Present Joys by Dave Douglas | Uri Caine

released July 22, 2014

Personnel:
Dave Douglas, trumpet
Uri Caine, piano

Production Credits:
Recorded and mixed live to 2-track by Tyler McDiarmid on December 16 - 17, 2013 at The Loove, Brooklyn, NY.
Assistant: Jeff Ryan
Mastered by Tyler McDiarmid

Produced by Dave Douglas
Masonite cuts by Peter Schumann, Bread and Puppet. Glover, VT
Art direction and design by Emily Rabin

All compositions and arrangements by Dave Douglas (Dave Douglas Music / BMI) except:
"Soar Away" by A. M. Cagle (Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc.)
"Bethel" by Anonymous (PD)
"Present Joys" by A. M. Cagle (PD)
"Supplication" by Floyd M. Frederick (Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc.)
"Confidence" by Oliver Holden (PD)

The Sacred Harp, Ye Olde New-England Psalm-Tunes, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion: each collection is a window into a distant musical era. Reprinted numerous times since the 17th century, they preserve a uniquely original American musical idiom. Truly American treasures, these "tunebooks" form the basic repertoire for countless musical groups and keep the tradition of "shape-note" singing alive.

Thanks to Peter Schumann, Elka Schumann, John Bell, Trudy Cohen, Linda Elbow, Nabila Schwab, and Emily Anderson of Bread and Puppet Theater for introducing me to the music of The Sacred Harp. Thanks also to Suzannah Kincannon, Becca Stevens, Josh Roseman, Angela Morris, and to my brother, sisters and extended family for their love and support.

Press Quotes:

“... the year's most quietly arresting jazz LP.”
Time Out New York

“... Present Joys immediately felt familiar and inviting to me, and it's stuck with me since its release over the summer. I think this is because it falls into a certain category of record that I have an affinity for—not just a horn/piano duo album, but one with a powerful unifying mood, a reason for existing.”
Hank Shteamer, Dark Forces Swing

“The trumpeter and the pianist are so tuned into each other from having played in each other's bands for so long that hearing them duet is always an exciting prospect. What makes this encounter all the more special is the unexpected harmonic sophistication with which they approach humble melodies from the Sacred Harp (i.e. shape note) songbook, together with a few Douglas originals in the same vein.”
Francis Davis, NPR’s A Blog Supreme

“Alluring ... a 2014 jazz highlight.”
John Fordham, The Guardian/UK ★★★★

“I felt smarter after listening to Present Joys. Along with pianist Uri Caine, Douglas’ approach on this record sounds like Nas on Illmatic or the Grateful Dead at their live shows. He opens a channel into the middle of his musicianship and just lets it all flow out without anything superfluous or presumptuous.”
Alex Marianyi, Nextbop

“While Present Joys features a stripped-down instrumentation, the utterly in-sync duo of Douglas and Caine also reaches lofty artistic heights and resonances.”
Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen

“Trumpeter Dave Douglas continues his exploration of traditional New England music with this delightful and intimate duet album, featuring pianist Uri Caine. Though contemporary in scope, each track reflects the sparse harmonies, dignified phrasing and sense of community of a bygone era.”
Mike Hobart, Financial Times ★★★★

“Quite extraordinary. The folk tradition through jazz. I suppose it’s easy to embrace the tendency of adventurous musicians, of any artists with a taste for the edgy, to move back to lyricism and tradition. I’m wary of my affection for this recording and for [Douglas’] Be Still for that reason, in the same way that I hesitate to laud Coltrane’s Ballads album. But these records are not retreats of bold playing at all—they are an expansion of a great artist’s sensibility, a way the artist has found to dare himself to focus, to refine, to move in new ways. Dave Douglas and Uri Caine are good enough to stand up to making ‘pretty’ music, even traditional music. They pass the test and come out still surprising us.”
Will Layman, PopMatters, 8/10

“Spiritual music, solid as Shaker furniture and often as sober as a Quaker meeting, performed by two attuned virtuosos who have worked together in various configurations for more than 20 years. In the closing ballad "Zero Hour,’ Caine’s gorgeously joyous response to Douglas’s more serious reflections create[s] a brand new world in five minutes and change.”
Richard Gehr, Wondering Sound Blog