Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  Adult
Boston  |  Portland  |  Providence
 
CD Reviews  |  Download  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features  |  New England Music News

Dave Douglas and Keystone

Moonshine | www.greenleafmusic.com
By JEFF TAMARKIN  |  April 1, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars

080404_douglas_main
Just as 2005’s Grammy-nominated Keystone nodded to the Keystone Cops comedies that gave scandal-slandered silent-film comic Fatty Arbuckle his start, Moonshine borrows its title (and, ostensibly, its mood) from an Arbuckle film, one co-starring Buster Keaton. But any hint at nostalgia in the sonics is oblique at best, and had Douglas not brought the matter up himself in the liner notes, few, I imagine, would have made the connection. More to the point might be the progressivism of late-’60s/early-’70s electro-funk-fusion, but that too is just a flailing guess. This live/studio hybrid wears its own futurism, not somebody else’s, with the band now named for that previous album. Throughout, drummer Gene Lake, bassist Brad Jones, Fender Rhodesman Adam Benjamin, and turntablist DJ Olive create an expansive, constantly shifting bed over which Douglas’s trumpet and Marcus Strickland’s saxophone run amok. The forward-propelled “Kitten,” suggestive of anything but (’cept maybe a sultry sex kitten), is all grit and clash. “Married Life” hints at one discordant relationship. “Tough” toughs it out for nearly 11 freewheeling minutes, and the mystery of “Dog Star” is more noir than slapstick. Moonshine is neither scandalous nor wacky, but it is a bit tipsy.

DAVE DOUGLAS & KEYSTONE | Scullers Jazz Club, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston | April 8 | 617.562.4111

Related:
  Topics: CD Reviews , Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle , Dave Douglas , Buster Keaton ,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

ARTICLES BY JEFF TAMARKIN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE  |  July 01, 2008
    Voiceprint
  •   RY COODER  |  June 24, 2008
    I, Flathead | Nonesuch/Perro Verde
  •   RACHID TAHA  |  June 17, 2008
    Rock El Casbah: The Best Of . . . | Wrasse
  •   ROBYN HITCHCOCK  |  May 20, 2008
    Sex, Food, Death . . . and Insects | A+E
  •   BILLY BRAGG  |  May 06, 2008
    Mr. Love and Justice | Anti-

 See all articles by: JEFF TAMARKIN

MOST POPULAR
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



Featured Articles in CD Reviews:
Sunday, July 06, 2008  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
StuffAtNight Latest:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group