Douglas, Dave – “Magic Triangle ” – [Arabesque Recordings]

One of the busiest trumpeteers in modern jazz, Dave Douglas has recorded with everyone from Braxton to Zorn, and released several albums under his own name with various instrumental configurations. This time it’s a quartet, featuring Douglas on trumpet, Chris Potter on tenor sax, James Genus on bass, and Ben Perowsky on drums. The result is a melodically sophisticated but perhaps too polite collection of nine original Douglas compositions, ranging from the swingin to the moody and meditative. On “Padded Cell” the band plays a little more freely and this, for me, was the most interesting track.