(Contemporary Jazz) Dave Douglas - Three Views - Greenleaf Portable Series Vol 1-3 (3CD Box) - 2011, MP3, 320 kbps

1 - Town Hall 7:07
2 - Night Growl 4:14
3 - Lush Life 7:31
4 - Thread 6:02
5 - Safeway 5:11
6 - My Old Sign 5:49

1 - The Gulf 9:03
2 - Valori Bollati 7:24
3 - Solato 8:19
4 - Orologi 11:40
5 - Orange Afternoons 8:25
6 - Frontier Justice 4:13

1 - One More News 4:55
2 - Bad Mango 5:45
3 - Nome 2:59
4 - Witness 8:36
5 - Spider 2:51
6 - One Shot 5:34
7 - Time Leveler 4:58

Volume 1: Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy
Rare Metals
Brass Ecstasy is one of Douglas' newer projects, which launched in 2009 with the release of Spirit Moves. Joined by Vincent Chancey on french horn, Luis Bonilla on trombone, Marcus Rojas on tuba, and Nasheet Waits on drums, Brass Ecstasy is now on their third release with Rare Metals. The fascinating thing about this project is that about the only constant from track to track is the instrumentation. It moves from the tempo-shifting “Town Hall" with its hints of pre-swing, to the progressive, highly improvisational “Thread." But the best treat lies in the one song on here Douglas didn't write, Billy Strayhorn's “Lush Life." Reverent, even as it's largely re-harmonized, Douglas' arrangement retains both sass and elegance to this great tune.
Volume 2: Dave Douglas/Ravi Coltrane/Vijay Iyer/Linda Oh/Marcus Gilmore
Orange Afternoons
This disc is the straight-up modern jazz album with an all-star lineup indicated in the title. As he does often and in the other two volumes, Douglas stretches out the limits of the genre and makes visits to avant-garde land ("Solato" with a Iver and Gilmore leading the charge into the abyss is of special note).
What's perhaps more striking is that even though recording process was hurried, the group manages to sound very polished and it never devolves into a blowing session; there's a whole lot of teamwork here: listen to how well Douglas and Coltrane play well together on “The Gulf," for instance.
Volume 3: Dave Douglas So Percussion
Bad Mango
This one is the most fun listen of the batch, and it's also Douglas' latest project. Contrasting with a nearly all-horn format of Brass Ecstasy, So Percussion is heavy on percussion type instruments of all kinds. The line-up makes up one of the most unusual convergence of instruments ever: Dave Douglas (trumpet), Eric Beach (estey organ, Ableton, musical saw, toys, metronomes, shruti box, crotales), Adam Sliwinski (marimba, toys, concert bass drum, glockenspiel), Jason Treuting (drum set, melodica, deskbells), and Josh Quillen (korg synthesizer, vocoder, kick drum, snare drum, ride cymbal). In spite of all the percussion, this doesn't come across as a Afro-Cuban or Brazilian jazz genre excursion, but rather, something truly fresh. Rhythms are prominent but aren't always danceable. Douglas' trumpet stands alone on the opposite end of the sonic spectrum, often carrying out the melody with no assistance. But this tonal imbalance is what makes it so compelling; “Bad Mango" (video above) is a good example of this. With a touch of electro seeping in, there's a very modern touch to the music even as all that beating about takes center stage. Dave Douglas So Percussion is an idea that hopefully we'll see Douglas explore further in future releases.

Disc 1: (Rare Metals)
Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy: Dave Douglas (trumpet); Vincent Chancey (French horn); Luis Bonilla (trombone); Marcus Rojas (tuba); Nasheet Waits (drums).
Disc 2: (Orange Afternoons)
Dave Douglas (trumpet); Ravi Coltrane (saxophone); Vijay Iyer (piano); Linda Oh (bass); Marcus Gilmore (drums).
Disc 3: (Bad Mango)
Dave Douglas (trumpet); So Percussion: Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, Eric Beach (percussion).