dave holland quintet: not for nothin'

Jazz combo deserves overused praises

BY AARON JAKES

Dave Holland has remained one of the most creative voices on the jazz scene for three decades. Like many of today's titans, he came of age under the tutelage of Miles Davis, who heard the bassist at London's Ronnie Scott's Club and immediately offered him a position in his own group. Holland accepted and went on to craft the bass lines for such monumental recordings as Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, and Live Evil.

Following his work with Miles, Holland collaborated with some of the greatest talents in jazz on a wide range of innovative recordings. Recently, however, he has directed his career onto a somewhat unusual course. Since the formation of his current Quintet in 1997, Holland has dedicated his efforts to regular live performance with a single group. The Quintet tours far more extensively than most contemporary combos, often playing out every night for weeks at a stretch. The few recordings they have released, therefore, represent material mastered in hundreds of hours of live performance, and the results of this approach have been spectacular. Points of View and Prime Directive, the Quintet's two previous albums, were widely hailed among the best recordings in their respective years of release.

Not for Nothin' is no exception to this pattern. In the year and a half since Prime Directive, the Dave Holland Quintet has continued to improve. Most notably, the group has moved towards even greater rhythmic intensity and a greater emphasis on the manipulation of characteristically asymmetrical grooves. Holland's use of vibraphone and marimba (played by Steve Nelson) has always given the group a more percussive sound than ordinary combos with a piano-based rhythm section. But continued performance and increased sensitivity have allowed the group to transcend traditional distinctions between rhythm section and front line. The album's nine original tracks contain few conventional solos. Rather, the basic rhythmic figures of each tune are embellished in a series of contrapuntal conversations between individual members of the group. This progressive development of form also lends itself to a successful abandonment of the melody-solo-melody structure found on so many jazz recordings.

The most impressive showcase of the Quintet's talents comes on "What Goes Around." The tune begins with a simple 11-beat groove played by Holland and quickly builds to an exuberant weave of lines by the entire group. As the texture thins, Chris Potter begins a characteristically fierce saxophone solo, stacking small motivic units over Holland's repeating bass figure. Potter has been well-recognized for his fearsome skills on tenor sax. Here he proves he is equally comfortable on alto, and he takes full advantage of the horn's more focused sound in his exchanges with drummer Billy Kilson. Kilson's playing throughout the album is equally impressive, and the swift and sensitive exchange of ideas between drums and bass provides some of the album's more subtle pleasures.

Not for Nothin' should only augment the praise lavished on the Dave Holland Quintet. The band's unique and innovative sound offers encouraging evidence that the contemporary jazz scene is alive and kicking. (ECM)

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