Dave Douglas Gifts Quartet
In 2024, trumpeter & composer Dave Douglas presents a new ensemble: Gifts Quartet, with Rafiq Bhatia, Ian Chang & Jon Irabagon. Inspired by the life and music of Charles Lloyd, Gifts Trio reflects on the wisdom, vision, and positivity of the composer and saxophonist in an innovative way, notably exploring Lloyd’s fascination with the music of Billy Strayhorn.
Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer and educator from New York City known for the stylistic breadth of his work, the lyricism and wide-ranging curiosity of his music, and for keeping a diverse set of ensembles and projects active simultaneously. Douglas has previously collaborated with Bhatia and Chang on the acclaimed Greenleaf Music albums Marching Music (2020) and Uplift (2018), respectively. Both these albums centre themes of activism, justice, and advocacy. And Jon Irabagon is part of the Dave Douglas Quintet. Gifts Quartet envisions a new sense of interaction through expression of song form, using sound and atmosphere as a field of action.
Jon Irabagon is a Filipino-American saxophonist, composer, and founder of Irabbagast Records. Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition and one of Time Out’s “25 essential New York City jazz icons”, Irabagon is known for the breadth of his work on a jazz continuum ranging “from postbop to free improvisation, avant country to doom metal”. His “extraordinary eclecticism” has led to performances with such diverse artists as Wynton Marsalis, Lou Reed, Evan Parker, Billy Joel, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Bertha Hope, Herbie Hancock, Conor Oberst, Christian McBride, Mike Pride, Kenny Barron, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Bill Laswell, Peter Evans, Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, Ava Mendoza, Mick Barr & Tom Rainey.
Guitarist, composer, producer and sound artist, Rafiq Bhatia “treats his guitar, synthesizers, drum machines and electronic effects as architectural elements”, (The New York Times). Bhatia is a member of the group Son Lux and together they have released three albums and composed the soundtrack for the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. He is a Jerome Foundation Composer/Sound Artist Fellow and adjunct faculty of the New School’s Performer-Composer Master of Music programme. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Drummer Ian Chang makes electronic music that is humanistic. Using drums to control and manipulate samples, he is able to realize complete musical ideas with unaccompanied and unedited performances. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chang moved to New York in 2007 and quickly gained a reputation as a “gigantically talented drummer” (NPR). Having relocated to Dallas, Texas, Chang’s debut full-length record Belonging was released in April 2020 via City Slang.
Line-Up:
Dave Douglas: trumpet
Jon Irabagon: sax
Rafiq Bhatia: guitar
Ian Chang: drums & electronics
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