Freak In - Dave Douglas

Aug

13

Freak In - Dave Douglas

≡ Category: 2000s, Fusion, Highly Recommended, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

Moments into Freak In, it appears from Karsh Kale’s tabla and Marc Ribot’s McLaughlin-esque guitar that this is going to be Dave Douglas’ take on Miles Davis’ electric period, especially Live Evil. The only thing that makes you wonder is that the trumpet melody on Freak In is more lyrical than you would expect given the harshly urban backdrop.

Culver City Park is less identifiable as a comment on Miles, with it’s swirl of acoustic guitar (Romero Lubambo), burbling electronics, and drastic dynamic changes. But the lyrical trumpet melodies remain a constant.

With Black Rock Park, we’re firmly back in Miles territory, this time from the Jack Johnson period, with the halting blues/funk explorations of guitarist John McLaughlin (oops, I mean Marc Ribot) and Joey Baron on drums. Dave Douglas doesn’t strictly follow the stripped down quality of Jack Johnson, adding organ and saxophone to strategically thicken the sound at times. In fact, whereas the musicians on Jack Johnson were making it up as they went along, Dave Douglas has clearly sculpted the seemingly spontaneous feel of Black Rock Park within an inch of its life.

On Hot Club of 13th Street, Dave Douglas has something trickier in mind. He grafts electronic mayhem onto a fairly straightforward swing time tune with a walking bassline and a trumpet solo, splitting the difference between pre-fusion Miles and the experimental Miles of Live Evil. Towards the end of the tune, the loops and programming completely take over and the tune disintegrates.

On Eastern Parkway, Douglas integrates hiphop rhythmic concepts into the Milesian universe. The electronics are even more omnipresent that before, the guitar lines competing with ring modulators and electronic percussion. The melody however is pure Douglas. It’s almost as if Dave Douglas was telling us that if Miles hadn’t decided to go in a commercial direction towards the end of his life, he would have integrated hiphop concepts into his work. He makes a very credible case.

Finally, with November, Douglas cools it a little, giving us a ballad, albeit with tablas, electronic percussion and the deep bass of Michael Henderson (oops, I mean Brad Jones). Also, Douglas isn’t shy about adding harmonies to his melodies, which Miles would never have done.

In fact, maybe Dave Douglas is a little too fond of harmonizing his trumpet melodies with major or minor 3rds, as though he didn’t trust in the beauty of the trumpet by itself. He also might try doubling the trumpet with sax a little more often or using 4ths or 5ths as well. They’re nice, too.

Obviously, Dave Douglas has listened long and hard to Miles’ electric period and has made a serious bid at exploring his legacy. It’s about time that mainstream jazzers caught on. And Douglas isn’t the only one, not by a long shot.

A lot of that has to do with the ubiquity of hiphop and the ascendancy of rhythm in our cultural subconscious. That makes Miles’ experiments much more accessible now than at the time they were being recorded.

I think Miles would be amused and gratified by the all the attention and respect being paid him.

In any case, Freak In doesn’t simply vamp on Miles’ electric period. Dave Douglas is more thoughtful than that. He analyzes the connections between Miles’ 2nd great quartet and his electric period, between Live Evil and hiphop, and explores how to integrate the lessons of Miles into his own eclectic vision. Freak In functions well both as a history lesson and as compelling new music in its own right.