Present Joys

Personnel: Uri Caine (piano); Dave Douglas (trumpet).Audio Mixer: Tyler McDiarmid.Recording information: The Loove, Brooklyn, NY (12/16/2013/12/17/2013).Unknown Contributor Role: Peter Schumann.Although trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Uri Caine have performed and recorded numerous times together in the past, 2014's Present Joys marks the first time they've recorded as a duo. An intimate, lyrical, yet still adventurous album, Present Joys finds the longtime creative friends exploring songs culled from the Sacred Harp songbook, along with their own original compositions. A historical vocal music style that originated in the American South in the 1700s, Sacred Harp music combines elements of Protestant hymns and early American folk music. While many Sacred Harp songs do have lyrics, the genre was largely an a cappella style of music built around shape-note syllables such as fa, sol, la, and mi. Subsequently, it translates nicely to Douglas and Caine's instrumental, classical, and jazz-