Fresh Sounds: Dezron Douglas – More Coffee Please
Acclaimed jazz bassist Dezron Douglas released his new single More Coffee Please, from his forthcoming new album Atalaya, coming soon 18th of November on International Anthem.
ATALAYA is new work by bassist Dezron Douglas, and it is alive. That is, ‘alive’ in all the ways that jazz is at its best – as a pure and personal expression of Black Music channeled through time-honored traditions by a group of musicians who practice sonic coherence through musical unity. As Dezron puts it in the opening statement of his liner notes for the album: “Mysticism, Magic, Faith, Love, Power, Discernment! These are words that embody the creative process of Music.
Followers of contemporary jazz might recognize Dezron for his bass work behind Pharoah Sanders, Louis Hayes, or Ravi Coltrane. Others might know him as the newest full-time member of the Trey Anastasio Band. Steady International Anthem listeners might remember him from the New York side of Makaya McCraven's Universal Beings. More recently we presented Force Majeure, Dezron’s sublime duo record with harpist Brandee Younger, which compiled the best of livestream performances from their Harlem apartment during the original covid lockdown. That album, which came out in December of 2020, reflected the speed and feeling of the moment while somehow simultaneously distracting from the harsh reality of it. It also captured a very vulnerable, intimate, and real impression of Dezron on double bass, sharing his power and truth without abandon
Listen to Dezron Douglas new single More Coffee Please, from his forthcoming new album Atalaya:
With Emilio Modeste on saxes, George Burton on keys, and Joe Dyson Jr. on drums, Dezron’s crew summons the dynamism of Coltrane’s classic Quartet, or Dave Holland’s Quintet on Prime Directive, or Charles Mingus on Nostalgia In Times Square… swinging virtuosically and firing on all 4 cylinders. But there’s nothing remotely revisionist here – Dezron and his quartet embody poetry, presence, artistic and emotional clarity in every note they play. Free and dissonant, sweet and consonant, sweeping and pure… This is the band you hope is playing every time you walk into a club.
Watch below Dezron Douglas new single More Coffee Please, from his forthcoming new album Atalaya:
Other wicked songs and projects worth checking this week:
Hermanos Gutiérrez - Thunderbird
Leland Whitty - Awake
Surprise Chef - Velodrome
FKJ - Us - A COLORS SHOW
Marquis Hill - Black Alchemy/Hall of Mirrors
Tom Skinner - The Journey
Kham Meslien - Ta confiance
Matt Carmichael - Road To The Sea
Emmet Cohen - Uptown in Orbit
aki - Twijfelaar
Greg Spero - Evolution (Tiny Room Sessions)
Atlas Maior - Basalt
Venna - Sicily' Box
Charlie Stacey - Music Is Healing
Zeñel - 5dB Freestyle
Radio Citizen - Kantine
Unc D - Toots
Julius Rodriguez - Dora’s Lullaby
The Headhunters - Rocking At The Mole House