Review: Dave Douglas’s ‘Transcend’

We have barely caught our collective breaths. Only three months after trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas released his outstanding Four Freedoms (Greenleaf, 2026), he returns with a different group of musicians for Transcend (Greenleaf, 2026). Here, Douglas reunites his Gifts (Greenleaf, 2024) quartet, augmenting it with cellist Tomeka Reid to form a quintet. While Gifts honored the music of Billy Strayhorn, Transcend observes Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts, works performed between 1965 and 1973. As Douglas notes, “In the music, [Ellington’s] directness towards the holy, the sacred inside and outside the church, his humor and grace in the face of the human condition — this is the legacy of a towering figure in Black American music who knew these would be among his last works.”

The returning members of the ensemble are tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis (JBL) and two-thirds of the Oscar-nominated post-rock trio Son Lux: guitarist Rafiq Bhatia and drummer Ian Chang. Transcend features six original Douglas compositions and three from Ellington. Douglas also draws inspiration from visual artist Jack Whitten, who dedicated one of his slab pieces to Ellington.

The quintet opens with an Ellington classic, “Come Sunday.” Originally composed as part of Ellington’s “Black, Brown, and Beige Suite” penned in 1943, most renditions of the piece tend to be very solemn. Douglas, by contrast, revitalizes it with feisty drumbeats and harmonic interplay between the two horns and cello. Bhatia’s guitar lines snake around the chorale-like melody, while JBl’s solo is deeply moving, a bit upstream from the elegiac interpretations we generally associate with the piece. On the other hand, the quintet emanates a sanctified aura on Ellington’s “Heaven,” with both Douglas and JBL emerging from the ensemble passages to make hefty statements. Yet, “Oclupaca,” centers on an in-the-pocket groove, delivering a modern-day swing, punctuated by interlocking trumpet and tenor lines, and inventive guitar stylings.

The three Ellington pieces are the foundation for Douglas’ originals. “Energy Fields” presents Douglas’ robust tone wrapped in Reid’s counterpoints, kinetic kit work from Chang, Lewis’ circular harmonies, and spiraling textures woven by Bhatia’s rock steady riffing.  The second single, “Gentle Collapse,” begins in orchestral fashion before Doulgas unleashes an emotive, muted trumpet solo over Chang’s insistent beats. They are later joined by guitar ostinatos that give way to a fierce solo from JBL, raising the intensity before the piece retreats to its gorgeously rich textures.

“Curious Species” morphs into a wildly swinging affair, imbued with rock riffs and a bracing free jazz conversation in its middle section. Somehow, Chang, who later solos mightily, steers the quintet through this complex maze. Humor is an important part of Ellington’s legacy, honored here with “Argle-Bargle,” set in New Orleans rhythms and carried with a kind of unison riffing that can’t help but induce smiles. Think a brass band on steroids.

There is some deception at play as well. “Slabs” follows “Oclupaca” and serves as a slightly slower extension of it, albeit with otherworldly guitar injections. As the piece evolves, Bhatia’s distorted guitar lines intersperse with Reid’s pizzicato as Chang wanders in multiple directions on his kit. Here, as in “Curious Species,” the band seems like a racehorse restrained in the starting gate. It can’t wait to explode into its favored freeform attack. The title track closes the album.  It begins with a fanfare and a flurry of cymbal flourishes as the quintet marries textured harmonies with experimental ambience. This piece is less intense than the bandleader’s other originals, instead flowing and floating as a contemporary exposition of how Ellington used the instrumental colors in his own ensemble. Of course, with Douglas at the helm, the music is edgier and less predictable.

With Transcend, Douglas delivers a remarkable piece of music. The record is l finds a balance between tradition and freer modernity. That Eliington’s compositions are, in some cases, over eighty years old, yet still provide such a strong foundation for Douglas’ compositions is a true testament to one of the greatest composers to ever live.

‘Transcend’ is out now on Greenleaf Records. It is available on Bandcamp.

Photo credit: Anna Yatskevitch