Greenleaf Music celebrates its 10th Anniversary in 2015. It seems like only yesterday–much less ten years ago–that Dave Douglas and Mike Friedman founded the company together.

Greenleaf was born of a desire to make and distribute music in a different way, to provide a new platform for Dave’s work as well as for artists he wants to showcase, and to create a community of like-minded fans to discover and enjoy that music. Since 2005 we’re proud to have released over 40 different projects: countless albums from Dave Douglas, as well as artists Kneebody, Donny McCaslin, Michael Bates, Nicole Mitchell, Curtis MacDonald, Linda Oh, Matt Ulery, Rudy Royston, Riverside and Ryan Keberle.

As the year passes, we’ll be focusing on our new projects (from Donny McCaslin on March 31 as well as from Dave’s new band High Risk in the summer and his famed Quintet in the Fall). We’ll also remember the company’s previous releases, especially the first three: Kneebody’s Break Me and Dave Douglas’ Mountain Passages and Keystone. We want to get this music in to your hands, so we’re celebrating with a sale (more on that below).

As a special treat for our loyal subscribers, we’ll also be recording a band of Greenleaf alumni and giving the tracks away as part of our subscription series. Dave, Chet Doxas, Ryan Keberle, Frank Woeste, Linda Oh, and Rudy Royston recorded new originals written by Dave earlier this week. Also, Kneebody is recording a new version of the Shane Endsley tune Break Me in honor of the 10th anniversary of their release. We’ll post the first track soon!

“Greenleaf is a family name that goes back at least four centuries. I wanted the label to have a sense of family, both in the way we treat recordings and in the way we deal with artists. You can sit around and gripe about the music industry ’til you’re blue in the face or you can do it yourself and act on what you believe in.”

-Dave Douglas, 2005

The first record on Greenleaf Music was Dave’s Mountain Passages, released ten years ago today. The New York Times wrote that it’s “a cross between the energetic Balkan-tinged improvisation heard in Mr. Douglas’s Tiny Bell Trio and the hushed dynamics of another of his bands, Charms of the Night Sky…a provocative groove and vamp, and a style of ensemble playing that’s dynamically hushed but emotionally hot.”

The ensemble, NOMAD, was formed to play music inspired by the myths and the spirit of rural mountain culture. The instrumentation of trumpet, clarinet, cello, tuba and percussion are envisioned as an imaginary traveling band, and their first performances took place high in the Italian Dolomites as part of the festival I Suoni delle Dolomitti. Partially inspired by his love of world folk music, NOMAD also carries the spirit of jazz that informs all of Dave’s music. Mountain Passages is a profound and playful mix that veers between the solemnity of solitary contemplation and the drunken debauchery of ecstatic celebration. If you haven’t had a chance to check out this work, take the opportunity now!

We’re offering a physical copy of Mountain Passages for $8 and a digital download for $5 at the Greenleaf Music Online Store for 1 week celebrating the 10 year anniversary of its release.

We’re excited to have shared ten years of great music with all of you and look forward to celebrating it all again this year.

Want more music? We feel the same way.