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"Time Travel" by the Dave Douglas Quintet: #6 in New York Times' Year-End Best-Of List

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6. Dave Douglas Quintet “Time Travel” (Greenleaf) The trumpeter Dave Douglas formed a smart new quintet last year, and along with a beautiful album of hymns, it created this knockabout winner, capitalizing on the diversity of a roster with the saxophonist Jon Irabagon, the pianist Matt Mitchell, the bassist Linda Oh and the drummer Rudy Royston.

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Greenleaf Music to release drummer Rudy Royston's debut "303"

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Greenleaf Music to release drummer Rudy Royston's debut "303"

In-Demand Drummer Rudy Royston Steps Out as a Leader with 303.

Greenleaf Music debut scheduled for February 4th, 2014 release features ten Royston originals plus interpretations of Mozart and Radiohead.

Since moving to New York City in 2006 from his home base in Denver, Rudy Royston has emerged as one of the most exciting and in-demand young drummers on the jazz scene. Having already racked up a list of impressive credits as a sideman with the likes of rising star of the tenor sax, J.D. Allen, alto saxophonist Tia Fuller, bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Bill Frisell and trumpeter Dave Douglas, Royston was ready to step out as a leader in his own right. His debut on Greenleaf Music, 303 (named for Denver’s area code), not only features his brilliant and versatile playing on the kit but also showcases his considerable skills as a composer on ten originals. With a stellar crew of some of the brightest young lights on the New York scene -- guitarist Nir Felder, pianist Sam Harris, saxophonist Jon Irabagon, trumpeter Nadja Noordhuis and the two-bass tandem of Mimi Jones and Yasushi Nakamura -- Royston and company also turn in dramatic interpretations of Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” and Radiohead’s “High and Dry” on this outstanding debut.

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Have Horn, Will Travel - The Wall Street Journal

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By Larry Blumenfeld

Sitting in the music room of his home in a wooded enclave of this Westchester village on a summer afternoon, Dave Douglas looked rested. The condition was temporary, the trumpeter made clear. He doesn’t stay put long. In April, he released his 39th album as a bandleader, “Time Travel,” on his independent label, Greenleaf Music. It arrived just two weeks after he turned 50, and to mark the occasion he wanted to perform in all 50 states.

“It’s not that easy from a business point of view,” he said. “There’s not really an infrastructure for touring everywhere in the U.S. But only the logistics are challenging. There are people who want to hear the music wherever I go.” Mr. Douglas has chalked up 30 states for this calendar year. Some of the most enthusiastic audiences, he said, have been in less-traveled locales such as Laramie, Wyo., and Des Moines, Iowa.

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A Pair of Contrasting Streams, Joining Together to Flow Toward Wayne Shorter - The New York Times

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By Nate Chinen

The defining trait of Sound Prints, a newish quintet making its New York debut this week at the Village Vanguard, is the tangled crosstalk of its front line: an urbane, on-the-fly counterpoint brimming with crooked urgency, like a choice bit of dialogue in a David Mamet play. In this case the sparring partners are the saxophonist Joe Lovano and the trumpeter Dave Douglas, who share leadership of the band and compose all of its music. Their rapport seemed all but inexhaustible during Thursday night’s powder-keg first set.

Mr. Lovano and Mr. Douglas are two of the leading figures in jazz, with separate histories and only a few points of past intersection. One of these was a brief overlap in the SFJazz Collective, in 2008, when that organization was focused on the repertory of Wayne Shorter. Given that Mr. Shorter is a living totem for both of these bandleaders, it made sense that they would rekindle that tribute, on their own time and in their own fashion.

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