Dave Douglas; United Front

Dave Douglas is among the most original trumpeters and composers of his generation. His stylistic range is broad yet unaffected, his music reflects a personal aesthetic with a panoply of interests, and he explicitly cites such diverse influences as Igor Stravinsky, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane (among many others). As a composer, Douglas adapts and synthesizes unusual forms, and creates his own out of disparate elements, an approach exemplified by 1995's Constellation with his Tiny Bell Trio. As a trumpeter, he possesses a comprehensive jazz technique; one hears the ghost o...