Sven Anderson: Doc's Holiday

Teachers are often unaware of the impact they have on students' lives and careers. That is clearly the case with pianist Sven Anderson's album, Doc's Holiday, whose title number is dedicated to Marvin "Doc" Holladay, one of Anderson's teachers many years ago at Michigan's Oakland University. Holladay, who has been on "holiday" in Ecuador with his wife, Diane, since 2006, says that not only was he completely unaware of the dedication, at age ninety-three he was unable to recall Anderson among the many students he nurtured during a long tenure at Oakland. But Anderson clearly remembers and appreciates his mentor, saluting Holladay's influence with a song co-written with his wife, Janet Tenaj, and a handsome portrait of Holladay by Eugene Mann on the inside jacket cover.

Since his days as a student, Detroit-based Anderson has pursued a successful career during which he has performed with a wide array of well-known jazz artists. He and Tenaj have created a program, "Jazz Is ElemenTREE," that introduces the music to children in the Detroit school system through an appreciation for the world as a whole, especially the environment and their fellow human beings. Besides playing piano, Anderson composes and arranges (every selection on Doc's Holiday was co-written by Anderson and Tenaj and arranged by Anderson) and doubles—triples, actually—on organ and acoustic guitar.

Anderson's supporting cast on most numbers includes trumpeter Scott Cowan, tenor saxophonist Steve Wood (soprano on "Groove Chick," flute on "When You Sleep"), trombonist Edward Gooch, bassist John Barron and drummer Rob Emanuel. Tenaj plays electric piano on "Friends" and sings on "Doc's Holiday" and "Jobim," on which bassist Andrew Lloyd and percussionist Dennis Sheridan are added. As for the music, it is by and large funky-mod with heavy back-beats and occasional Latin grooves. While that may be underselling the complete package, it is the general impression that ensues. The last two selections, "Sir Tyner" (most likely pianist McCoy T) and "Eye Ear Toe" embody more of a straight-ahead jazz point of view, although "Eye Ear Toe" ends inexplicably in mid-note as the ensemble leads it out.

What Anderson and his ensemble do, they do well. Notwithstanding their best efforts, however, there is simply not enough weight or magnetism on Doc's Holiday to draw and hold the attention of hard-core jazz enthusiasts.