Dave Holland

Honored to have my compositions played by this ensemble! https://t.co/VjzvezH8pP

— Dave Holland (@TheDaveHolland) May 21, 2019

#ElliotGalvin to support ...

.@ElliotGalvin to support Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke, Dave Holland, Eric Harland, Aziza @Londonjazzfest on 15th Nov https://t.co/kqz86NMaiv

— Edition Records (@EditionRecords) October 6, 2016

#JasonMoran, #DaveHolland #JackDeJohnette

Curious about what a trio featuring Jason Moran, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette would sound like? Read our review. https://t.co/DHNRaq1K4q

— JazzTimes Magazine (@JazzTimes) September 3, 2016

Dave Holland’s Big Band

Saturday December 11, 7pm & 9pm

Double-bass jazz giant Dave Holland returns to the Bride for the Philadelphia debut of his big band. One of the world’s most versatile bassists whose career includes collaborative credits with Miles Davis, Betty Carter, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea and Pat Metheny, now this living jazz icon presents his imaginative and zestful musicality as a big bandleader. Driven by a powerful rhythm section, flawless melodic invention, sinfully beautiful tones and fierce brass arrangements, audiences can expect to be blown away as they witness some of the best talent working in the genre today. This will be the region’s jazz concert of the season. One night only, two-shows, don’t miss out!

Ensemble: Dave Holland Big Band: Antonio Hart: alto & soprano sax, flute; Mark Gross: alto sax; Chris Potter: tenor sax; Gary Smulyan: baritone sax; Robin Eubanks; trombone; Joanthan Arons: trombone; Josh Roseman: trombone; Taylor Haskins: trumpet, flugelhorn; Alex “Sasha” Sipiagin: trumpet flugelhorn; Duane Eubanks: trumpet, flugelhorn; Craig Taborn: fender rhodes; Dave Holland: double-bass; Nate Smith: drums.

From Granada Caves and New York Clubs: The Collaboration of Flamenco Guitarist Pepe Habichuela & Jazz Bassist Dave Holland

Parallel lives, parallel movements: through the streets of Wolverhampton, England and the jazz clubs of New York, the caves of Granada and the flamenco bars of Madrid. Over strings and oceans and language barriers, masterful jazz bassist Dave Holland and Spanish guitar legend Pepe Habichuela have come together to unfold the beauty of flamenco on Hands (Dare2 Records; October 5, 2010), with collaborative takes on traditional and original compositions that let Holland’s bass to sing with a new kind of soul.

Holland met Habichuela, the acclaimed scion of a deep-rooted Gypsy family from Granada, as part of a jazz- meets-flamenco pairing instigated by a Sevilla arts organization. It didn’t take long, however, for Holland to realize the depth of connection he felt with his new collaborator, who, like Holland, had taught himself to play at a tender age. Holland picked up the ukulele as a boy in the Midlands, while thousands of miles away Habichuela practiced the guitar music he’d grown up hearing by sneaking up to the caves above his native city.

While realizing he’d met a musical soul mate, Holland also fell for flamenco culture. It struck him as he sat with Habichuela and his exuberant extended family at a party in Granada’s gypsy quarter, overlooking the Moorish castle, Al Hambra, after that first fateful encounter in Sevilla. “We had great flamenco music and food, a fire burning. It was a magical atmosphere, the culmination of everything,” Holland recalls fondly.

This culture resonates with jazz in unexpected ways, reflecting the parallel journeys of Spain’s Gypsy and America’s African musicians out of oppression and toward dignity and beauty. “I think the significance of the music for the culture is similar,” Holland reflects. “Jazz is one of the ways African American musicians were able to preserve their identity. It was a rallying point, much as flamenco is for the Gypsies.”

Jazz and flamenco also share what Holland calls the “aural transmission of music,” the passing down through direct experience of complex forms and techniques, its subtleties and drama. Holland dove into this hands-on approach with Habichuela, learning a new musical language and eschewing all thoughts of playing over Habichuela’s parts or making mere fusion. I had no intention of putting Pepe in a jazz context and expecting him to play that way,” Holland explains. “So for me the real joy of this was to get into Pepe’s world and absorb that.”

Though Habichuela served as Holland’s teacher and guide through the filigree forest of flamenco’s regional variations and multi-section structures, Holland also worked intensively to forge his own path, his own embrace of flamenco’s distinct sound and spirit.

He felt his way forward in unique places, in the emotional power of great flamenco vocalists. Working with recordings and drawing on his years of experience and artistry, Holland carved out a striking role for his instrument—and foregrounded the lyrical beauty and soul of what is often thought of as just about dance and fire.

“On the taranta on the album (‘Camaron’), I’m taking the role of the vocal with Pepe accompanying me. I had heard the great flamenco vocalist Camaron sing it, and I knew I had to live up to that. At the same time, I didn’t want to stray too far while finding my own way.”

Though unexpected, the upright bass proved perfect for echoing the dynamics and ornamentation of flamenco’s sometimes simple melodies. The glissandos and flowing trills that make flamenco lines what they are offered Holland intriguing opportunities for improvisation, beyond the usual means of the solo. And in capturing the elegant embellishments of vocal lines, Holland provides a gracious foil to Habichuela’s practiced yet spitfire performances.

“When we finally performed that taranta and when I got the olé from Pepe, I felt like I had graduated,” Holland laughs. “Those olés aren’t free.”

At times daunted by the challenge of learning and teaching this wealth of structure and subtlety, Holland and Habichela—soon joined by Pepe’s hip son Jocemi who’s leaped into fame thanks to his flamenco fusion group Ketama—worked over three years to craft a body of work that honored flamenco’s spirit while making room for gentle new perspectives.

“When Jocemi joined us, I felt I could bring in some of my music. Pepe is 100 percent flamenco. That’s what he does, but Jocemi has a broad range of musical experiences and brought new possibilities to the group.”

This openness shines through on two tracks Holland brought to the project, such as “Whirling Dervish,” which features Jocemi’s fancy fingerwork. “Joyride” gives more room to flamenco’s often unsung heroes, the cajon (wooden box) players and percussionists who get to cut loose on the track.

Yet the heart of the album—the pieces brought to the table by Habichuela and carefully transcribed and enriched by Holland—is vibrantly flamenco, capturing the spirit Holland glimpsed that night in Granada and that Habichuela had lived and breathed since birth. A spirit that Holland feels he now has the emotional depth and musical maturity to channel.

“I think fifteen or twenty years ago, I would not have been ready to do this project emotionally. I needed to reach this stage in my life to feel it,” Holland notes. “When it came, I really was ready to receive it and respond to the emotion requirements of the music, keeping an open mind and letting things resonate.”

“I can now say that we are two Gypsies,” Habichuela chuckles, “or better yet, he is a Gypsy and I am almost an Englishman.”

From: http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/509.cfm

Over strings and oceans and language barriers, bassist Dave Holland and Spanish guitar Pepe Habichuela...

From Granada Caves and New York Clubs: The Collaboration of Flamenco Guitarist Pepe Habichuela & Jazz Bassist Dave Holland

Parallel lives, parallel movements: through the streets of Wolverhampton, England and the jazz clubs of New York, the caves of Granada and the flamenco bars of Madrid. Over strings and oceans and language barriers, masterful jazz bassist Dave Holland and Spanish guitar legend Pepe Habichuela have come together to unfold the beauty of flamenco on HandsDare2 Records; October 5, 2010), with collaborative takes on traditional and original compositions that let Holland's bass to sing with a new kind of soul.

Holland met Habichuela, the acclaimed scion of a deep-rooted Gypsy family from Granada, as part of a jazz- meets-flamenco pairing instigated by a Sevilla arts organization. It didn't take long, however, for Holland to realize the depth of connection he felt with his new collaborator, who, like Holland , had taught himself to play at a tender age. Holland picked up the ukulele as a boy in the Midlands, while thousands of miles away Habichuela practiced the guitar music he'd grown up hearing by sneaking up to the caves above his native city.

While realizing he'd met a musical soul mate, Holland also fell for flamenco culture. It struck him as he sat with Habichuela and his exuberant extended family at a party in Granada 's gypsy quarter, overlooking the Moorish castle, Al Hambra, after that first fateful encounter in Sevilla. "We had great flamenco music and food, a fire burning. It was a magical atmosphere, the culmination of everything," Holland recalls fondly.

This culture resonates with jazz in unexpected ways, reflecting the parallel journeys of Spain's Gypsy and America's African musicians out of oppression and toward dignity and beauty. "I think the significance of the music for the culture is similar," Holland reflects. "Jazz is one of the ways African American musicians were able to preserve their identity. It was a rallying point, much as flamenco is for the Gypsies."

Jazz and flamenco also share what Holland calls the "aural transmission of music," the passing down through direct experience of complex forms and techniques, its subtleties and drama. Holland dove into this hands-on approach with Habichuela, learning a new musical language and eschewing all thoughts of playing over Habichuela's parts or making mere fusion. I had no intention of putting Pepe in a jazz context and expecting him to play that way," Holland explains. "So for me the real joy of this was to get into Pepe's world and absorb that."

Though Habichuela served as Holland's teacher and guide through the filigree forest of flamenco's regional variations and multi-section structures, Holland also worked intensively to forge his own path, his own embrace of flamenco's distinct sound and spirit.

He felt his way forward in unique places, in the emotional power of great flamenco vocalists. Working with recordings and drawing on his years of experience and artistry, Holland carved out a striking role for his instrument-and foregrounded the lyrical beauty and soul of what is often thought of as just about dance and fire.

"On the taranta on the album ('Camaron'), I'm taking the role of the vocal with Pepe accompanying me. I had heard the great flamenco vocalist Camaron sing it, and I knew I had to live up to that. At the same time, I didn't want to stray too far while finding my own way."

Though unexpected, the upright bass proved perfect for echoing the dynamics and ornamentation of flamenco's sometimes simple melodies. The glissandos and flowing trills that make flamenco lines what they are offered Holland intriguing opportunities for improvisation, beyond the usual means of the solo. And in capturing the elegant embellishments of vocal lines, Holland provides a gracious foil to Habichuela's practiced yet spitfire performances.

"When we finally performed that taranta and when I got the olé from Pepe, I felt like I had graduated," Holland laughs. "Those olés aren't free."

At times daunted by the challenge of learning and teaching this wealth of structure and subtlety, Holland and Habichela-soon joined by Pepe's hip son Jocemi who's leaped into fame thanks to his flamenco fusion group Ketama-worked over three years to craft a body of work that honored flamenco's spirit while making room for gentle new perspectives.

"When Jocemi joined us, I felt I could bring in some of my music. Pepe is 100 percent flamenco. That's what he does, but Jocemi has a broad range of musical experiences and brought new possibilities to the group."

This openness shines through on two tracks Holland brought to the project, such as "Whirling Dervish," which features Jocemi's fancy fingerwork. "Joyride" gives more room to flamenco's often unsung heroes, the cajon (wooden box) players and percussionists who get to cut loose on the track. Yet the heart of the album-the pieces brought to the table by Habichuela and carefully transcribed and enriched by Holland-is vibrantly flamenco, capturing the spirit Holland glimpsed that night in Granada and that Habichuela had lived and breathed since birth. A spirit that Holland feels he now has the emotional depth and musical maturity to channel.

"I think fifteen or twenty years ago, I would not have been ready to do this project emotionally. I needed to reach this stage in my life to feel it," Holland notes. "When it came, I really was ready to receive it and respond to the emotion requirements of the music, keeping an open mind and letting things resonate."

"I can now say that we are two Gypsies," Habichuela chuckles, "or better yet, he is a Gypsy and I am almost an Englishman."

From: Rachel DiGregorio rachel@rockpaperscissors.biz

Dave Holland and Gordon Beck

My Dear Friend Ken Laster posts below on his encounter with the great Dave Holland. Once again I am envious of my namesake. I don't know Holland's work very well, but I have long been a fan of his magnum opus: Conference of the Birds. I'll quote the judicious Laster here from our brief exchange at the aforementioned post: I bought that album back in the 70's, and it probably was the one album that got me to 'understand' what free improvisation was about. Its one of those albums where the improvisations stretch out as far as you can go, but yet remains very close to the framework of Holland's composition. It is one of those avant garde sets that is still very accessible. Well, yes. Conference of the Birds is a brilliant piece of avant garde. The "improvisational stretch" is a lot greater on some numbers than others. Holland plays bass, and around him are Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers on reeds and flute. These are two champions of free jazz if ever it had champions. Barry Altschul does percussion.

Here is the title piece. It is indescribably delicious. But I will try to describe it. Holland opens with a seductive bass line, making the hair stand up on the back of neck. Only at the end of his run does he let the genie out of the bottle. Then the reeds and flute carry the soul upwards into the heavens.
Dave Holland/Conference of the Birds/Conference of the Bird
http://drop.io/hidden/dssmd0pmfltagm/asset/MDMtY29uZmVyZW5jZS1vZi10aGUtYmlyZHMtbTRh
All of the album is good. If you don't have Dave Holland's 72 recording in your collection, you don't have a collection. Holland got his big break when Miles Davis called him over from England. Another English Jazz man who never got that call, but should have, is Gordon Beck. To judge by the two of his recordings that I have acquired, he ought to be a lot more famous. Beck is a piano player and consummate modernist. His 68 recording Gyroscope is astonishing. But his Seven Steps to Heaven, well, that is one that earns his way to the promised land. It doesn't hurt that Beck does a Wayne Shorter composition. I've never met a Shorter composition I didn't like. Here it is, with Pierrick Pedron on alto, Bruno Rousselet on bass, and Philippe Soirat on drums. It's a very good recording, and one that will set your collection apart.
Gordon Beck/Juju/Seven Steps To Heaven
http://drop.io/hidden/dssmd0pmfltagm/asset/MDMtanVqdS1tcDM
So enjoy the genius of a couple of limeys. Also: go out and pay for their recordings. Tell 'em I sent ya.
http://jazznotesdp.blogspot.com/