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Highlights from Monterey

This JazzSet from the Monterey Jazz Festival opens with duets from Regina Carter and Kenny Barron, violin and piano, and Ralph Towner and Gary Burton, guitar and vibes. The featured group is the Dave Douglas Quintet. Douglas (left) is a triple crown trumpeter. Together, he's been named Artist, Trumpeter and Composer of the Year a total of 19 times by Down Beat, JazzTimes and the Jazz Journalists Association. He's made numerous humble acceptance speeches, but there's no doubt that he's very deserving.

His quintet on the show this week is just one of his many bands. Besides the Tiny Bell Trio (heard on JazzSet a decade ago) and Charms of the Night Sky, he's added a new "Freak-In" ensemble with turntables and DJ, a "Mountain Passages" ensemble available for remote locations, a sextet to play compositions by Mary Lou Williams and others, and more. As he makes new friends, he invents new groups to play music with them.

Dave does the writing for the quintet. The members are Chris Potter, tenor; Kevin Hays, electric piano; James Genus, bass; Clarence Penn, drums. The communication among them is "like a conversation in which everyone has something to say, and everyone is listening," says Douglas. The musicianship is as strong as the communication.

His music addresses events in our lives. At Monterey, he introduces "Caterwaul" with a reference to the California gubernatorial recall election that was about to take place, and "Just Say This" as inspired by 9/11. The first is lively and full of animation, the second is a lovely meditation.

SONG LIST
SONG LIST "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" performed by Carter and Barron (Hammerstein/Romberg, Bambalina Music c/o Williamson Music, and Harms Inc c/o Warner Brothers Inc./ASCAP)
"Nardis" performed by Towner and Burton (Davis, Jazz Horn Music and Sony ATV Songs/BMI)
"The Infinite" (Douglas, Noenmity Music/BMI)
"Caterwaul" (Douglas, Noenmity Music/BMI)
"Just Say This" (Douglas, Noenmity Music/BMI)
"Deluge" (Douglas, Noenmity Music/BMI)

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