Review: Dave Douglas’ ‘Alloy’

With Alloy (Greenleaf, 2025), trumpeter, composer, and forward thinker Dave Douglas unveils his latest unique ensemble. Joined by two young trumpeters – UK native Alexandra Ridout and New Hampshire native Dave Adewumi, both of whom now live in New York – he creates, for lack of a better term, a trumpet choir. The group’s rhythm section excludes both piano and guitar, but instead adds the renowned Patricia Brennan on vibes/electronics and equally acclaimed Rudy Royston on drums. The new talent on bass, Kate Pass, hails from Perth, Australia. Alloy was created for The Festival of New Trumpet Music, now in its twenty-third season in New York. 

In metallurgy, an alloy is a blending of elements to create a new and stronger substance. An alloy brings together disparate particles in a unified expression. As such, the album taking its name features fanfares and several unison and harmonic passages more than solos. As the promotional materials for the record state, “This Alloy is the sound of three trumpets together. Each sound is personal, each tone unique…Alloy is the alchemy of contrasting voices creating a new anatomy.”

“Announcement: Vigilance” opens with the individual voices of the three horns as they improvise over an introduction. Upon Royston’s rim shot, Douglas, Adewumi, and Ridout solo in succession. Royston keeps the heat on a low simmer, Brennan’s vibes peek through, and the piece concludes with a restatement of the theme. There’s an air of watchfulness to the piece, also later heard on “Standing Watch.”

Brennan is more prominent on “Friendly Gargoyle,” a piece born as a compositional challenge Douglas shared with his Master’s degree seminar. In the original incarnation, his students were asked to pick an image and describe it in two ways. For a gargoyle, those descriptors can be either friend or foe. Accordingly, the trumpets on the piece are both bright and dark, fierce and gentle. Brennan adds a teeming, resonating solo that ends with the horns joining in fanfare. The title track begins with Douglas on a cupped trumpet before trading lines with Ridout. Soon, the other two trumpets join to create a dazzling harmonic seemingly three octaves deep. They then improvise fiercely over one another, with the low-register trumpet contrasting with one that is soaring while the other fills in the middle. Royston’s insistent beats push the three to higher heights, to the point where he solos vigorously before giving way to the ‘choir’ which ends the piece in a rather solemn fashion.

“Field” has the trumpets blowing wildly until they regain their footing around Royston’s groove. Again, the harmonics created are both unexpected and thrilling. The opening ferocity recedes into tempered tones that give way to Brennan’s effects-laden vibraphone. When resuming on the other side, the ‘choir’ is more emboldened and brighter. The conclusion to the piece sounds calm, except for one squealing trumpet, serving perhaps as a birdcall.

“Antidote” unfolds in multiple sections with each trumpeter reading a different chart. As such, this is one of the most solo-filled pieces, and one of the more fiery ones, highlighted not only by the aggressive trumpet playing, but also Royston’s kit work. Douglas takes the opening solo followed by Adewumi and  Brennan. “The Illusion of Control” finds horns blowing feverishly over a bed of electronic manipulated vibes. Yet, just when it seems the ensemble may be running off the rails, it bands together in a scalar motif. This occurs in a few sections before they give way to Brennan, and then join in a confident, definitive close. “Future Community Furniture” is by far the lengthiest piece on the record, running close to eleven minutes. It gives more space to both Brennan and bassist Pass, while the trumpets are softer and less in the forefront in the first four-and-a-half minutes before becoming a consuming force as a unit and as individual soloists in the second half.

“Standing Watch,” one of four singles, urges us to be wary even while keeping the faith. It’s an ode to both teamwork and unity. Yet, all three trumpeters and Brennan take a solo over a bluesy structure. As is true on several preceding tracks, Brennan shines. Be sure to hang in for the sublimely tender finale.

Douglas has long proved to be one of the leading drivers in creative music. Alloy’s novel concept is one of his best, a rather lofty statement, given his extensive catalog.

‘Alloy’ is out now on Greenleaf Music. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.