Customer Reviews

Thousand Evenings

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful follow-up to Charms of the Night Sky. As stated above, this is a great display of group interaction. You can tell these guys have been playing together a while now. This release contains humor (check out Goldfinger) and passion and plenty of instrumental sparks.

I was lucky enough to see this group a couple of days after the Cd came out. As good as this set is, it pales in comparison to that show. "On Our Way Home" was so exciting that the entire audience had to same "DAMN" during Feldman's solo and during Douglas' solo. If you get a chance to see them - Do!

I admire Douglas' method of confronting his musical interests. I think most people involved in music, whether as players or listeners, genreally have a wide variety of stuff they like to hear. Douglas actually puts together separate bands for each style, releasing albums that are consistant instead of mixing the groups on the same releases. In the words of Mr. T, "I pity the fool" who has to put a greatest hits package someday.

Dave Douglas again proves he will not be restrained by musical or categorical boundaries. The unique blend of instrumentation (trumpet/accordion/violin/bass) coalesces into an enticingly different soundscape. Most of all, for all its musical exploration, it is still a jazz album of the highest quality. Dave Douglas manages to cultivate a trumpet sound that is entirely his own, bright and clear with a slightly acidic and fractious edge to his phrasing. The other players can't be faulted, and overall, this is a fascinating record.

I have a pretty extensive CD collection, and for one reason or another, every now and again a CD I should have paid more attention to gets forgotten in my collection and sits around for a long while before getting its fair shake. Sometimes I listened to it once and never got back to it, or it wasn't something that worked for me yet, but I figured I'd come back to it in six months or so. And then every so often, one of these gets forgotten and lost and ends up being ignored for five years until something makes me pull it out again.

So I saw Dave Douglas over the weekend and grabbed the two CDs I bought of his several years ago and gave them another spin. In the time since the last listen, I've developed an unhealthy John Zorn obsession, and my tastes have evolved pretty drastically. So when I played with one again, I pretty much wondered what the heck I was thinking not listening to this one more carefully.

"A Thousand Evenings" is the second album by Douglas of a band exploring, well, quite a bit to be honest. It's sort of Balkan jazz in the way Masada is Jewish jazz-- a horrible oversimplification, but as good a summary as any. Douglas (on trumpet) is joined by violinist Mark Feldman, accordianist Guy Klucevsek, and bassist Greg Cohen in a bizarre, swinging, and melodic project. All four perform with an uncommon fire and passion, whether the pieces are delicate and mournful (Douglas' playing on the title track and "In So Many Worlds- Mournful"), ecstatic and explosive (everyone on the stunning "In So Many Worlds- Ecstatic") or just plain hard swining and brilliant ("The Little Boy With the Sad Eyes"). The album manages that delicate line between moody and boring well, and while the "Goldfinger" cover is a bit flat, the rest of the record is pretty much superb. Recommended.

this group blows my mind! the creepy, mysterious sounds they can produce are just incredible! and then the powerful, passionate, emotional melodies are simply moving. the instrumentation on this album rules with trumpet, violin, accordian and bass. I LOVE THIS ALBUM. i can't stop listening to it. although more classically based, you can totally hear jazz influence everywhere. it's awesome, get it. or else...

Imagine "In a Silent Way" re-interpreted by another excellent trumpet player. Instead of sax and electric piano though, Dave Douglas's band includes accordian and violin, a seemingly incongrous mix. Douglas and his band pull it off so well that I'm sure Miles himself would have given this recording his blessing.

All artists are influenced by those who came before, but the truly creative are able to take those influences and make them their own, and so it is with Dave Douglas. This CD may remind you of Miles' work during the Silent Way period, but it is Dave Douglas and crew that we are hearing, and whatever influences he may have it, he has made it all his own.