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Following on the heels of the critically acclaimed Be Still, Dave Douglas and his label Greenleaf Music release Time Travel, an all-instrumental follow-up to the album Stereophile called "one of the best-sounding new recordings [we]'ve heard by anybody in quite a while."

Dave Douglas Quintet performing at Aperitivo in Concerto in Milano Italy, March 3, 2013

Dave Douglas, trumpet
Walter Smith III, tenor saxophone
Matt Mitchell, piano
Linda Oh, bass
Rudy Royston, drums

Thrilled the other night at Jazz Standard to see keyboardist Jim Beard! I heard him in several different Wayne Shorter groups around the time I moved to New York, between 1984 and 1989 or so. Beard played all of the Atlantis material with Shorter, as well as playing on the album Phantom Navigator and in subsequent live performances. Since writing about Shorter's new work for The Talkhouse, I have had several interesting conversations about it, and Jim Beard had some observations that hadn't occurred to me.

Jim asked me to pick 5 recordings to share on the occasion of my 50th birthday. Difficult to do as compositions are like children -- how would you pick your favorite? Also like children, they grow and change over time. I would certainly play all of these pieces differently today. Recorded music is an excellent document of a moment in time, but even this fixed medium changes as we perceive things differently. The exhilarating thing about playing music is that as you play you have absolute freedom in time. Move forward, move back, the more the merrier.

Be Still is an unusual Dave Douglas - if one exists usual - very little composer and arranger. But also, unmistakably, the Dave Douglas which we are accustomed. The musician, regardless of the direction taken, does not miss a beat. The terrific orchestration arranger care in every detail. The excellent breeder of musicians, able to assemble organic perfectly consistent with the music played. And, of course, the magnificent musician who brings out of his trumpet a thousand shades of timbre and expressive.

Recorded & mixed by Joe Ferla at Avatar Studios, April 2012 at the same sessions that yielded the album Be Still [2012] which Stereophile called "one of the best sounding records we've heard by any one in quite awhile." This all-instrumental album features Dave's new Quintet with Jon Irabagon on tenor saxophone, Matt Mitchell on piano, Linda Oh on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums.

Watch a 60-second teaser of the forthcoming album "Time Travel" by Dave Douglas featuring Jon Irabagon, Matt Mitchell, Linda Oh, and Rudy Royston.

Thanks to the great crew that came out on February 24 for the first in this series of workshops. I'm looking forward to working with all of you again on March 17. We spent most of the session playing through the music from my 1994 album In Our Lifetime, dedicated to Booker Little. Also had a chance for some nice discussion about composition, playing, and Booker Little's music and impact.