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Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Dave Holland Sextet in DC

February 12, 2007 by Doug Ramsey

Rifftides Washington, DC correspondent John Birchard heard Dave Holland’s new band the other night and filed this report.

Terrace Theater, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

February 9, 2007.

Dave Holland, bass; Robin Eubanks, trombone; Antonio Hart, alto saxophone; Alex Sipiagin, trumpet & fluegelhorn; Mulgrew Miller, piano; Eric Harland, drums.
Holland%2C%20Dave.jpg
Dave Holland made his third visit to the Kennedy Center, leading a band he described as “a relatively new project.” The British-born bassist is coming off a banner year, having been named Bassist of the Year for 2006 by readers of Down Beat, his quintet named Best Jazz Group and his big band voted Best Big Band. On the evidence of last night’s first set, Holland is not resting on those laurels.
The new band can justifiably be called an all-star group. There are no weak links. The audience that filled the Terrace Theater heard a set of originals by the leader that showcased each musician in arrangements that demonstrated freshness and originality. Holland kicked off the evening with a snappy Latin piece that featured Mulgrew Miller and Robin Eubanks.
A tribute to the late Ray Brown, “Mister B”, followed. A loose-limbed, medium swinger, the tune reminded one of Brown and featured Miller again and altoist Antonio Hart, who is not afraid to allow space as he builds a solo and will mine a phrase, repeating it as if examining it first from one side then another, not just stuffing notes in as a substitute for thought.
An up-tempo “Interception” was next, offering an intense Alex Sipiagin whose chops are impressive and tone on trumpet is bright. His fiery playing put me in mind of my youth when Europeans were considered second-rate jazz players. Those days are long gone, thank God. If any proof were needed, the work by Sipiagin and his leader last night were fine examples. The fast, staccato piece came to a close with Eric Harland’s drum solo, which at times sounded like a machine gun with hiccups.
Holland then introduced another of his originals, one inspired he said by a scene from the old movie Cleopatra, in which Elizabeth Taylor made her stately way down the Nile on a barge. He calls it “Processional” and its exotic minor sound and leisurely pace offered a chance to hear Sipiagin’s mellow fluegelhorn state the melody and gave Antonio Hart another pleasing showcase.
The set concluded all too soon with a tribute to the late drummer Ed Blackwell and his New Orleans background, titled “Pass It On”. Holland, who played a 3/4-sized bass throughout, began the tune with an unaccompanied pizzicato solo that featured soulful double- and triple-stops and gradually morphed into a rhythmic beat that had the audience fairly tasting the gumbo of the Crescent City. Harland slid in underneath Holland and showed the Blackwell beat did not die with its inventor. Robin Eubanks offered a fine, raucous solo full of smears and a burry sound appropriate to the tune and Antonio Hart turned up the temperature even more, leading to Eric Harland’s infectious solo and then out.
Dave Holland’s new band is a worthy successor to his previous quintet. At times, the front line reminded this listener of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and at others of the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet. But mostly, the sextet bears the stamp of its leader. It is an uncompromising jazz band with a sound that is anchored in the past and looks ahead with intelligence, taste and imagination.
John Birchard

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Comments

  1. Andrew Shields says

    February 12, 2007 at 3:26 am

    “a worthy successor to his previous quintet”: Has he broken up the previous group?

  2. John Birchard says

    February 12, 2007 at 7:33 pm

    To: Andrew Shields
    In answer to your question, “has he broken up the previous group?”… I was premature with my “previous”. Dave says, “the quintet is still together and we have work planned into the foreseeable future. The sextet is a group that I intend to do more work with as an additional project.”
    Thanks for your question.
    John Birchard

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism... [Read More]

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A winner of the Blog Of The Year award of the international Jazz Journalists Association. Rifftides is founded on Doug's conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but the blog reaches past... Read More...

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Doug's most recent book is a novel, Poodie James. Previously, he published Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. He contributed to The Oxford Companion To Jazz and co-edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? He is at work on another novel in which, as in Poodie James, music is incidental.

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