Dave Douglas :: projects :: Dave Douglas Quartet

Dave Douglas Quartet

The Quartet started with the intention of performing books of contemporary jazz "tunes" -- new "standards" for improvisers by composers such as Steve Coleman, Michael Moore, Henry Threadgill, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Don Byron and others. After establishing a repertoire of these pieces, it became clear how difficult it would be to find a common ground among the many voices. Another difficulty was to perform them with one small ensemble with a fixed instrumentation.

Original pieces eventually overwhelmed the "covers" and exploring these tunes written for the band has become the raison d'etre fo the group. So far two books of "tunes" have been documented by this ongoing ensemble.

The idea of a group performing contemporary jazz "tunes" is still an intriguing one. It's something Dave hopes to explore in the future.

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