Holland

Dave Holland Quintet - Jumpin' In (1983) {ECM 1269}
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© 1983 ECM Records | ECM 1269
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Bass

Bassist Dave Holland leads one of his most stimulating groups on this superlative quintet date. With the young Steve Coleman on alto and flute, trumpet great Kenny Wheeler, trombonist Julian Priester, and drummer Steve Ellington in the band, Holland had a particularly creative group of musicians in which to interpret and stretch out his six originals; Coleman also contributed one composition. This set, which has plenty of variety in moods, tone, colors, and styles, is one of Holland's better recordings.

For this tight and enjoyable quartet date, bassist Dave Holland spread the composing opportunities around, his sidemen accounting for four of the six pieces. Arguably, none of these musicians ever sounded better, or more adventurous, than when performing in Holland's bands. While the leader himself retreated a good deal from his more routinely avant-garde recordings of the '70s, he appeared unwilling to allow his younger compadres to simply coast, instead evoking probing and thoughtful playing from them. Altoist Steve Coleman derives particular benefit from Holland's supervision, sounding far more fluid and confident than own his own rather more stilted albums.

Beginning in 2012, pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Dave Holland formed a duo partnership that found them performing live all around the world. The duo's 2014 studio album, The Art of Conversation, showcases this collaboration with a simple, beautifully understated mix of standards and original compositions. Journeyman solo artists and bandleaders in their own right, both Barron and Holland are virtuoso musicians who've made their mark playing disparate, if compatible, styles of jazz.

Dave Holland Quintet - Extended Play. Live At Birdland (2003) [2CD] {ECM}
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© 2003 ECM Records | ECM 1864/65
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Bass

EXTENDED PLAY was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. With a front line that features saxophone, trombone, and vibraphone/marimba, the Dave Holland Quintet features an immediately identifiable band sound. As for backing, bassist Holland and traps man Billy Kilson provide a push-me-pull-you, supple and responsive rhythm section that is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to accompaniment ideas. The thing that separates the men from the boys in the world of jazz improvisation is listening–when the performers are paying close attention to one another, the creative horizons are all but limitless.

On Nov. 27, “Black Friday,” independent jazz label Resonance Records will continue its ongoing tradition of releasing previously unissued archival recordings as limited-edition Record Store Day exclusives with a stellar new three-LP collection of historic Sonny Rollins performances, Rollins in Holland: The 1967 Studio & Live Recordings.

Originally released on ECM in 1971, and here reissued on CD in Japan, this historic date features the two British bassists engaged while at the top of their powers, exploring not only tonality and the dynamic and harmonic possibilities that exist between two double basses, but also the expanded notions of how the different players' styles and musical intuitions dovetail, rather than work in opposition. Holland's pizzicato attack is far more languid and lush than Phillips,' whose style is over the top; they approach each encounter as one in which sheer propulsiveness becomes an aesthetic.

In June of 1990, drummer Jack Dejohnette, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Dave Holland, and guitarist Pat Metheny, went on tour together to promote Dejohnette's album, Parallel Realities. The two of these shows, which were performed at the Mellon Jazz Festival, were edited to make the very exciting DVD, Dejohnette, Hancock, Holland, Metheny in Concert. Watching the disc, I became very envious of the audience for being able to see four musicians of this caliber play together on one stage. In fact, watching the tremendous amount of skill and creative energy exhibited by the musicians in this DVD is a good reminder of why jazz is such an important school of music.