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Dave Holland Sextet: Pass It On

by Mark Corroto
It may not be correct to state the music of Dave Holland has matured. With the bassist's latest outing, he takes time away from the Dave Holland Big Band to record his current working sextet that plays music much like a very small big band.
This new lineup replaces vibraphonist Steve Nelson with pianist Mulgrew Miller, and adds trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, from Holland's Big Band. From his now infamous Quintet Holland retains trombonist/composer Robin Eubanks and ... Continue ReadingDave Holland with Robin Eubanks at the New England Conservatory

by Jay Deshpande
Dave Holland with Robin Eubanks New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall Boston, Massachusetts March 25, 2008
The relationship between jazz and the academy is often a contentious one: professors trained in the classical tradition are reluctant to give wiggle room to jazz pedagogy, and jazz musicians frequently see their work as beyond the restrictive approach of theory. New England Conservatory, located in the heart of Boston, draws a neat line between these camps: its ...
Continue ReadingHerbie Hancock: River: The Joni Letters

by George Kanzler
The participation of such former and present Grammy nominees and winners as Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza and Leonard Cohen (reading The Jungle Line" like a beat poet), as well as the iconic stature of Joni Mitchell herself, may have immeasurably helped in winning this CD the Grammy Album of the Year award. But that doesn't diminish the significance of it being the first jazz album to win the award in forty-three years. For make no ...
Continue ReadingHerbie Hancock: River: The Joni Letters

by John Kelman
While it might be easy, on the surface, to view pianist Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters as a continuation of Possibilities (Hear, 2005), nothing could be further from the truth. Possibilities was an unapologetically pop record; River is unequivocally jazz--although such broad classifications shouldn't matter. River is, quite simply, a superb disc that takes Joni Mitchell's extant jazz proclivities and gives them an even greater interpretive boost. The majority of River is culled from Mitchell's classic" songwriting ...
Continue ReadingDave Holland: Critical Mass

by AAJ Italy Staff
Questo ottimo album del bassista Dave Holland incarna l’idea di classicità moderna. Ascoltandolo se ne ricava immediatamente la sensazione che sia un lavoro che si pone in una posizione ‘centrale’ nel panorama jazzistico dei giorni nostri. Una sorta di raffinata costruzione architettonica attorno alla quale ruota la musica stessa di Dave Holland, un bassista che non si è fatto mancare in passato i brividi delle avanguardie anche più estreme e che strada facendo ha deciso di ‘rientrare’ in gruppo. Senza ...
Continue ReadingDave Holland Quintet: Critical Mass

by Joel Roberts
Bassist extraordinaire Dave Holland believes that like fine wine, music shouldn't be unbottled before its time. Holland and his highly regarded quintet spent a year and a half honing and retooling the music on their new album until it reached the point he calls critical mass, where it has become what it's going to be. That patience, care and commitment to getting things right is evident throughout Critical Mass. This is the work of a working band, ...
Continue ReadingDave Holland: Past-Present-Future Luster

by R.J. DeLuke
So far this century, Dave Holland has hit his stride and is enjoying success like few others have matched during the same period of time. He's got the chance to enjoy it now. Make no mistake; it is the fruits of hard labor that he is tasting. And make no mistake that the hard work and the successes bring with it a dose of well-earned satisfaction as Holland eyes his 60th birthday this fall. Holland is looking ...
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