Keystone (album)

Last updated
Keystone
Keystone (album).jpg
Studio album by
Released2005
RecordedJanuary–May, 2005
Genre Jazz
Label Greenleaf Music
Producer Dave Douglas
Dave Douglas chronology
Live at the Bimhuis Set 1 & 2
(2005)
Keystone
(2005)
Meaning and Mystery
(2006)

Keystone is the twenty-fifth album by trumpeter Dave Douglas. It was released on the Greenleaf label in 2005 and features performances by Douglas, Jamie Saft, DJ Olive, Gene Lake, Marcus Strickland, and Brad Jones. [1] The music was written to accompany Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's silent films and a DVD containing the complete film Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916) and a collage of Arbuckle's scenes set to "Just Another Murder" is included with the album.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The Allmusic review awarded the album 4 stars stating "Keystone is an excellent, brave, and exciting offering from a man whose talent and vision are perfectly balanced". [2] On All About Jazz Michael McCaw said "Keystone is an incredibly mature-sounding album from Dave Douglas—not because his work up till now has not been complete, but because he has fully integrated the technology and mode of the music first espoused by Miles Davis. Yet he has moved beyond that reference point and created a group sound that is thoroughly modern and doesn't need to push itself to musical extremes to demonstrate mastery". [3] on the same site John Kelman noted "Despite all manner of electronic treatments at work, the core is a real playing band. But what distinguishes Keystone most is that it's Douglas' most groove-oriented album to date—and his most funky". [4] In JazzTimes, David R. Adler wrote "Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, the silent-film legend and the father of pie-in-the-face comedy, has inspired some of the most inviting melodies of Dave Douglas's career. ...Arbuckle may have been the archetypal screwball comic, but Douglas' tribute is remarkably free of camp, restoring a measure of dignity to its subject". [6]

Track listing

  1. "A Noise from the Deep" - 6:54
  2. "Just Another Murder" - 4:51
  3. "Sapphire Sky Blue" - 4:55
  4. "Butterfly Effect" - 6:14
  5. "Fatty's Day Off" - 2:31
  6. "Mabel Normand" - 4:47
  7. "The Real Roscoe" - 4:31
  8. "Famous Players" - 6:52
  9. "Barnyard Flirtations" - 1:42
  10. "Hollywood" - 4:19
  11. "Tragicomique" - 5:18
All compositions by Dave Douglas

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Keystone Cops

The Keystone Cops are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.

Roscoe Arbuckle American actor and comedian

Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $14,000.

Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator. His career includes more than fifty recordings as a leader and more than 500 published compositions. His ensembles include the Dave Douglas Quintet; Sound Prints, a quintet co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano; Uplift, a sextet with bassist Bill Laswell; Present Joys with pianist Uri Caine and Andrew Cyrille; High Risk, an electronic ensemble with Shigeto, Jonathan Aaron, and Ian Chang; and Engage, a sextet with Jeff Parker, Tomeka Reid, Anna Webber, Nick Dunston, and Kate Gentile.

Mabel Normand American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer

Amabel Ethelreid Normand was an American silent-film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in his Keystone Studios films, and at the height of her career in the late 1910s and early 1920s had her own movie studio and production company. Onscreen, she appeared in 12 successful films with Charlie Chaplin and 17 with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, sometimes writing and directing movies featuring Chaplin as her leading man.

DJ Olive

DJ Olive is an American disc jockey and turntablist. He is known for producing music generally in the electronic genre, with strong influences of dub, and free improvisation styles. He is widely credited with coining of the term "Illbient" in 1994. He was a founding member of the immersionist group Lalalandia Entertainment Research Corporation in 1991.

<i>Fatty and Mabel Adrift</i> 1916 short film by Roscoe Arbuckle

Fatty and Mabel Adrift is a 1916 Keystone short comedy film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Al St. John.

Marcus Strickland

Marcus Strickland is an American jazz soprano, alto, and tenor saxophonist who grew up in Miami, Florida. Down Beat magazine's Critics' Poll named him 'Rising Star on Tenor Saxophone' in 2010 and 'Rising Star on Soprano Saxophone' in 2008. JazzTimes magazine's Reader's Poll named him 'Best New Artist' in 2006. He placed third in the 2002 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.

<i>A Noise from the Deep</i>

A Noise from the Deep is a 1913 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The film was directed and produced by Mack Sennett and also features the Keystone Cops on horseback.

Fred Mace American actor

Fred Mace was a comedic actor during the silent era in the United States. He appeared in 156 films between 1909 and 1916. Mace worked for Mack Sennett at Keystone Studios. Shortly after he left, Roscoe Arbuckle, who had appeared in a few pictures at Keystone with Mace, took over as Sennett's lead comedic actor.

<i>Wished on Mabel</i> 1915 film

Wished on Mabel is a 1915 American silent comedy short or "one-reeler" filmed at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, and directed by Mabel Normand. The short also co-stars Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

<i>The Unknown Masada</i> 2003 studio album by John Zorn

Masada Anniversary Edition Volume 3: The Unknown Masada is the third album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project. It features twelve previously unreleased Masada compositions performed by Erik Friedlander's Quake (1), Rashanim (2), Dave Douglas (3), Tatsuya Yoshida (4), Naftule's Dream (5), Jamie Saft (6), Zahava Seewald (7), Koby Israelite (8), Julian Kytasty (9); Fantômas (10), Wadada Leo Smith and Ikue Mori (11), and Eyvind Kang (12).

<i>The Tiny Bell Trio</i> 1994 studio album by Dave Douglas

The Tiny Bell Trio is the second album by trumpeter Dave Douglas and the first to feature his Tiny Bell Trio. It was released on the Canadian Songlines label in 1994 and features performances by Douglas, Brad Shepik and Jim Black.

<i>Freak In</i> 2003 studio album by Dave Douglas

Freak In is the 20th album by trumpeter Dave Douglas. It was released on the RCA Bluebird label in 2003 and features performances by Douglas, Jamie Saft, Marc Ribot, Karsh Kale, Joey Baron, Romero Lubambo, Brad Jones, Ikue Mori, Seamus Blake, Chris Speed, Craig Taborn, Michael Sarin, with Stephanie Stone contributing vocals on one track.

<i>Mountain Passages</i> 2005 studio album by Dave Douglas

Mountain Passages is the 23rd album by trumpeter Dave Douglas and the first released on his own Greenleaf Music label in 2005. It features performances by Douglas, Michael Moore, Marcus Rojas, Peggy Lee, and Dylan van der Schyff.

<i>Live at the Jazz Standard</i> 2007 live album by Dave Douglas Quintet

Live at the Jazz Standard is the 27th album by trumpeter Dave Douglas and the first to feature him exclusively on cornet. It was released on the Greenleaf label in 2007 and features live performances by Douglas, Donny McCaslin, Uri Caine, James Genus and Clarence Penn. Douglas recorded his Quintet's performances at the Jazz Standard nightclub in New York City in December 2006 making all twelve complete sets available for download within days of the performances. This 2-CD set was distilled from those concerts.

<i>Moonshine</i> (Dave Douglas album) 2007 live album by Dave Douglas & Keystone

Moonshine is the 28th album by trumpeter Dave Douglas. It was released on the Greenleaf label in 2007 and features a live performance recorded in a studio in front of an audience by Douglas, Adam Benjamin, DJ Olive, Gene Lake, Marcus Strickland, and Brad Jones.

Spark of Being is a 3-disc box set of music written by Dave Douglas and performed by his electric band, Keystone. Written for the Bill Morrison film by the same name, Spark of Being was commissioned by Stanford University and released by Douglas's Greenleaf Music record label in 2010.

Al St. John filmography

Al St. John (1893–1963) was an American comic actor who appeared in 394 films between 1913 and 1952. Starting at Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company, St. John rose through the ranks to become one of the major comedy stars of the 1920s, though less than half of his starring roles still survive today. With the advent of sound drastically changing and curtailing the two-reel comedy format, St. John diversified, creating a second career for himself as a comic sidekick in Western films and ultimately developing the character of "Fuzzy Q. Jones", for which he is best known in posterity.

<i>Three Views</i> 2011 compilation album by Dave Douglas

Three Views is a 3CD compilation album by trumpeter Dave Douglas which combines three volumes originally released as music downloads on Greenleaf Music's Portable Series in 2011 and features Douglas' Brass Ecstasy, a Quintet with Ravi Coltrane and Vijay Iyer, and the So Percussion Ensemble.

Luke the Dog

Luke the Dog (1913–1926) was a Staffordshire Terrier that performed as a recurring character in American silent comedy shorts between 1914 and 1920. He was also the personal pet of actress Minta Durfee and her husband, the comedian and director Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

References

  1. Roussel, P., Discography of Dave Douglas, accessed July 21, 2015
  2. 1 2 Jurek, Thom. Keystone – Review at AllMusic . Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  3. 1 2 McCaw, M., All About Jazz Review, November 7, 2005
  4. 1 2 Kelman, J., All About Jazz Review, September 14, 2005
  5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 400. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. Steinberg, A., JazzTimes Review, November 2005