Witness | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2001 | |||
Recorded | December 13 & 14, 2000 | |||
Studio | Avatar, New York City | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 66:47 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Producer | Dave Douglas | |||
Dave Douglas chronology | ||||
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Witness is the 18th album by trumpeter Dave Douglas. It was released on the RCA label in 2001 and features performances by Douglas, Chris Speed, Joe Daley, Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Drew Gress, Bryan Carrott, Michael Sarin, Ikue Mori, Joshua Roseman and Yuka Honda with Tom Waits providing vocals on one track. [1]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson awarded the album 4 stars stating "One of the things that makes Dave Douglas such a compelling voice in avant-garde jazz is his open-mindedness. The New York-based trumpeter has made a point of exposing himself to a wide variety of music -- everything from Lester Bowie's innovations to classical to East European folk -- and his willingness to be influenced by so many different things has made for a lot of fresh, adventurous albums. Witness is no exception; this 2001 release finds the jazzman being affected by classical as well as Middle Eastern and North African music... Witness is yet another album that Douglas can be proud of". [2] On All About Jazz David Adler stated "With Witness, Dave Douglas's first overtly political album, the trumpeter/composer stimulates our imaginations even as he encourages us to confront global injustice". [3] In JazzTimes Doug Ramsey wrote "Dave Douglas focuses his artist's conscience and political acuity on our time and finds plenty to protest. His Witness, initially inspired by arms profiteering during the war in Yugoslavia, also concerns itself with the suppression of political rights, social justice and feminist aspirations. The music calls on the tradition of his jazz predecessors and contemporaries but also draws from Balinese, African and Middle Eastern forms and, heavily, from modern classical composers like Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Stockhausen and, one suspects, Steve Reich ...How would the music stand on its own if a listener didn't know it was protest music? Pretty well. It's interesting stuff. There might be puzzlement about his category, but there would be no doubt about Douglas' passion". [4]
All compositions by Dave Douglas
with guests:
Bar Kokhba is a double album by John Zorn, recorded between 1994 and 1996. It features music from Zorn's Masada project, rearranged for small ensembles. It also features the original soundtrack from The Art of Remembrance – Simon Wiesenthal, a film by Hannah Heer and Werner Schmiedel (1994–95).
Ikue Mori, also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022.
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.
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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).
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