Brass Weather Over Frankfurt
Dave Douglas trades his quartet for a full German radio big band and finds room to breathe.
A Single Sky opens with a wash of massed brass and reeds that swells like weather moving in over open country, then settles into the loping, cheerful swing that Douglas uses to hold a big ensemble together. The texture is dense but never murky: trumpets and trombones stack in bright layers, the reed section moves in warm blocks, and the rhythm section keeps everything springy rather than ponderous. It is a big band record that mostly sounds like people enjoying themselves, which is harder to pull off than it looks.
The setting matters. Douglas wrote for the Frankfurt Radio Bigband, with Jim McNeely, a Grammy-winning arranger and conductor, shaping the charts. You can hear McNeely's hand in the voicings, which are lush without getting syrupy, and in the way sections trade off so that the band never sounds like one large wall. Douglas plays trumpet throughout, but he is less a soloist up front than a presence threading through the arrangements, and his tone sits comfortably among the other trumpets rather than above them.
This is the first big band album of Douglas's long discography, and it shows a musician expanding his palette rather than reinventing himself. Fans of his small-group work will recognize the melodic sensibility and rhythmic wit; newcomers would do well to start with his quartet records and come here afterward. It is not his most famous album, and it is not a revelation, but it is a warm, well-made big band record that earned a strong review from AllMusic reviewer Michael G. Nastos, who called Douglas one of the most widely revered progressive jazz musicians of the past two decades.
Who's playing
Thomas Heidepriembass trombone
Rainer Heutebaritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Manfred Honetschlägerbass trombone
Peter Reiterpiano
Martin Scalesguitar
Tony Lakatosflute, tenor saxophone
Oliver Leichtsaxophone
Stefan Pfeifer-Galileaclarinet, flute, saxophone
Steffen Weberclarinet, flute, tenor saxophone
Martin Auerflugelhorn, trumpet
Dave Douglastrumpet
Axel Schlossertrumpet
Chad Shoopmantrumpet
Thomas Vogeltrumpet
Günter Bollmanntrombone
Peter Feiltrombone
Christian Jaksjøtrombone
Jean Paul Höchstädtermembranophone
