If you look around the scene, you'll find that Dave Holland has few peers. He came into the jazz public's consciousness as a bassist for Miles Davis from the late '60s to the early '70s, making his debut as a leader in 1972. He's currently at the very top of the game, leading a variety of bands and participating in non-leader groups like the Overtone Quartet. He can also be found playing as a sideman from time to time as well. He's been called the greatest composing jazz bassist since Charles Mingus, with little argument, and he is a soloist surpassed by few in technique.
After a long tenure on the ECM label, Holland started to release his music on his own Dare2 imprint. The latest is Pathways, a live octet recording that will be released March 23. He also recently launched a comprehensive new Web site that includes his staggering discography, photos, tour dates, new and vintage videos, news and posts from the man himself. There's even a publishing section on the site, where people can purchase sheet music of Holland's compositions as well as transcriptions of his solos. Unreleased material from the Holland vaults also will be made available for cheap or free via download.
“I won't say it's a necessity, but it's become an enabling part of being a musician at this point," Holland says of the less artistic side of his career. “You have to take more responsibility for various aspects of the business. I am lucky enough to have several people who work with me, but there is a lot of hands-on stuff that still has to be done as part of what I see as necessary to continue to create opportunities for the music and projects that I'm working on."
This balancing act between music and business is something that Holland has become comfortable with over time, which makes him an excellent leader. Ever the gentleman, he refuses to cite some bad leaders he's worked with, only saying that some guys just want to play and not worry about the other stuff.
The bassist tends to use a light touch when it comes to leading his fellow musicians: “My job as the bandleader is to just give some focus to the project in terms of where we are starting, sort of set things in motion and let them go. My big thing is to find the right musicians to work with: These people don't need to be told very much about what the music is about. They already understand it. That way they can bring what they have to the table and be free with it."
Holland sees the connection between his playing and his compositions as a natural. Much like John Coltrane used his composition “Giant Steps" to work on certain musical ideas, Dave Holland tends to write in a way that challenges himself, perhaps even forcing him to expand his musical language -- one the most overt examples of his search for a new challenge is his flamenco project with guitarist Pepe Habichuela, whom Holland has been playing with occasionally since 2007 and looks at as one of his next big projects (album, tour) coming down the line.
But even Holland can feel a little out his depth at times, as he did when his old friend and cohort Herbie Hancock threw him a curveball. Holland went out with the pianist on tour in support of Hancock's Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters, which the bassist also played on in the studio.
“I was talking to him about a week before we were supposed to go into rehearsals, and we talked about some stuff and then he ran through some ideas for the set list," Holland recalls. “Originally, we had talked about doing the stuff from the record, but he started naming songs from the Headhunters and stuff like 'Actual Proof,' and I said to him, 'You need bass guitar for some of those songs.' He said, 'How do you feel about that?' I said, 'I don't know. It's kind of short notice.' So he said, 'Try them on acoustic bass and see how you feel.'"
He quickly realized that tunes like 'Chameleon' just didn't work on acoustic upright. So for the first time in nearly two decades, the consummate upright bassist strapped on a bass guitar. “For the first few weeks of the tour, I felt like I was wearing a suit a few sizes too small," he recalls with a laugh. Holland actually started playing bass guitar before upright, so it wasn't as if he was against playing it, but it was a bit of on-the-job training to relearn an instrument onstage at such major venues as Carnegie Hall.
The bassist was at complete ease on the record of 'Pathways.' The middle ground between his multilayered big-band ideas and the tight playing of his small groups, the octet seemingly allows Holland to have his cake and eat it, too. Here his players get to stretch out, but the harmony support from vibes man Steve Nelson (there's no piano here) and the punchy horn section offers beautifully embroidered detail to the tunes. Memorable melodies, smart arrangements, exceptional playing: 'Pathways' has all the hallmarks of a Dave Holland recording.
It's also a reflection of who this band is as people and players. According to Holland, “I see the journey we are on as musicians and the different directions you take in your life, and I sometimes think of it as a series of pathways that you choose when you get to certain crossroads, points and things like that. I think that the title has some significance in regards to how we live and the decisions we make."
Here's what our friends at All About Jazz have been up to:
CD REVIEWS
'Akokan,' Roberto Fonseca
'Truth Be Told,' Mark Egan
'Soul Dancers,' Moutin Reunion Quartet
'Into the Light,' Dana Hall
'Zollar System,' James Zollar
'Rockin' in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington,' John Pizzarelli
INTERVIEWS
Christian Scott: Breaking Boundaries, Crossing Lines
Luis Bonilla: I Talking Now
Roberto Fonseca: A Life in the Spirit
FREE MP3s
'I Talking Now,' by Luis Bonilla
'One-Armed Bandit,' by Jaga Jazzist
'Peepers,' by Polar Bear
'Saint-Louis Blues,' by the Rosenberg Trio
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