Dave Douglas's Dada People at Painted Bride Art Center

Ars Nova Workshop and the Painted Bride Art Center are pleased to present trumpet great Dave Douglas with his new quartet Dada People, a collaboration with French pianist Frank Woeste dedicated to Dada artist Man Ray.

Born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia to Russian Jewish immigrants, Man Ray moved to Paris in 1920, changing his name and effectively erasing his heritage as anti-Semitism was spreading across Europe. His artwork spanned disciplines, including painting, photography and sculpture, and including “readymades” in the style of Dada founding father Marcel Duchamp – ordinary objects repurposed as works of art. In his liner notes for Dada People, Douglas calls Man Ray “the ultimate impostor.” Perhaps no other single artist so embodies Dada’s slippery juxtapositions: both French and American, commercial and avant-garde, Jewish by birth and mysterious by design, Man Ray epitomized the conflicting personae and attitudes that have come to define so much of the modern art world of the last century. Bridging the Atlantic, Douglas and Woeste explore those concepts through a 21st-century lens with new music realized by a stellar quartet....

read more

Ars Nova Workshop and the Painted Bride Art Center are pleased to present trumpet great Dave Douglas with his new quartet Dada People, a collaboration with French pianist Frank Woeste dedicated to Dada artist Man Ray.

Born Emmanuel Radnitzky in Philadelphia to Russian Jewish immigrants, Man Ray moved to Paris in 1920, changing his name and effectively erasing his heritage as anti-Semitism was spreading across Europe. His artwork spanned disciplines, including painting, photography and sculpture, and including “readymades” in the style of Dada founding father Marcel Duchamp – ordinary objects repurposed as works of art. In his liner notes for Dada People, Douglas calls Man Ray “the ultimate impostor.” Perhaps no other single artist so embodies Dada’s slippery juxtapositions: both French and American, commercial and avant-garde, Jewish by birth and mysterious by design, Man Ray epitomized the conflicting personae and attitudes that have come to define so much of the modern art world of the last century. Bridging the Atlantic, Douglas and Woeste explore those concepts through a 21st-century lens with new music realized by a stellar quartet.

DownBeat publisher Frank Alkyer has called Douglas “the unassuming king of independent jazz, a model of do-it-yourself moxie, initiative and artistic freedom.”

A prolific trumpeter, composer, educator and entrepreneur from New York City, Dave Douglas is 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 High Risk, an electronic music-influenced quartet with Mark Guiliana, Jonathan Maron and Shigeto. Frank Woeste is a pianist, composer, arranger and producer living in Paris, France. The two composers met while collaborating together with French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf.

show less