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Leap of Faith finds Dave Douglas with friends - tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist James Genus and drummer Ben Perowsky - simply making some of the leader's most challenging original music yet. This band can improvise as exhaustively and exhilaratingly as some listeners prefer: the quick, hard swing of the title cut; the trumpet squawking and chattering back and forth in conversational modes; the cowbell rattles and tenor pokes on the shorty (just over one minute) "Emmenthaler"; and the funky underpinnings and palpable urgency on "Millennium Bug" all give evidence to their improvisational skills. They can also go the patient, soulful route, as they do with the hymnal waltz shades of "Western Haiku," where a little humor goes a long way, especially from Douglas tickling the quote from Monk's "I Mean You" in a Lester Bowie-like fashion. One of four Arabesque masters whose ownership recently reverted back to Douglas.
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