Label: Greenleaf Music, 2026

Personnel - Dave Douglas: trumpet; Marta Warelis: piano; Nick Dunston: bass; Joey Baron: drums.

Comprising nine originals that merge jazz tradition with contemporary improvisational language, Four Freedoms is a deeply intuitive quartet session led by American trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas. Full of artistic freshness and a subtle, nearly surreal wit, the music hovers between form and abstraction, drawing conceptual inspiration from the Four Freedoms speech delivered in 1941 by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Boasting a buoyant, vital sound, “Grits”—written for seasoned drummer Joey Baron—opens the session with playful, tonally rich drumming. Bassist Nick Dunston locks in with swinging verve, supporting Douglas’ towering trumpet voice. The trumpeter reigns supreme, blowing with authority and a hard-bop drive punctuated by folk inflections and knowing musical quotations. Across 32-bar rhythm changes, Amsterdam-based pianist Marta Warelis probes for singular conversational pathways, while Baron later trades bars with his bandmates with electrifying momentum.

If the balladic reverie of “Dreams We Hold” feels slightly less impactful, “Sandhog”—a grooving homage to the workers who built tunnels, the Brooklyn Bridge foundation, and subway systems—stands out for its exploratory reach. An eight-beat bass groove anchors the piece, supporting the triumphant call-and-response dialogue between Douglas and Warelis. Dunston delivers a deeply rooted statement, followed by Baron’s spectacular tom and cymbal architecture.

The avant-garde title cut feels abstract and loose, with Dunston employing arco bass with restraint and intelligence while Warelis injects intervallic surprise. “Militias”, meanwhile, flows through modal currents, enigmatic harmonies, and openly creative melodic contours.

Fueled by a robust bass introduction, “Fire in the Firewood” moves between solemnity, emotional release, and bursts of avant-garde expression. “Sing Sing” embraces jazz languor through muted trumpet and lucid brushwork, while “My First Rodeo” returns to soulful swing, buoyed by expansive improvisation.

With each musician contributing their own distinct personality to the whole, Four Freedoms pumps a different vibe with moments of rare elegance. Douglas’ vast body of work continues to command respect, and this latest offering stands as a worthy and compelling addition.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Grits ► 03 - Sandhog ► 05 - Militias ► 06 - Fire in the Firewood

Label: Greenleaf Music, 2018

Personnel – Joe Lovano: tenor and soprano saxophones; Dave Douglas: trumpet; Lawrence Fields: piano; Linda May Han Ho: bass; Joey Baron: drums.

Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano, two incredible composers/arrangers and stalwarts in the art of playing trumpet and saxophone, respectively, co-lead the Wayne Shorter-inspired quintet Sound Prints, for which they composed original material. Their high caliber rhythm section - pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda May Han Ho, and drummer Joey Baron - spends time creating intuitive bounces that would better serve the soloists while solidifying rapport. Scandal was released on Douglas' Greenleaf Music imprint and marks the band’s first studio session, following Sound Prints - Live at Monterey Jazz Festival, released on Blue Note Records in 2015.

The album’s opener is Douglas’ “Dream State”, a 5/4-metered piece whose magnificent groove underpins a pungent, gospel-inflected motif uttered with conjoint twin-like sympathy by the horn alliance. Subsequently, it becomes two separate lines that burst in a soulful combination of timbre and vocabulary. The trumpeter shows off his wide range and authority while the saxophonist engages in those inimitable, sinuous phrases that are as strapping as they are dizzying.

On Lovano’s bop-fueled “High Noon” and “The Corner Tavern”, the quintet dwells in a state of buoyant elegance. If the former swings uptempo, then the latter conquers with a calypso-like groove, featuring the horn players exchanging improvised lines with edgy moves and logic sequence. Han Ho and Fields also show their affirming soloing skills before re-entering the final theme section, while Baron edits his percussive jabs to wonderful moderation.

“Full Sun” and “Full Moon” are contrasting in tone and essence since the former, in opposition to the lyric, spacious, and quizzical latter, is an elated post-bop ride typically structured with flexible solos from bass, saxophone, and trumpet.

Shorter’s “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” and “JuJu” are equal parts inventive and reverent, and the band brings them back to life with very satisfying rhythmic ideas and melodic peculiarities. Shades of the honored saxophonist are also present on the beautiful title track, which adds some Miles and Coltrane to the mix, and also on the dreamy ballad “Ups and Downs”, both products of Douglas’ creative mind.

This is a great comeback from Sound Prints, whose effervescent and sagacious playing sounds pretty damn good.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Dream State ► 02 - Full Sun ► 09 - Full Moon