The Squid's Ear Magazine


Douglas, Dave / GIFTS (w / Lewis / Bhatia / Chang / Reid): Transcend (Greenleaf Music)

Dave Douglas expands his GIFTS Quintet with Tomeka Reid on cello alongside James Brandon Lewis, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang, drawing on the spiritual openness of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts in a powerful electro-acoustic jazz setting where trumpet, tenor, guitar, cello and drums merge lyricism, electronics and high-energy interplay into a reverent, forward-looking ensemble statement.
 

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Product Information:

Personnel:



Dave Douglas-trumpet

Tomeka Reid-cello

James Brandon Lewis-tenor saxophone

Rafiq Bhatia-guitar

Ian Chang-drums

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UPC: 850053189203

Label: Greenleaf Music
Catalog ID: CD-GRE-1120
Squidco Product Code: 37303

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2026
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Second Take Sound, in NYC, on August 18th and 19th, 2025, by Chris Allen.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"Dave Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer, educator and entrepreneur from New York City known for the stylistic breadth of his work and for keeping a diverse set of ensembles and projects active simultaneously.

His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland award, and two GRAMMY® nominations. While his career spans more than 40 recordings as a leader, his active projects include his Quintet; Sound Prints, a quintet co-led with saxophonist Joe Lovano; Riverside, a quartet co-led with Chet Doxas; a duo with pianist Uri Caine; and, debuting in 2015, High Risk, an electronic music-influenced quartet with Mark Guiliana, Jonathan Maron and Shigeto.

Since 2005, Douglas has operated his own record label, Greenleaf Music, releasing his own recordings as well as albums by other artists in the jazz idiom. Through his artist-friendly approach and innovative practices, he continues to prove himself a pioneer among artist-run labels.

Douglas has held several posts as an educator and continues to be very active as a director and programmer. He has been named the Artistic Director for the 2016 season of the Bergamo Jazz Festival, which occurs every year in March. Starting in 2012, Douglas was engaged for two years as International Jazz Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music in London and launched his own Jazz Workshop, dedicated to enriching the musical experiences of younger players. From 2002 to 2012, he served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in Canada. He is a co-founder and director of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which was founded in 2002 to support new music by a diverse community of trumpet and brass players. He also co-hosts, with Michael Bates, a podcast called Noise From the Deep which was named the top jazz podcast by the JazzTimes critics poll in 2014."

-Dave Douglas Website (http://www.davedouglas.com/about-dave)
6/1/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Chicago based cellist, composer and educator, Tomeka Reid has been described as "a remarkably versatile player," (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). Equally adept in classical and jazz contexts, Ms. Reid predominantly finds herself in experimental and improvisatory settings and composes for a wide range of instrumentation, from big band to chamber ensemble. Ms. Reid's music combines her love for groove along with freer concepts.

Ms. Reid is an integral part of Dee Alexander's Evolution Ensemble, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble/Strings, Mike Reed's Loose Assembly, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) Great Black Music Ensemble, and co-leads the internationally recognized string trio, Hear in Now with performances in Poznan, Poland; Paris, France; Rome, Venice, Milan, Italy; Soazza, Switzerland; and in the US: Chicago, New York and Vermont. In addition to the aforementioned ensembles, Ms. Reid performs with many of today's forward thinking musicians in the world of jazz and creative music including Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Jeb Bishop, Myra Melford, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Mary Halvorson, Denis Fournier, Edward Wilkerson and Harrison Bankhead. Ms. Reid also leads her own trio featuring guitarist Matt Schneider and bassist Josh Abrams, for which she composes. Ms. Reid can be heard on numerous studio recordings.

As an educator, Ms. Reid has led string improvisation workshops in Italy and the US. Most recently she co-directed the 2012 Vancouver Jazz Festival’s High School Jazz Intensive. For seven years, Ms. Reid co-directed the string program at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory School for students grade 5 thru 12. Ms. Reid is also an ABD doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign.

As a composer, Ms. Reid has been commissioned by the AACM, the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and has had several opportunities to showcase her work abroad at festivals such as Umbria Jazz, An Insolent Noise and Vignola Jazz. She has been nominated and awarded residencies for composition with the Ragdale Foundation and the 2nd Annual Make Jazz Fellowship hosted by the 18th Street Arts Organization. Ms. Reid was selected as a 2012 participant in the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute held at the University of California: Los Angeles."

-Tomeka Reid Website (http://www.tomekareid.net/)
6/1/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"James Brandon Lewis (b.1983 Buffalo NY) is a critically acclaimed saxophonist, composer, recording artist and educator . Lewis has received accolades from New York Times, Q Magazine and cultural tastemakers such as Ebony Magazine, who hailed him as one of the "7 Young Players to Watch" in todays scene. Lewis has shared stages with Ken Filiano, Darius Jones, and Jason Hwang, William Parker, Hamiet Bluiett , Hamid Drake , Ravi Coltrane , Jimmy Heath Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Joe Lovano Dave Douglas, Marc Ribot, Anthony Coleman and many others. James Brandon Lewis Lewis has been endorsed by Jazz legend Saxophonist Sonny Rollins " Promising young player with the potential to do great things having listened to the Elders". - Jazz Magazine (France). New York Times had this to say about Lewis " James Brandon Lewis , A Jazz Saxophonist in his 30's, Raw Toned But Measured, Doesn't sound steeped in current jazz academy values There's an Independence about him." James Brandon Lewis Leads numerous ensembles and is the Co- Founder of Poetry Music Ensemble Heroes Are Gang Leaders Lewis attended Howard University and holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts."

-James Brandon Lewis Website (http://www.jblewis.com/bio/)
6/1/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"The New York Times proclaims "Rafiq Bhatia is writing his own musical language," heralding him as "one of the most intriguing figures in music today." A guitarist, composer, producer, and sound artist "who refuses to be pinned to one genre, culture or instrument," Bhatia makes sculptural, meticulously crafted music that finds common ground among ecstatic avant-garde jazz, mournful soul, fractured beats and building-shaking electronics. "He treats his guitar, synthesizers, drum machines and electronic effects as architectural elements," the Times writes. "Sound becomes contour; music becomes something to step into rather than merely follow."

Bhatia's first LP for Anti- Records, 2018's Breaking English, has been described as "stunningly focused...a vibrant new instrumental sound world where crushing beats, nimble guitar licks, and shifting electronic textures coalesce with a visceral bite" (Chicago Reader). His subsequent release, 2020's Standards Vol. 1 EP, renders repertoire from the American songbook "completely deconstructed, infused with brand new textures and electronic effects, dreamlike and beautiful" (BBC). In conjunction with the releases, Bhatia has toured internationally, presenting his music at Acud Macht Neu, the Andy Warhol Museum, Big Ears Festival, Cleveland Museum of Art, Constellation, deSignel Bouge B Festival, Duke Performances, Hopscotch Festival, The Kitchen, Le Poisson Rouge, Mass MoCA, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, MoMA PS1, Moroccan Lounge, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, NYC Winter Jazzfest, Oberlin Conservatory, Solid Sound Festival, and more.

As a composer, Bhatia has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Walker Art Center, four/four × Public Records, Jennifer Koh, Liquid Music Series, National Sawdust, Newfields, Sound Expeditions, The Jazz Gallery, Toledo Museum of Art, and the Traverse City Dance Project. His forthcoming collaboration with filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will premiere in Fall 2022 as a part of the FotoFocus Biennial: World Record.

Since 2014, Bhatia's primary collaborative association has been as a member of the experimental pop project Son Lux, joining founder Ryan Lott along with drummer Ian Chang as a co-writer, co-producer, and guitarist. Together, the trio has released three albums - Bones (2015), Brighter Wounds (2018), and the three-volume Tomorrows (2020-21)-as well as numerous EPs, and given over five hundred performances on three continents. Recent highlights include being sampled by Timbaland and scoring the Daniels' film Everything Everywhere All At Once for A24, including collaborations with David Byrne, André Benjamin, Mitski, Moses Sumney, Randy Newman, and more.

A voracious collaborator working across musical communities and artistic disciplines, Bhatia has also created with Arooj Aftab, Holland Andrews, Olga Bell, William Britelle, Michael Cina, Teju Cole, Sam Dew, Dave Douglas, Marcus Gilmore, Shahzad Ismaily, Vijay Iyer, Glenn Kotche, Okkyung Lee, Qasim Naqvi, Helado Negro, Kassa Overall, Chris Pattishall, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Alex Somers, Moses Sumney, Rajna Swaminathan, Kiah Victoria, David Virelles and others. He has contributed to recordings on Brownswood, City Slang, ECM, Glassnote, Greenleaf Music, Joyful Noise, New Amsterdam, RCA and Temporary Residence Ltd.

Bhatia is a Jerome Foundation Composer/Sound Artist Fellow, and a former artist-in-residence at Duke Performances. He has been invited to speak by the National Gallery of Art, Big Ears Festival, Berklee College of Music, Melbourne International Jazz Festival and IUPUI, and is currently adjunct faculty of the New School's Performer-Composer Master of Music program. His music is published in association with Domino Publishing Company.

A native of North Carolina, Bhatia lives in Brooklyn, New York."

-Rafiq Bhatia Website (https://rafiqbhatia.com/about)
6/1/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"When Chang describes his creative process, the phrase "third culture" keeps coming up. Born in the colony of Hong Kong in 1988, Chang has lived a nomadic life. Stationed out of New York for 10 years, he built an impressive roster of progressive pop collaborators such as Moses Sumney, Joan As Policewoman, and Matthew Dear, among others, all while performing internationally and recording as a member of Son Lux and Landlady. Now relocated to Dallas, Texas, Chang's discovered an inquisitive confidence that can only come from newfound isolation. Between tours, he dedicated himself to developing his international musical language, facilitated by a home studio and a burgeoning relationship."

-Ian Chang Website (https://www.ianchangmusic.com/about)
6/1/2026

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:

June 2026
Improvised Music
Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Quintet Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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Greenleaf Music.


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