Marta Warelis, propulsive bassist Nick Dunston, and the wildly swinging Joey Baron on drums. Douglas channels President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 "Four Freedoms" speech - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear - into a compelling new musical project. The ensemble serves as an analogy for a functioning society: four distinct voices coexisting, conversing, and creating through improvisation. Balancing urgency with playfulness and joy, Four Freedoms is a celebration of freedom and collaborative spirit. Four Freedoms was recorded during the Getxo Festival in the Basque Country of Spain, in July 2025. The group recorded a live concert, then reconvened the next day on the same stage to capture focused, intimate versions of the music without an audience. "I wanted to capture both the excitement of a live performance and the focus and intensity of a studio session. Four Freedoms: Roosevelt's words feel more relevant than ever - humanities will be essential as we face the challenge of cohabiting on this singularly gorgeous planet." - Dave Douglas

Modern jazz giant Dave Douglas releases his first new album in almost 2 years with a new project titled GIFTS. This debut album is Dave playing with Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia (members of Son Lux and the Oscar nominated for the score of Everything Everywhere All At Once), as well as the brilliant versatile saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. The album is an adventurous exploration of the genre through the lens of composer Billy Strayhorn, covering 4 of his compositions, alongside 6 originals.

The Dave Douglas and Elan Mehler Sextet mixes seasoned veterans with relative newcomers, setting poetry and specifically haiku into the context of improvising music. On If There Are Mountains, their first album as co-leaders, the trumpeter and pianist are joined by vocalist Dominique Eade, reedist John Gunther, bassist Simon Willson, and drummer Dayeon Seok. If There Are Mountains, previously released only to vinyl on Mehler's label Newvelle Records, now sees a fresh release via Douglas' own label Greenleaf Music. Douglas and Mehler composed all thirteen tracks between themselves, including four never-before-heard songs: Douglas' "Arms Folded to the Moon", "A Thicket of Summer Grass", and "Life" plus Mehler's "Barn's Burnt Down". While the spark for Douglas and Mehler's collaboration around haiku goes back two decades to an early performance of Douglas' "Village of No Bells", this vocal-forward ensemble sounds undeniably fresh. The group presents unusual melodic relationships with concise expression, matching the form of the Japanese poetry found within the lyrics.

Since forming in 2011, the Dave Douglas Quintet has released three studio albums and an 8-CD live box set, and toured widely, developing an unmatched ensemble rapport. With saxophonist Jon Irabagon, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Rudy Royston, the group has forged a unique language that is a sound all their own. Their new album, 'Songs of Ascent: Book1-Degrees,' isa riff on these 15psalms-fascinating, somewhat mysterious works which inspired the composer. Douglas' pieces were written around these psalms. Let Me Go, the only exception, was written on the day Dave decided to take this on. That piece and seven others comprise this release, which is high energy and introspective at the same time. Irabagon's playing on tenor and soprano saxes as well as alto clarinet creates a wide range of timbres and colors. The bands intuitive call and response, dialogic playing is evident from the first note to the last. There are 16 Songs of Ascent, split into two books-the subsequent 8 are on a companion disc subtitled Steps, which is immediately available to members of Greenleaf Music. 1) Never Let Me Go 2) Deceitful Tongues        3) Lift Up My Eyes        4) Peace Within Your Walls    5) Enthroned            6) A Fowler's Snare        7) Scepter            8) Mouths Full Of Joy

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Overcome is a new Dave Douglas recording, alongside vocalists Fay Victor and Camila Meza, trombonist Ryan Keberle, bassist Jorge Roeder, and drummer Rudy Royston, who banded together over a period of months to create a new album of songs. A statement of purpose, an acknowledgement of forebears, and an exhortation to activism, Overcome involves the six musicians in an emotional and powerful statement of human engagement towards justice: Racial justice. Climate justice. Voting justice. Gender justice. The project began with a reimagining of the Civil Rights anthem, "We Shall Overcome," featuring Victor and Meza each singing a verse before joining for arousing final verse. As Douglas began working on the originals for the album, this unique communal vocal interplay became a key element of three more pieces: "Overcome" and "When We Are Together Again" are both inspired by the challenges of pandemic isolation; "Good Trouble" celebrates activist John Lewis. Victor takes the spotlight on "Peace" as she voices poignant poetry from Langston Hughes. And the free-spirited Royston original "Perspective" brings a nice balance to the proceedings. This is spirited communal music on a mission. Released direct-to-fan previously, the LP is available worldwide for the very first time.

Secular Psalms - Dave Douglas - Secular Psalms is a new Dave Douglas studio album featuring a newly commissioned suite of ten pieces, with an entirely new group of young international musicians. Invited by the City of Gent and Handelsbeurs Theater to commemorate 600 years since the creation of the Gent Altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck, Douglas branches out into new instruments like the serpent, lute, organ and sampler, providing a painterly panorama of new sounds. Drawing on Latin Mass, on early medieval folk songs, on composers of the period, like Guillaume DuFay, and on jazz and improvised music, Douglas and team deliver a lyrical, mystical, spiritual score full of upbeat optimism for our times. Douglas says the title refers to "songs of praise for all of us.' For this project he has invited musicians Tomeka Reid, Marta Warelis, Berlinde Deman, Frederick Leroux and Lander Gyselinck. A surprising and uplifting release created during these pendemic times.

(His) Symphony is a very likeable discovery. Both middle movements display a disarming melodic felicity and assurance, and admiring glances towards Dvorak, although Stanford (his teacher) was never happy with the finale. It was first played by RCM students in 1896 (including Holst and Vaughan Williams !). Although it went down well, it gathered dust for over a century. Bostock's alert and affectionate lead enjoy making it's acquaintance... crisp and clear sound for this world premiere recording. In every respect, a solid thumbs-up [Gramophone] "The much-loved Hiawatha's Wedding Feast recalls the extraordinary excitement of it's first performance. Coleridge-Taylor was then 23 and the work an immediate and wild success. Parry suggested that because of the composer's West African father, "he loved plenty of sound, plenty of colour, simple and definite rhythms and, above all, plenty of tune". All these qualities kept it popular, and are admirably captured here: the Philharmonia provide the orchestral colour, and Sir Malcolm keeps the admirable Royal Choral Society on their rhythmic toes. Richard Lewis gives a suitably romantic Onaway! Awake, beloved ! Hiawatha's Wedding Feast has been done proud in every way" [Gramophone]

2020 release. In making Dizzy Atmosphere, Dave Douglas's tribute to the great trumpeter, composer and humanist Dizzy Gillespie, Douglas said he wanted to explore Dizzy's experimental and wide open mind as well as the influence of his music. This album shines a light on the whole legacy of Gillespie, one of America's finest artists. The original music Douglas wrote swings and shimmers with a grace reminiscent of the great man. Dizzy Atmosphere also contains several imaginative arrangements of Gillespie compositions, including reinterpretations of two key Gillespie tunes 'Manteca' and 'Pickin' the Cabbage.' Douglas's band is also remarkable, featuring fellow trumpeter Dave Adewumi, recent winner of the Carmine Caruso Competition, along with pianist Fabian Almazan, guitarist Matt Stevens, bassist Carmen Rothwell, and drummer Joey Baron. Like his previous explorations of the influential music of Mary Lou Williams, Wayne Shorter, and Booker Little, this album is sure to inspire listeners to hear the music of Dizzy Gillespie in new and interesting ways.

Trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Uri Caine continue their long-time musical association with a new album featuring master drummer Andrew Cyrille. The sequel to the 2014 Douglas / Caine album Present Joys that centered on renditions of Sacred Harp tunes and which the New York Times called, an album of duologue that manages to be at once intimate, soulful and irrepressibly buoyant, Devotion features new original compositions by Douglas in devotion to many of todays greatest composers including Carla Bley and Franco DAndrea.

Featuring Sunday's two live sets from a four-night run at New York's Jazz Standard in 2015, the road-tested Dave Douglas Quintet delivers a roller-coaster ride of complex harmonic and rhythmic structures, veering between fierce and soulful on this two disc release. Also part of a complete 8 CD set, the music features New York heavyweights Jon Irabagon, Matt Mitchell, Linda May Han Oh and Rudy Royston. GRE-CD-1067, Disc 1: 01. Law of Historical Memory 02. Ocean Spray 03. This Is My Father's World 04. Variable Current 05. My Cares Are Down Below / The Pigeon And The Pie 06. There Is A Balm In Gilead GRE-CD-1067, Disc 2: 01. Bridge To Nowhere 02. Deep River 03. Wake Up Claire 04. Going Somewhere Without You 05. God Be With You Till We Meet Again

The Dave Douglas Quintet finishes their extensive Brazen Heart tour with a four night run at the Jazz Standard November 19-22, 2015. This 8-set recording features Jon Irabagon (saxophone), Matt Mitchell (piano), Linda May Han Oh (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums). The group delivers a roller-coaster ride of complex harmonic and rhythmic structures, veering between fierce and soulful. Memorable versions of their entire repertoire, by a band at the height of it's powers. GRE-CD-1066, Disc 1: 01. Hawaiian Punch 02. Miracle Gro 03. Barbara Allen 04. Lone Wolf 05. Going Somewhere With You 06. There Is A Balm In Gilead 07. Law of Historical Memory GRE-CD-1066, Disc 2: 01. Ocean Spray 02. Time Travel 03. Pyrrhic Apology 04. Inure Phase 05. My Cares Are Down Below / The Pigeon And The Pie 06. Deep River GRE-CD-1062, Disc 1: 01. Hawaiian Punch 02. Little Feet 03. Wake Up Claire 04. Be Still My Soul 05. Brazen Heart 06. Whither Must I Wander? 07. Beware of Doug GRE-CD-1062, Disc 2: 01. Bridge to Nowhere 02. Variable Current 03. This Is My Father's World 04. One Morning 05. Middle March 06. God Be With You Till We Meet Again GRE-CD-1057, Disc 1: 01. Hawaiian Punch 02. Time Travel 03. Be Still My Soul 04. Brazen Heart 05. Whither Must I Wander 06. Lone Wolf GRE-CD-1057, Disc 2: 01. Garden State 02. Miracle Gro 03. Barbara Allen 04. Inure Phase 05. Little Feet GRE-CD-1067, Disc 1: 01. Law of Historical Memory 02. Ocean Spray 03. This Is My Father's World 04. Variable Current 05. My Cares Are Down Below / The Pigeon And The Pie 06. There Is A Balm In Gilead GRE-CD-1067, Disc 2: 01. Bridge To Nowhere 02. Deep River 03. Wake Up Claire 04. Going Somewhere Without You 05. God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Featuring Saturday's two live sets from a four-night run at New York's Jazz Standard in 2015, the road-tested Dave Douglas Quintet delivers a roller-coaster ride of complex harmonic and rhythmic structures, veering between fierce and soulful on this two disc release. Also part of a complete 8 CD set, the music features New York heavyweights Jon Irabagon, Matt Mitchell, Linda May Han Oh and Rudy Royston. 1. Hawaiian Punch 2. Time Travel 3. Be Still My Soul 4. Brazen Heart 5. Whither Must I Wander? 6. Lone Wolf 7. Garden State 8. Miracle Gro 9. Barbara Allen 10. Inure Phase 11. Little Feet

With this new volume, Barry Douglas once again weaves a magic web with Celtic tunes that have been handed down from generation to generation. His playing is entwined sometimes with new material composed by his musical companions, internationally renowned for their fearless explorations and interpretations of Scottish music. There is an old Irish proverb that translates into “There may be five versions of every story but there are twelve interpretations of each song.” This sentiment reflects an acknowledgement that each artist makes his or her own song out of material that has been handed down. The result is a beautiful, wistful celebration of melodic riches. Praise for Barry’s previous album of Celtic music includes: “Barry Douglas is to be applauded for these arrangements and his direct communication skills. This music means a lot to him and that shows in his performances… The playing, recording (clear and immediate) and musical content are all first class. It was probably a refreshing change for Mr. Douglas to move out of the highbrow arena for a short while and record something different from his usual fare. This is a lovely disc.” (musicweb-international.com)

Dave Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer and educator from New York City. His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland award and two Grammy nominations. Douglas has developed his work for several unique ensembles with whom he's currently active, including his new quintet, an electric sextet (Keystone), and Sound Prints Quintet, co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano. His quintet released it's debut recording, Be Still, in September 2012 with singer Aoife O'Donovan, the first time Douglas has featured a vocalist on a recording. Time Travel is their follow-up album. Features Jon Irabagon, Matt Mitchell, Linda Oh, and Rudy Royston. Recorded & Mixed by Joe Ferla.

PENDERECKI Piano Concerto, “Resurrection.” Flute Concerto • Barry Douglas (pn); ?ukasz D?ugosz (fl); Antoni Wit, cond; Warsaw PO • NAXOS 8.572696 (60:30)

It is fascinating to trace the development of Penderecki’s compositional style, as he seems to become more conservative the older he gets. The Piano Concerto, composed in 2001/02 and revised in 2007, is a work that the Penderecki of the 1960s and the Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima probably never dreamed of writing. In fact, nothing in Penderecki’s canon, not even his recent works, prepared me for this concerto. After several auditions, I’m not sure it’s even a successful work (I’ve seen the adjective “kitschy” applied to it), but if it’s not, it is, in today’s popular terminology, a hot mess, and a fascinating one at that.

In this work, Penderecki has channeled the romantic piano concerto. In the words of annotator Richard Whitehouse, it renews “Penderecki’s direct involvement with the ‘grand’ concerto tradition—notably of the Russian lineage that had its culmination in Rachmaninov and Prokofiev.” Granted, the work is not as lyrical as, for example, Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, or even Prokofiev’s Third, but there’s no missing the size and the strength of the emotional gestures, and the respect for virtuosic display. For the first time ever (in my experience, anyway), Penderecki has even included passages that a reasonable person might describe as “pretty”—for example, at 2:30 into the second section, and that passage returns near the end. (The work is in 10 continuous sections, and Naxos has tracked them separately.) Granted, the concerto’s overall mood is more tense than pretty, and there are violent climaxes. I have to say, though, that the music that kept coming to mind as I heard this concerto was Bernard Herrmann’s Concerto Macabre, a work that he composed for the 1954 film noir Hangover Square—and I intend that as a compliment. “Resurrection,” the concerto’s subtitle might be understood as a Christian reference, but apparently it is not meant to be taken too literally. Whitehouse indicates, however, that a “plainsong-like idea (which was conceived in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack) . . . only gradually makes its way into the foreground before emerging at full strength during the climactic stages.” Barry Douglas, whose name now comes up less often than it did at the start of the CD era, plays the heck out of this 37-minute concerto, and does not stint on its steel, drama, and emotional power. The engineering, by the way, is outstanding—this is a sonic showpiece. I’d be interested to hear an earlier recording (on Dux), conducted by the composer, with pianist Beata Bili?ska.

The Flute Concerto dates from 1992, and is more in line with what we have come to expect from latter-day Penderecki. It is, in other words, an anticlimax to the piano concerto, but worthwhile nevertheless. Like the piano concerto, it is a single-movement work, but that single movement contains several clearly contrasted sections. If the piano concerto is unexpectedly emotional, the flute concerto is in keeping with the composer’s familiar style, which I would describe as intellectual and objective, gaining its interest from the way in which Penderecki develops his material, and creates interesting instrumental timbres. The word “eclectic” keeps coming up, which I suppose is another way of saying that the music is modern, but not too modern. It was composed for Jean-Pierre Rampal, who did record it, with the composer, for Sony, but I have not heard that version. There’s also another Dux disc, with the composer conducting, and flutist David Aguilar, but the version I know, also on Naxos, is with flutist Petri Alanko and the Tapiola Sinfonietta, conducted by Okko Kamu. Alanko and Kamu pare more than three minutes from the score’s total length. Their reading is more dramatic than the new one, and Alanko emphasizes the lyrical aspects of the music more than Dlugosz does, wherever he can. Compared to Wit, Kamu is more precise, and creates more focused sonorities with his ensemble, but I do like the lush sound that comes out of the Warsaw Philharmonic, and I feel that Wit is a superior story-teller to Kamu.

Although neither of these works is new to CD, the combination is unique, and the performances are very strong. I see no reason not to be enthusiastic about this release, and the piano concerto is growing on me. Let’s see if this makes it onto my Want List in the next issue!

FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

Quirkily entertaining, here is Rota the clown on display with effervescent lampooning music.

Nino Rota’s quirky, eccentric Concerto soirée was written shortly after his film score for La dolce vita. Unsurprisingly the music is reminiscent of Rota’s comedy film scores. In fact the music of the concluding Can-can was used later in the film 8½. Gerald Larner, who contributes the notes to this album succinctly describes it as “a piano concerto written in the spirit of Rossini’s Soirée musicales”. Clearly this is not a Late-Romantic Concerto played in the grand manner but an informal playful work constructed as if it were almost an extemporisation. The opening movement marked, Valser-Fantasia is a waltz with Chopinesque figuration but lampooned by the orchestra. The central Romanza meanders introspectively with some Arabian-style woodwinds before the piano turns skittish; it’s all as if some sad clown is wandering across the musical landscape. A slapstick Quadrille follows and the music here reminds one of the insouciance of Poulenc. The Can-can taken at the gallop concludes this entertaining romp. Rota presents his interpreters challenges of sudden changes of mood, harmonic twists and rhythms all of which are surmounted with enthusiastic dexterity by Barry Douglas and the orchestra.

The quirky mood of the Concerto soirée is sustained, in the main, in Rota’s Divertimento concertante for double-bass and orchestra. Rota makes full expressive use of the instrument’s wide range covering nearly four octaves with harmonics extending its upper range even further. The opening movement is capricious in character now solemn, now asinine. The clowning continues into a comedic march that is the second movement with the soloist pompously trying to impose some sort of dignity on the surrounding chaos. The more serious central Andante has a calming influence with the double-bass in a more lyrical mood; the central section is reminiscent of a Tchaikovsky ballet. The concluding movement is back in sprightly, quirkiness again with a tussle between soloist and taunting woodwind.

Rota’s brief Third Symphony is less serious than its two predecessors (see review). Its lighter character is set in a neo-classical style. The opening Allegro is a brisk ‘open-air’ frolic. Written in the mid-1950s it is again reminiscent of film music although in this first movement one might detect a hint of Hitchcock in sardonic mood as well as broader hints of Italian film humour. The Adagio is altogether more serious and treads a rather darker path in personal introspection - possibly alluding to a personal loss? There is stormy passion and a depth of feeling here we have not encountered so far in this sunlit album. The third movement scherzo is cast in neo-classical style and lilts happily along to a lovely poignant Trio melody. A Vivace con spirito finale rounds off this symphony in comic style once more.

Quirkily entertaining, here is Rota the clown on display with effervescent lampooning music.

-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International