Another show, a new band.

Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard

Another Eugene concert; another band for New York City jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas.

Douglas, whose most recent Eugene appearance was with John Zorn's Masada in October, is back with yet a different configuration.

This time - Wednesday at the Shedd as part of the Oregon Festival of American Music's Now Hear This Series - he will bring essentially the quintet featured on his highly praised new release, "Strange Libera- tion": Uri Caine on Fender Rhodes, James Genus on bass, Clarence Penn on drums and Seamus Blake on tenor sax- ophone.

Blake replaces regular sax player Chris Potter. Also absent will be the CD's guest guitarist Bill Frissell.

Douglas - who virtually every jazz publication has named trumpet player of the year, jazz artist of the year, composer of the year and the band leader on the record of the year - is all about freedom.

"This band explores the borders of freedom and bends the rules with a compelling logic and passion," Douglas writes in the CD's notes.

"What we play certainly refers back to the great traditions of jazz and American music, but it is expressed in a unique, personal language that develops over time.

"There is a sort of freedom in being unattached to any formula or dogma, to let each piece find its own rules. And there is certainly the possibility for failure in exploring new territory."

But he finds it "strangely liberating to put myself in a new situation where I am forced to admit that I have never done this before and, in some sense, have no idea what I am doing."

The album's title stems from a 1967 speech (`Beyond Vietnam') by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in which he said that the Vietnamese "must see Americans as strange liberators."

Further, King said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal" and that "we must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak."

Well, Douglas says, "Music speaks. It speaks in its own language differently to each of us.

`I believe in music as a contribution to the discussion about who we are and where are headed."

As in all of Douglas' projects, the music is emotionally and lyrically charged.

Music, Douglas says, "demands its own meanings that are beyond any explanation. You might be able to decipher the nuts and bolts, but in the end, you can't unscramble the mystery of how music makes you feel."

As a result, Douglas says he is hesitant to talk much about his music.

"Words can so often obscure the feelings and the sense of music. Music is not an argument; it lives in its own universe and refuses to be pinned down.

"For me, these many influences and realities are a part - a small part - of what goes into this music. The important thing is what happens when you listen."

Fred Crafts can be reached at 338-2575 or fcrafts@guardnet .com.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Dave Douglas Quintet

What: Trumpeter Dave Douglas appears with his "Strange Liberation" band

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: The Shedd, 285 W. Broadway

How much: $12.50 to $28.50 through the Shedd box office, 687-6526 or [phone]