October 11–18, 2001

music

Taking the Stand

Dave Douglas’ Witness carries the torch of nonviolent protest — along with a message of humanity and hope.

by Nate Chinen

The witness stand: Dave Douglas.

"Just as history is never over or complete, it is also the case that some dialectical oppositions are not reconcilable, not transcendable, not really capable of being folded into a sort of higher, undoubtedly more noble, synthesis," wrote Edward Said, in a prescient article printed in The Nation not long before the World Trade Center attacks. Continuing the thought, he clarified: "Overlapping yet irreconcilable experiences demand from the intellectual the courage to say what is before us, in almost exactly the way [Theodor] Adorno, throughout his work on music, insisted that modern music can never be reconciled with the society that produced it; but in its intensely and often despairingly crafted form and content, music can act as a silent witness to the inhumanity all around."

Said’s call to action finds colorful application in Witness, the newest and most ambitious offering by composer-trumpeter Dave Douglas. Publicly unveiled last summer, and more recently documented on an eponymous Bluebird CD, the project pays homage to a cadre of activists who have channeled political protest through the positive impulses of art and the written word. Each of the nine segments of Witness suite salutes one such activist or group of activists — among them, Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indian choreographer Chandralekha and Bangladeshi poet-in-exile Taslima Nasrin. The suite’s centerpiece, an exquisitely Oriental gem also called "Witness," bears a dedication to Said.

Witness deserves attention on these merits alone; only a few jazz ensembles have ever shouldered so honorable an agenda. Fortunately, for those who prize artistry as well as intention, the project also manages to redefine the working methods of the jazz combo, its ways and means. "I started this group as a quartet maybe three or four years ago," Douglas recalls, "and realized that with all the timbral activity that I was looking for in this music, I was asking everyone to do three or four things at a time. It was so physically exhausting that I realized I needed a larger ensemble. That was when I had the idea of the three strings, three horns and three percussion. And I felt like I could really get into all the broad areas of music that I’ve been involved with in the last 15 years, but also do some new things with timbre and texture. Really the only way I could pull it off was to have all these voices."

The voices in question constitute a strikingly eclectic chorus. As Douglas puts it: three strings (violinist Mark Feldman, cellist Erik Friedlander and bassist Drew Gress), three horns (Douglas, saxophonist Chris Speed and tuba player Joe Daley) and three percussionists (vibraphonist Bryan Carrott, electronic sound manipulator Ikue Mori and drummer Mike Sarin). At times they’re joined by Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda (on sampler), trombonist Josh Roseman and vocalist Tom Waits (who gravely but tenderly recites passages by the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz). The overall sound of this ensemble, Douglas’ largest yet, is considerably less dense than one might expect. Instrumental elements lean in and out of the mix, resulting in a sort of layered cross-fade; a textural ebb and flow.

Stylistically, too, the group assumes an aggressively innovative stance — expertly synthesizing a host of folk music traditions, a panoply of jazz practices, the language of ambient electronic music, and the dicta of various avant-garde subgenres. Douglas alludes to this blend in an interview released by Bluebird/RCA: "To understand this record, you might want to be familiar a little bit with Cage, Berio, Lutoslawski, Stockhausen and Ligeti, as well as John Coltrane, Julius Hemphill, Henry Threadgill and Anthony Braxton, as well as Oum Koulthoum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Balinese gamelan music and other things." His tone is jocular yet not entirely unserious. "But of course," he adds, "that’s not necessary to enjoy it. Ultimately, the music cuts through all of that to communicate on a very intimate, personal level."

Interviewed just over a week ago, Douglas reiterated this hope, and agreed that recent events have rendered his mission all the more crucial. "We can protest the senselessness of terrorism," he suggests, "but we can also speak out about what our own government has done, now and in the past — because none of us wants to see any more innocent casualties." And, paraphrasing his own liner notes, he expresses a sentiment worthy of Said: "Culture and the arts prove that we can have grace and courage, in the face of this insanity."

Dave Douglas’ Witness, Fri., Oct. 12, 9 p.m., $15, Tritone, 1508 South St., 215-545-0475.