ABOUT

Dave Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer, educator and entrepreneur from New York City known for the stylistic breadth of his work and for keeping a diverse set of ensembles and projects active simultaneously.

His latest project is GIFTS, an ensemble including guitarist Rafiq Bhatia, drummer Ian Chang, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and cellist Tomeka Reid. The group released its self-titled debut album in 2024, with a new album, Transcend, set for release on April 24, 2026.

Douglas’ unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Doris Duke Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland Award, and two Grammy Award nominations. Douglas’ career spans more than 75 unique original recordings as a leader and more than 500 published works.

In November 2025, Sound Prints, the band Douglas co-leads with saxophonist Joe Lovano, performed for a week at New York’s storied Village Vanguard, unveiling an entire new set of works from both composers. Other ensembles include OVERCOME, with vocalists Fay Victor and Camila Meza plus musicians Ryan Keberle, Jorge Roeder, and Rudy Royston; and If There Are Mountains, a sextet with pianist & co-leader Elan Mehler, featuring haiku and poetry from vocalist Dominique Eade.

Douglas is often engaged in special projects which include big bands, tributes, and multi-trumpet ensembles, such as Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie at Zero Gravity. In May 2024, Douglas joined composer and saxophonist Trish Clowes in a new project called Eyes Up, for which both Douglas and Clowes contributed new works and performed at festivals in Cheltenham and Bray, Ireland. In November 2024, Douglas debuted a new Quartet with pianist Marta Warelis, bassist Nick Dunston and drummer Joey Baron. After several European performances in 2024–2025, the ensemble released an album Four Freedoms in January 2026.

As a composer, Douglas has received commissions from a variety of organizations including the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Essen Philharmonie, The Library of Congress, Stanford University, and Monash Art Ensemble.

In 2019, the American chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound premiered the Dave Douglas piece Facts and Fictions. In 2023 the woodwind quintet Ensemble Styx commissioned Douglas to write Psychopomps, a work in four parts for winds and improvisers.

Douglas has held several posts as an educator and programmer. From 2002 to 2012, he served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Centre in Canada. He is a co-founder and president of FONT (Festival of New Trumpet Music), which will celebrate its 22nd year in 2025. In 2024, Douglas presented a new group in honor of cofounder Roy Campbell, Jr. The sextet, called Alloy, released a self-titled album in September 2025.

He is currently on the faculty at Mannes School of Music and The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. He was Artistic Director of the Bergamo Jazz Festival for four years, ending in 2019. In July 2024, he led the Stanford Jazz Workshop and gave a headline performance at the Stanford Jazz Festival.

Douglas continues to offer courses at The New School in New York. His courses include Advanced Ear Training: Monk and Bach, Creating Music Workshop, Recording and Production for Creative Musicians, and ensembles playing his own music and that of his students.

In 2025, Douglas began a two-year residency with the Malmo Academy of Music in Sweden, where he helped develop a new Masters of Music Composer-Performer program.

In 2005 Douglas founded Greenleaf Music, an umbrella company for his recordings, sheet music, podcast, as well as the music of other artists in the modern jazz idiom. Greenleaf Music has now produced countless albums and celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2025. His podcast A Noise From The Deep features engaging interviews with more than 100 creative artists. The show recently diversified with the launch of spin-off Puzzle Corner, which pairs Douglas with NPR’s Art Chung, for a fun round of jazz trivia. Greenleaf Music is a pioneering independent music platform with a strong subscription model featuring hours of exclusive content.