During his nearly 50-year career, Dave Holland has appeared on, he figures, roughly 200 albums.(AFP Photography)
Jazz bassist Dave Holland
is known for the lyricism of his playing, for his mentoring of younger
players and for his humility as a bandleader.
Holland began his career
in England as a teenager and moved to the U.S. on the promise of a gig
with Miles Davis.
Since then, he's stayed put on these shores,
developing a solid career as a jazz bassist's bassist and releasing a
prodigious stream of albums.
Dave Holland Octet Pathways
JazzTimes - April, 2010
As Holland has done in virtually everyone of his previous bands, he provides a platform for his Pathways colleagues to realize an individual and collective sense of purpose and cooperation. The resulting spirit of generosity, of selflessly yet emphatically serving each composition, pays off from start to finish on the seven song album (fine penned by Holland), which Edit clocks in at over 75 minutes but doesn't contain a single extraneous note or gesture. Miles and Mingus would be proud.
Produced by Dave Holland
Personnel: Antonio Hart (Alto Sax and Flute), Chris Potter (Tenor Sax and Soprano Sax), Gary Smulyan (Baritone Sax), Alex "Sasha" Sipiagin (Trumpet & Flugelhorn), Robin Eubanks (Trombone), Steve Nelson (Vibraphone and Marimba), Dave Holland (bass), Nate Smith (drums)
The album was recorded live at New York City's Birdland jazz club. Holland returned to New York’s Birdland - the site of Extended Play, his last live album - to record this latest effort.
" I had always loved the sound of the Duke Ellington small
groups, often with a five horn front-line plus the rhythm section. The
combination of two brass and three saxes gives access to a wide range of
textures and colors and allows a composer to evoke the sound of a big
band or create the more intimate sound of a small group. I also wanted a
project that would include at its core my regular working quintet and
build the music around what we had already developed as a small group."
My Octet's debut recording,
Pathways, comes out at
the end of March [3/23] but I actually formed the group in 2001 for a
tour of Britain that was sponsored by the British Arts Council. I had
always loved the sound of the
Duke Ellington small
groups, often with a 5 horn front-line plus the rhythm section. The
combination of 2 brass and 3 saxes gives access to a wide range of
textures and colors and allows a composer to evoke the sound of a big
band or create the more intimate sound of a small group.
I also wanted a project that would include at it’s core my regular working quintet (
Robin Eubanks,
Steve Nelson,
Chris Potter, and
Nate Smith)
and build the music around what we had already developed as a small
group. The additional horns gave me some different compositional
options but equally important, the personal sound, style and creative
approaches of
Antonio Hart (alto),
Gary Smulyan (baritone) and
Alex Sipiagin (trumpet) add a great deal to the creative mix.
For those that have followed my recording career, know that I often
revisit compositions I have recorded at different stages in my career.
Over the years, one of the things that has changed is my approach to
playing them. Writing the song is just a starting point and after that
the improvisor develops different ways of interpreting it. There are
some compositions that seem to remain relevant and that continue to
evolve. On
Pathways, I chose two older pieces,
"Shadow Dance" and
"How's Never?" The former was on
Jumpin In', my debut recording with my first working band over 25 years ago. The latter I first played with the
Gateway trio with
Jack DeJohnette and
John Abercrombie.
"How's Never"
Extrait (13"03min.)