Dave Holland: We need more jazz like this

OCTOBER 1, 2008

Recently, I got a chance to see Dave Holland’s current ensemble at Cambridge’s Regatta Bar. It’s a smallish club and the intimate atmosphere is perfect for seeing top flight musicians play with and off each other, which is exactly what Holland’s group delivered.

Holland is one of the top jazz bass players in the world. He has a distinctive style. It’s not the woody thump of Charlie Haden in his prime, or the lightining runs of a Christian McBride, that marks him. Rather, it’s how he combines an absolutely solid pocket with subtle dynamics and emphasis that always give his playing an infectious, if not overwhelming, groove. He’s the kind of bass player that other musicians love to play over.

And play they did.  Now a sextet, the band had long-time compatriots Steve Nelson on vibes and marimba and Robin Eubanks on trombone. Antonio Hart did the honors on tenor and soprano sax, and Sasha Sipiagin held down the trumpet spot. All were more than supported by Eric Harland, one of the outstanding young drummers in jazz.

In the post-Coltrane/Davis era, jazz has often struggled to find a balance between tradition and innovation, between melody and harmony, between structure and freedom, just to name a few tensions. This sextet seemed to welcome all those challenges and to thrive on living on both sides of all of those lines.

Behind it all was Holland. Having seen him about half a dozen times in a dozen or more years, what has always impressed me is that he smiles more on stage than any jazz musician I can think of. It’s not a Forrest Gump idiotic grin — it’s the smile of someone having fun playing great music with great people. Whether it’s appreciating the venerable Jim Hall’s filigreed guitar in a duet setting, or young lion Antonio Hart’s free playing being matched by Harland’s musical sticks, Holland’s digging it. 

If it’s possible to recall the bordello birth of jazz in an era when you practically need an MFA to describe what happens in a typical tune, Holland seems to do that. Not that his tunes aren’t full of all the wonderful rhythmic and harmonic complexity that jazz has accumulated since Charlie Parker. It’s just that he seems to be able to see past the craft to the art, and past the art to the ancient idea of music binding a group of people together in common ecstasy.

Charles Lloyd, in a different way, is the other guy I think of when I think of a leader and a band that can pull that off. Please, someone at Berklee or Julliard, don’t let your students graduate without understanding what Dave Holland is smiling about.

You can check out Holland’s new album, Pass It On, at http://www.daveholland.com . I haven’t listened to the album yet, but most of the tunes the group played were from it. Mulgrew Miller holds down the keys in place of Nelsen, but I am looking forward to hearing it soon in any event.  PostBlock