Dave Douglas, Spark Of Being: Expand
Featured Album
A successful, highly evolved blend of ambition and execution
The original Spark of Being was a pure collaboration, Douglas's original music soundtracking Bill Morrissey's experimental film, which was loosely based on the Frankenstein story. The Expand edition frees the Keystone sextet from Morrissey's footage, and the music is predictably better and bolder as a result.
The influence of Miles Davis is pervasive here, the kinetic freebop of his second classic quintet, the creative electronic gauze and funky undertow of his late '60s work on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, the tone-poetic matings with arranger Gil Evans, and, most of all, the intrepid innovation that forges new musical paths and textures without folly or a loss of identity. Some of the analogies are stark: Young drummers will (or should) fawn over Gene Lake's omnipresent yet never fulsome drumming (especially "Tree Ring Circus") the way earlier fans were in thrall to Miles's drummer Tony Williams; Adam Benjamin's Fender Rhodes creates a warm, spunky flavor that recalls, without imitating, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul; and Douglas's trumpet work eschews brassy solos to concentrate on atmosphere and unique unison harmonies with saxophonist Marcus Strickland.
But don't downgrade Spark of Being: Expand as a mere Miles simulacrum. Douglas has used the Frankenstein conceit to broaden his compositional palette and push the exciting evolution of Keystone into a band that can batten down the funk or explore the "spooky" ambience of electronics with equal aplomb. The slow rustle of "Spark of Being" is indeed slightly portentous awakening music, and the sound effects from Douglas's laptop, Benjamin's Rhodes, and the knobs and turntables of DJ Olive create the aura of wheeling birds, howling coyotes and creaky dungeon doors on songs like "Creature" and "Observer" (which begins with someone saying, "It's…here…here" and moves from the spooky effects into a groove that recalls the Eastern European folk songs from Douglas's late '90s albums).
The prolific, ever-curious Douglas has amassed a formidable catalogue that indicates he never makes bad recordings — just some, such as his inaugural big band effort last year, that are less successfully realized. This Expand addendum to the Spark of Being material, while slight at just 42 minutes is, by contrast, a successful, highly evolved blend of ambition and execution.
