Dave Holland | |
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Background information | |
Born | Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England | 1 October 1946
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Years active | 1964–present |
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Website | www |
David Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. [1] He has lived in the United States since the early 1970s. [2]
His extensive discography ranges from solo performances to pieces for big band. Holland runs his own independent record label, Dare2, which he launched in 2005.
Born in Wolverhampton, England, [3] [4] Holland taught himself how to play stringed instruments, beginning at four on the ukulele, then graduating to guitar and later bass guitar. [1] He quit school at the age of 15 to pursue his profession in a pop band, but soon gravitated to jazz. After seeing an issue of Down Beat where Ray Brown had won the critics' poll for best bass player, Holland went to a record store, and bought a couple of LPs featuring Brown backing pianist Oscar Peterson. He also bought two Leroy Vinnegar albums ( Leroy Walks! and Leroy Walks Again!! ) because the bassist was posed with his instrument on the cover. Within a week, Holland traded in his bass guitar for a double bass and began practicing with the records. In addition to Brown and Vinnegar, Holland was drawn to the bassists Charles Mingus and Jimmy Garrison.
After moving to London in 1964, Holland played double bass in small venues and studied with James Edward Merrett, principal bassist of the Philharmonia Orchestra and, later, the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Merrett trained him to sight read and then recommended he apply to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. [1] Holland received a full-time scholarship for the three-year programme. At 20, Holland was keeping a busy schedule in school, studios and Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London's premier jazz club, where he often played in bands that supported such touring American jazz saxophonists as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Joe Henderson. [1] He also linked up with other British jazz musicians, including guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonists Evan Parker and John Surman, South Africa-born London-based pianist Chris McGregor, and drummer John Stevens, and performed on the Spontaneous Music Ensemble's 1968 album Karyobin. He also began a working relationship with Canada-born, England-based trumpeter Kenny Wheeler that continued until Wheeler's death in 2014.
In 1968, Miles Davis and Philly Joe Jones heard him at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, playing in a combo that opened for the Bill Evans Trio. [1] Jones told Holland that Davis wanted him to join his band (replacing Ron Carter). Davis left the UK before Holland could contact him directly, and two weeks later Holland was given three days' notice to fly to New York for an engagement at Count Basie's nightclub. He arrived the night before, staying with Jack DeJohnette, a previous acquaintance. The following day Herbie Hancock took him to the club, and his two years with Davis began. This was also Hancock's last gig as Davis's pianist, as he left afterwards for a honeymoon in Brazil and was replaced by Chick Corea when he could not return for an engagement due to illness. Holland's first recordings with Davis were in September 1968, and he appears on half of the album Filles de Kilimanjaro (with Davis, Corea, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams). [1]
Holland was a member of Davis's rhythm section through the summer of 1970; he appears on the albums In a Silent Way and Bitches' Brew . [1] In the first year of his tenure with Davis, Holland played primarily upright bass. By the end of 1969, he played electric bass guitar (often treated with wah-wah pedal and other electronic effects) with greater frequency as Davis moved away from acoustic jazz.
Holland was also a member of Davis's working group during this time, unlike many of the musicians who appeared only on the trumpeter's studio recordings. The so-called "lost quintet" of Davis, Shorter, Corea, Holland and DeJohnette was active in 1969 but never made any studio recordings as a quintet. A 1970 live recording of this group plus percussionist Airto Moreira, Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About That Time , was issued in 2001. Steve Grossman replaced Shorter in early 1970; Keith Jarrett joined the group as a second keyboardist thereafter, and Gary Bartz replaced Grossman during the summer of 1970. By the end of the summer, rhythm and blues bass guitarist Michael Henderson had replaced Holland.
After leaving Davis's group, Holland briefly joined the avant-garde jazz group Circle, with Corea, saxophonist Anthony Braxton and percussionist Barry Altschul. [1] This started a decades-long association with the ECM record label. After recording a few albums, Circle disbanded when Corea departed. [1] 1972 saw the recording of Conference of the Birds , with Braxton, saxophonist/flautist Sam Rivers and Altschul– Holland's first recording as a leader, and the beginning of a long musical relationship with Rivers. [1] The title of the album is taken from that of a 4,500-line epic poem by Persian Sufist writer, Farid al-Din Attar.
Holland worked as a leader and as a sideman with many other jazz artists in the 1970s. On 15 June 1972 he played with Thelonious Monk at the Village Vanguard which was one of Monk's last concerts. [5] Holland recorded several important albums with Anthony Braxton between 1972 and 1976 – including New York, Fall 1974 (1974) and Five Pieces (1975) – that were released on Arista Records. [6] Holland also recorded duo sessions with saxophonist Sam Rivers and fellow bassist Barre Phillips, and the solo bass album Emerald Tears . [1] Also in the 1970s he appeared with performers including Stan Getz and the Gateway Trio with John Abercrombie and DeJohnette. [1] The Gateway trio released two influential modern jazz albums in 1975 and 1977, and reformed in 1994 for a recording session which yielded another two albums. As a sideman, Holland appeared on rock and pop recordings as well, working with singer Bonnie Raitt on her 1972 album Give It Up .
Holland formed his first working quintet in 1983, and over the next four years released Jumpin' In , Seeds of Time , and The Razor's Edge , featuring alto saxophonist Steve Coleman, trumpeter Wheeler and trombonist Julian Priester (or Robin Eubanks). [1] Subsequently, he formed the Dave Holland Trio (with Coleman and DeJohnette) for the 1988 album Triplicate , and teamed with Coleman, electric guitarist Kevin Eubanks and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith for Extensions . [1] He also recorded Life Cycle , an album of compositions played on solo cello.
The bassist also continued to collaborate with his peers, often connecting with figures from the previous generation of jazz icons. In 1989, Holland teamed with drummer Billy Higgins and pianist Hank Jones to record The Oracle , and joined drummer Roy Haynes and guitarist Pat Metheny in 1989 to record Question and Answer .
During the 1990s, Holland renewed an affiliation, begun in the 1970s, with Joe Henderson, joining the tenor saxophonist on So Near (So Far) , a tribute to Miles Davis, and Porgy & Bess . Holland also reunited with vocalist Betty Carter, touring and recording the live album Feed the Fire (1993). Fellow Davis alumnus Herbie Hancock invited Holland to tour with him in 1992, subsequently recording The New Standard . Holland joined Hancock's band again in 1996. He was also part of the sessions for River: The Joni Letters , winner of the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
As a leader, Holland formed his third quartet and released Dream of the Elders (1995), which introduced the vibraphonist Steve Nelson to his ensembles. Holland formed a quintet that includes tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, trombonist Robin Eubanks and, a more recent addition, drummer Nate Smith. Their recordings include Points of View, Prime Directive, Not for Nothin, Extended Play: Live at Birdland and Critical Mass. In addition to releasing four quintet albums on ECM, Holland debuted his Big Band, which released What Goes Around in 2002. The album won Holland his first Grammy as a leader, in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category. The second Big Band recording, Overtime (2005), again won the Grammy in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category; it was released on Holland's Dare2 label, which he formed that year.
In 2009, Holland was a co-founder of an all-star group called the Overtone Quartet. The group consisted of Holland on bass, Chris Potter on tenor saxophone, Jason Moran on piano, and Eric Harland on drums. The group toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe.
He won the Critics Poll in Down Beat magazine for Musician of the Year, Big Band of the Year, and Acoustic Bassist of the Year (he also garnered top bassist in the 2006 poll). The Jazz Journalists' Association honored him as Musician and Acoustic Bassist of the Year. He was the recipient of the Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
The National Endowment for the Arts named Holland as one of its five Jazz Masters Fellows in 2017; the award recognizes artists for their lifetime achievements and exceptional contributions toward the advancement of jazz. [7]
Holland has received honorary doctorates from the New England Conservatory, Boston, where he held a full-time teaching position in 1987–88 and where he has been visiting artist in residence since 2005; Berklee College of Music, Boston; and the Birmingham Conservatoire, in England. He was also named Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London). From 1982 to 1989, Holland served as the artistic director of the Banff Summer Jazz Workshop through the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada. In addition, he has taught workshops and master classes around the world at universities and music schools and is President of the UK-based National Youth Jazz Collective.
Title | Release date | Note | Label |
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Conference of the Birds | 1973 | Dave Holland Quartet | ECM |
Emerald Tears | 1978 | Dave Holland; solo bass | ECM |
Life Cycle | 1983 | Dave Holland; solo cello | ECM |
Jumpin' In | 1984 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM |
Seeds of Time | 1985 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM |
The Razor's Edge | 1987 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM |
Triplicate | 1988 | Dave Holland Trio | ECM |
Extensions | 1990 | Dave Holland Quartet | ECM |
Ones All | 1995 | Dave Holland; solo bass | VeraBra |
Dream of the Elders | 1996 | Dave Holland Quartet | ECM |
Points of View | 1998 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM |
Prime Directive | 1999 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM |
Not for Nothin' | 2001 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM |
What Goes Around | 2002 | Dave Holland Big Band | ECM |
Overtime | 2005 | Dave Holland Big Band | Dare2 |
Critical Mass | 2006 | Dave Holland Quintet | Dare2 |
Pass It On | 2008 | Dave Holland Sextet | Dare2 |
Prism | 2013 | Dave Holland Quartet | Dare2 |
Aziza | 2016 | Dave Holland Quartet | Dare2 |
Uncharted Territories | 2018 | Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn, Ches Smith | Dare2 [2CD] |
Another Land | 2021 | trio | Edition |
Title | Release date | Note | Label |
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Extended Play: Live at Birdland | 2003 | Dave Holland Quintet | ECM [2CD] |
Pathways | 2010 | Dave Holland Octet | Dare2 |
Title | Release date | Note | Label |
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Rarum, Vol. 10: Selected Recordings | 2004 | Dave Holland | ECM [2CD] |
As Circle With Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, and Barry Altschul
Gateway With John Abercrombie and Jack DeJohnette
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett, Corea is considered to have been one of the foremost pianists of the post-John Coltrane era.
Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš is a Czech jazz bassist.
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer.
Samuel Carthorne Rivers was an American jazz musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, piano and viola.
Barry Altschul is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for dance performances and film soundtracks.
Circle was an American avant garde jazz ensemble, active in 1970 and 1971. The group arose from pianist Chick Corea's early 1970s trio with Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums and percussion with the addition of Anthony Braxton in a leading role on several reed instruments. The group's earliest recordings were made in 1970 for the Blue Note label but not released until 1975 under Corea's name. A live double album appeared on the ECM label in 1972. These recordings document a period in which Corea's work was steeped in the jazz 'avant garde,' prior to his complete shift to the jazz fusion orientation. Corea, Holland and Altschul also recorded the album, A.R.C. for ECM in 1971, but it was not released under the band name Circle.
Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West is a live double album by the American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on April 10, 1970, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, shortly after the release of the trumpeter's Bitches Brew album and the recording of Jack Johnson (1971). Black Beauty was produced by Teo Macero, Davis' longtime record producer. A jazz-rock and fusion album, Black Beauty captured one of Davis' first performances at a rock venue during the early stages of his electric period. At the concert, he led his band—saxophonist Steve Grossman, bassist Dave Holland, keyboardist Chick Corea, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Airto Moreira—through one continuously performed set list which functioned as a musical suite for soloists to improvise throughout. He signaled changes from one piece to the next with phrases played on his trumpet.
The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and relatively stable bands: the First Great Quintet from 1955 to 1958, and the Second Great Quintet from late 1964 to early 1969, Davis being the only constant throughout.
Conference of the Birds is an album by the Dave Holland Quartet, recorded on 30 November 1972 and released on ECM the following year—Holland's debut as bandleader and fourth project for the label. The quartet features alto saxophonist Anthony Braxton, tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, and percussionist Barry Altschul.
Triplicate is a studio album by the Dave Holland Trio, recorded in March 1988 and released on ECM later that year. The trio features alto saxophonist Steve Coleman and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
Circling In is a double LP collection by jazz pianist Chick Corea featuring performances recorded between 1968 and 1970, including the first recordings by the group Circle, which was first released on the Blue Note label in 1975. It contains trio performances by Corea with Miroslav Vitouš and Roy Haynes recorded in March 1968, which were later added to the CD reissue of Now He Sings, Now He Sobs as bonus tracks, and performances by permutations of the band Circle recorded in April and July 1970 some of which were later released as Early Circle.
1969 Miles: Festiva de Juan Pins is a live album by Miles Davis recorded at the jazz festival in La Pinède, Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, France, as an ORTF radio broadcast.
Directions is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1981 by Columbia Records. It collects previously unreleased outtakes that Davis recorded between 1960 and 1970. Directions was the last of a series of compilation albums—mostly consisting of, at that time, previously unreleased music—that Columbia released to bridge Davis' recording hiatus that ended with the Man with the Horn in July 1981.
A.R.C. is an album by American jazz pianist Chick Corea, British jazz bassist Dave Holland and American jazz drummer Barry Altschul, recorded over January 11–13, 1971 and released on ECM later that year.
Paris-Concert is a live double album by the short-lived jazz band Circle recorded at the Maison de l'O.R.T.F. in Paris on February 21, 1971 and released on ECM the following year. The quartet consists of reed player Anthony Braxton and rhythm section Chick Corea, David Holland and Barry Altschul.
Points of View is a studio album by the Dave Holland Quintet recorded over two days in September 1997 and released on ECM April the following year. The quintet features saxophonist Steve Wilson, trombonist Robin Eubanks, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and drummer Billy Kilson.
Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 is a 3 CD + 1 DVD live album of the Miles Davis Quintet featuring saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. This particular line-up became known as "The Miles Davis Lost Quintet" as it did not record in the studio in this configuration. The CDs contain recordings of two concerts in France and one in Sweden and the DVD has an additional concert recorded in Germany.
Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert is a live album by Circle, a free jazz quartet that featured multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton, pianist Chick Corea, double bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Barry Altschul. It was recorded by German radio on November 28, 1970, in Iserlohn, West Germany, during an extended European tour that also took the group to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and was released on vinyl in 1971 by CBS/Sony Japan. Along with Circle 2: Gathering, the album was reissued on CD by Corea's Stretch label during the 1990s.
Circle 2: Gathering is an album by Circle, a free jazz quartet that featured multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton, pianist Chick Corea, double bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Barry Altschul. The group's final studio session prior to their break-up, it was recorded on May 17, 1971, at Upsurge Studio in New York City, and was released on vinyl later that year by CBS/Sony Japan. Along with Circle 1: Live in Germany Concert, the album was reissued on CD by Corea's Stretch label during the 1990s.