Dave Douglas & Uri Caine and Don Byron New Gospel Quintet Set for McCullough Theatre Tonight

Texas Performing Arts presents DIVINE SPARK jazz masters of spiritual music, featuring Dave Douglas & Uri Caine, and The Don Byron New Gospel Quintet tonight, January 22, 2016 at 8:00 PM at McCullough Theatre.

This amazing double-bill features an opening set by longtime collaborators Dave Douglas and Uri Caine, followed by Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet. Both sets are steeped in spirituality and inspired by the American church music traditions of Sacred Harp and Gospel.

Present Joys is a live performance based on the first-ever recorded set of duets between trumpeter Dave Douglas and Uri Caine, the first pianist in Douglas' quintet. The material was inspired by the American "shape-note singing" tradition, a particular style of American sacred folk music, one with a simplicity and direct beauty that Douglas and Caine seek to express in this performance. The results are quite extraordinary.

The Don Byron Quintet, featured on Love, Peace, and Soul, Byron's debut album for Savoy Jazz, is the newest adventure for this groundbreaking artist who has reveled in interpreting music by a wildly diverse range of artists and styles, including Duke Ellington, Igor Stravinsky, Mickey Katz, Raymond Scott, John Kirby, Sly Stone, Henry Mancini, Sugar Hill Records early hip-hop, Earth, Wind & Fire, Herb Alpert, and R&B icon Junior Walker. With jazz as his springboard, this time the virtuosic clarinetist has turned his ear to Gospel icons Thomas A. Dorsey and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

The Don Byron New Gospel Quintet was launched in 2009 and had its world premiere at the Jazz Standard in New York. The band has since toured Europe and the U.S. to enthusiastic audiences and critics alike. Critic Kevin Le Gendre described a performance at England's Cheltenham Festival on BBC3 as, "[A] fantastic gig! Anytime [Bryon] does a new project he always explores the subject very deeply. He's not just another jazz musician doing Gospel - he is somebody who is really engaging with the subject matter as well, trying to absorb what's in those lyrics by Thomas A. Dorsey, these very moving songs about his relationship with God, and just human relationships as well, and that really comes across in the gig. It's a very moving experience."

In addition to $10 tickets for primary, secondary, or college students, Texas Performing Arts is now offering a limited number of $12 tickets to active and retired military personnel for all 2015-2016 season performances (excludes Broadway and special engagements). A military id is required. For a schedule of upcoming 2015-2016 season performances, visit www.TexasPerformingArts.org.

For more information on this performance, visit texasperformingarts.org/season/dave-douglas-uri-caine-don-byron-mccullough-theatre-2016.

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