Folk Roots, Modern Currents
A quartet of Dave Douglas, Chet Doxas, Steve Swallow and Jim Doxas reimagining Jimmy Giuffre's world with fresh ears.
Riverside, released in April 2014 on Douglas's own Greenleaf Music label, is a tribute of sorts, built around the music of Jimmy Giuffre, the American saxophonist and composer whose small-group work in the 1950s and 60s pushed chamber-like, folk-inflected jazz into unfamiliar territory. Dave Douglas leads the band on trumpet, and he is joined by saxophonist Chet Doxas, bassist Steve Swallow, who worked closely with Giuffre himself, and drummer Jim Doxas.
This is not a museum piece. The group does not simply replay Giuffre's charts. Instead, the band writes new material that draws on his sensibility: simple folk-based themes, open harmonic counterpoint, and a loose, conversational rhythmic interplay. Swallow's bass anchors the music with the kind of spare, melodic lines he has been refining for decades, and the front-line voicings between Douglas and Doxas have the same pleasant, slightly off-kilter quality that made Giuffre's trios distinctive.
Where the album sits in Douglas's catalogue is an important part of the story. He is one of the more prolific and restless trumpeters of his generation, and Riverside is a clear detour from the more hard-driving or conceptual projects he has led. It is a listener's record rather than a statement, and it works best for people who already enjoy Giuffre or the cooler end of 1950s and 60s jazz. If you are new to Douglas, start with something more central to his output; if you already know his work, this is a pleasant, thoughtful side step.
