We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

ATALAYA

by Dezron Douglas

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited Edition 160g 'Deep Sea' Color LP in Heavyweight Reverse-Board Jacket, with IARC OBI strip & dome-pattern inner sleeve. Pressed at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, with lacquers cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. Limited Edition of 555 copies.

    **orders ship from US, UK and EU **

    Includes unlimited streaming of ATALAYA via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 555 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $29 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    160g Classic Black LP in Heavyweight Reverse-Board Jacket, with IARC OBI strip & dome-pattern inner sleeve. Pressed at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, with lacquers cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.

    **orders ship from US, UK and EU **

    Includes unlimited streaming of ATALAYA via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $24 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Shiny Compact Disc in 4-Panel Digipack with Hype Sticker.

    *Ships from US, EU, & UK*

    Includes unlimited streaming of ATALAYA via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $14 USD or more 

     

  • ATALAYA coffee by Four Letter Word

    10oz bag of coffee beans from Chicago's finest roaster, Four Letter Word! ATALAYA is a blend of 2 impeccable coffees hailing from Gera, Jimma, Ethiopia. A washed coffee from Telila Yukro Station/Mike Mamo sings with bergamot, black tea and breezy nectarines; while producer Mensur Aba Hika’s natural processed coffee resonates with night flowers, oranges and deep velvety mulled wine. Exceptional producers producing undeniably beautiful coffees. Beans selected by coffee aficionado Dezron Douglas with assistance from Four Letter Word co-founder Ria Neri.

    ***SHIPS FROM CHICAGO WAREHOUSE ONLY***

    Sold Out

1.
Atalaya 03:18
2.
Rosé 05:04
3.
Coyoacán 03:32
4.
Luna Moth 06:06
5.
6.
Jones Beach 04:46
7.
8.
J Bird 03:54
9.
Octopus 03:30
10.
Foligno 05:21

about

ATALAYA is new work by bassist Dezron Douglas, and it is alive. That is, ‘alive’ in all the ways that jazz is at its best – as a pure and personal expression of Black Music channeled through time-honored traditions by a group of musicians who practice sonic coherence through musical unity. As Dezron puts it in the opening statement of his liner notes for the album: “Mysticism, Magic, Faith, Love, Power, Discernment! These are words that embody the creative process of Music.”

Followers of contemporary jazz might recognize Dezron for his bass work behind Pharoah Sanders, Louis Hayes, or Ravi Coltrane. Others might know him as the newest full-time member of the Trey Anastasio Band. Steady International Anthem listeners might remember him from the New York side of Makaya McCraven's Universal Beings. More recently we presented Force Majeure, Dezron’s sublime duo record with harpist Brandee Younger, which compiled the best of livestream performances from their Harlem apartment during the original covid lockdown. That album, which came out in December of 2020, reflected the speed and feeling of the moment while somehow simultaneously distracting from the harsh reality of it. It also captured a very vulnerable, intimate, and real impression of Dezron on double bass, sharing his power and truth without abandon.

ATALAYA, similarly, wasn’t processed in the lab, but rather, captured in the room. The realness factor is once again forefront in the sound; but the difference is in the energy and ambition of the music, which reaches for the stratosphere. Again, let’s defer to Dezron here: “Welcome to the Black Lion rocket ship.”

With Emilio Modeste on saxes, George Burton on keys, and Joe Dyson Jr. on drums, Dezron’s crew summons the dynamism of Coltrane’s classic Quartet, or Dave Holland’s Quintet on Prime Directive, or Charles Mingus on Nostalgia In Times Square… swinging virtuosically and firing on all 4 cylinders. But there’s nothing remotely revisionist here – Dezron and his quartet embody poetry, presence, artistic and emotional clarity in every note they play. Free and dissonant, sweet and consonant, sweeping and pure… This is the band you hope is playing every time you walk into a club.

credits

released November 18, 2022

Dezron Douglas – basses
George Burton – piano and rhodes
Joe Dyson Jr. – drums
Emilio Modeste – saxophones
Melvis Santa – vocals and percussion on “Wheeping Birch”

All compositions by Dezron Douglas (NORZED Music ASCAP); except “Wheeping Birch” co-written by Dezron Douglas and Melvis Santa (TENAJA Sounds ASCAP).

Recorded by Dave Vettraino, with assistance from Greg Dicastro, at Firehouse 12, New Haven, Connecticut, on August 25th and 26th, 2021. “Octopus” and vocals on “Wheeping Birch” recorded by David Stoller at Samurai Hotel, Astoria, New York, on November 28th, 2021.

Produced by Dezron Douglas.
Mixed by Dave Vettraino.
Mastered by David Allen.

Artwork by Adama Coulibaly.
Photography by Deneka Peniston.
Liner Notes by Dezron Douglas.
Design by Jeremiah Chiu.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

International Anthem Chicago, Illinois

International Anthem is a Chicago-born recording company that produces and promotes progressive media.

The IARC mission is to make positive contributions to the changing state of the music industry, and to vitalize the demand for boundary-defying music by presenting unique sounds in appealing packages to untapped audiences.
... more

contact / help

Contact International Anthem

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like ATALAYA, you may also like: