IF THERE’S ANY BASS PLAYER TODAY THAT EMBODIES THE BREATH WIDTH AND DEPTH OF WHAT A JAZZ BASS CAN ACCOMPLISH, DAVE HOLLAND IS ARGUABLY THE POSTER CHILD. MAKING HIS NAME IN THE FAMOUS MILES DAVIS BANDS OF THE 60S AND 70S, HOLLAND IS THE PULSE BEHIND CLASSIC ALBUMS SUCH AS BITCHES BREW AND IN A SILENT WAY.
MOST ARTISTS WOULD BE CONTENT TO REST ON THEIR LAURELS AFTER THAT, BUT HOLLAND’S FINGERS HAVE APPEARED ON COUNTLESS SESSIONS RANGING FROM GIGS WITH JOHN MCLAUGHLIN AND JACK DEJOHNETTE ALL THE WAY TO THE OUTSIDE WITH SAM RIVERS, BUT ALSO STUDIO SESSIONS INCLUDING MARIA MULDAUR, BONNIE RAITT AND EVEN ROY ORBISON!
WHEN ONE IS WILLING TO PLAY ON SUCH A WIDE PALATTE OF MUSICAL COLORS, THERE MUST BE SOME MOTIVATION BESIDES SIMPLY PLAYING TO GET ONE’S BILLS PAID.
BILL HOLLAND’S LATEST ALBUM, ANOTHER LAND, IS A REFLECTION OF MANY OF HIS STYLES AND TASTES. TEAMED WITH GUITARIST KEVIN EUBANKS AND DRUMMER OBED CAVALAIRE, HOLLAND CREATES A RAINBOW OF MUSICAL COLORS ON BOTH ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRIC BASS WITH SONGS RANGING FROM FUNK TO BLUES TO SWINGING RIVULETS OF RHYTHM.
MR. HOLLAND WAS GRACIOUS ENOUGH TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH US, LETTING US PEAK INTO HIS MUSICAL WORLD AND HIS MOTIVATION FOR SEEING EVERY SESSION AS A CHANCE TO GROW AS A MUSICIAN AND CREATURE OF GOD.
YOU’VE BEEN PLAYING BASS FOR A LONG TIME. HOW DO YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR HANDS?
There are a few aspects to that.
Practicing, of course, but practicing in a way that is beneficial to being able to relax when you play. Trying to get rid of tension; not just practicing to get the notes and techniques right, but practicing with relaxation.
JUST YOUR HANDS, OR THE WHOLE BODY?
The whole body.
Playing bass. When I talk to young musicians, I tell them that playing the bass is a complete body involvement.
I took some Tai Chi lessons some time ago. because I was interested in the whole idea of the transfer of energy into the instrument and centering yourself. That really helped a lot.
I read a book called. Zen and the Art of Archery. It’s a fantastic book, and it describes exactly what you need to do in terms of playing the bass.
How do you pull this extremely powerful bow when you’re a fairly small Japanese monk, and you’re able to do it seemingly effortlessly? This is all part of it.
On top of that, I do stretching in the morning; I try to eat well and do some exercising every day. There’s a program that I have been following since I was in my late teens. I think it has helped.
**********
“When I talk to young musicians, I tell them that playing the bass is a complete body involvement.”
**********
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE TOLD ME THAT ALL OF HIS GROOMSMEN WERE DRUMMERS, SHOWING THE DEPTH OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BASSISTS AND DRUMMERS.
YOU’VE PLAYED WITH SOME OF THE GREATEST DRUMMERS INCLUDING DEJOHNETTE, CALVAIRE, WILLIAMS, BLAKE, ALTSCHUL, ETC.
WITH THAT IN MIND, WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A DRUMMER?
The basic thing is about how it feels. Does it feel good?
The important aspect is being able to listen to the other musicians. Not just to create a background, but also to engage in the dialogue of the music.
Different music requires different skills. There are some drummers that can do it all, and others that specialize. So, it also depends on the music and what’s going on.
I’ll give you an example with two drummers that I’ve been lucky enough to play with, Elvin Jones and Eddie Blackwell.
Here are two really different approaches to the drums. Blackwell comes out of the New Orleans tradition, and Elvin is from Detroit. Both have great distinctive cymbal beats as to their approach of the drums.
I found that with playing with each of them., I find the drummer as being the King of setting the feel of the music.
As a bass player, I of course have my own feel that I bring to the playing, but I also listen closely to what the drummer is doing and how the groove is feeling so I can work with it.
It’s the most important part of the groove, the team that is created by the drum and the bass. It becomes a matter of how well you connect.
**********
“It’s the most important part of the groove, the team that is created by the drum and the bass. It becomes a matter of how well you connect”
**********
WITH THAT IN MIND, HOW DID YOU MEET OBED CALVAIRE, THE DRUMMER ON YOUR MOST RECENT ALBUM?
(You mentioned Obed Calvaire, )I met him at a gig that he was doing to hear the band that he was in. I had never met him before.
At the end of the gig I went up to him and said “I love the way you play; would you be interested in doing something?”
We had never played before, but I had a gig coming up in Russia as a trio with Kevin Eubanks, so I called Obed and asked if he’d come with us.
We had never played before, but I knew that it was going to work just from how he felt and the way he responded to the music in that other group. It told me so much about his character and how he feels playing with people, his sense of responsibility, and his respect for the other musicians.
You can tell a lot about a musician by the way that they play and even just touch the instrument.
Miles once said to me “I can tell a lot about a musician just by the way they take the instrument out of the case”
The other thing that is important to me is the nature of the individuals themselves. Is it a person who tries to make the best of a situation?
It is challenging when you’re on the road, and you come up with a lot of obstacles: planes ***that are cancelled, rooms that haven’t been booked properly and things like that. Some musicians learn to roll with it, and others just complain and moan and groan about everything. That can destroy the groove just as well.
There’s got to be some love on stage.
**********
“You can tell a lot about a musician by the way that they play and even just touch the instrument.
Miles once said to me ‘I can tell a lot about a musician just by the way they take the instrument out of the case'”
**********
YOU JUST SAID THAT SOME GUYS PLAY ONE STYLE, AND OTHERS PLAY OTHER STYLES. YOU ARE ALL OVER THE MAP, AND IN A GOOD WAY. YOU’VE PLAYED WITH MONK AND KENNY BARRON, GIVING YOU A “SWING/CLASSIC” FEEL. BUT, YOU ARE JUST AS COMFORTABLE WITH OUTSIDE GUYS LIKE SAM RIVERS AND PLUGGED IN MILES.
ARE YOU TRYING TO MASTER EVERY STYLE, OR DO YOU SIMPLY ADAPT TO THE ENVIRONMENT?
There’s a certain thing about being a bass player that you learn to work in different situations, as a rhythm section player.
When I think back to my experiences as a musician, which started when I was in a band at 13, all the things that I have done have reflected what I was interested in.
I’m not trying to be a Jack of all trades, but I like getting into a musical situation and finding out what I can contribute to it as a bass player. I just have a great interest in a huge variety of music. My listening covers all of that ground; I’m interested in all of it, and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to play with the great exponents of all of these different approaches to the music.
The other thing is that I don’t see them as being that different. I see them as a continuum.
They may require different approaches in the use of space, in harmonics, rhythmic settings, but they are all part of the language. Music is a universal language and it spans all of the cultures.
If you listen to Turkish music, you can hear things which are recognizable to us as improvisors as far as the rhythmic settings.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WORK ON MARIA MULDAUR’S FIRST ALBUM
I was doing a lot of things like that at the time. I did work with Bonnie Raitt as well, with John Hartford, the great singer.
I was living upstate at the time. One of the active studios in Woodstock was the Bearsville Studio. The Band recorded there. I was called for sessions there, particularly by ones produced by John Simon. It reflects my interests in all kinds of things.
********
“One of the things I’ve been thinking in relation to that is to have the freedom to document all of the different ways that I like to play. That’s part of what’s going on”
*********
I’VE NEVER HEARD YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THELONIOUS MONK. YOU ARE ONE OF THE FEW LIVING ARTISTS THAT PLAYED WITH HIM.
It was a very short time, and it was towards the end of his performing life.
I was working with Stan Getz at the time, having worked with him for about 1 ½ years. Stan and Monk were both managed by the same man, who was also Miles’ manager, Jack Whittemore.
Jack called me and asked if I wanted to do a gig with Monk at the Village Vanguard. Of course I was thrilled at the opportunity, having listened to Monk a lot. I knew quite a lot of the music.
I have to say that he was considerate in the sense that he didn’t pull out some of the more obscure songs on me.
We had no rehearsal. This is normal; we had no rehearsal when I did the first gig with Miles or with Stan. You’re supposed to do your homework, come in and be ready.
I went on and did a few concerts with Monk following that gig, but I had made a commitment to Stan Getz. He had helped me with some immigration issues that were very important to me at the time.
I had made this commitment to work with him, and even though there was an opportunity to continue on with Monk…it was one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make. But I had to honor the commitment to Stan.
*********
“Music is a universal language and it spans all of the cultures”
*********
YOU”RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR WORD
Exactly.
But, getting back to Monk-there’s a certain amount of anticipation when you get the chance to play with a great artist. It’s like “How is this going to feel?” You have listened to the records, but what will it actually feel like on stage.
I have to tell you that the first thing I felt was “What an amazing feeling to be in a rhythm section with Monk on the piano!” The way he accompanied, and the way he functioned in the rhythm section was totally unique. He had his own way rhythmically and harmonically, and the space that he used created a context that was thrilling to be a part of.
Was I nervous? I try very hard to stay relaxed, as I mentioned right at the beginning of this interview. These feelings of nervousness I’d rather call “anticipation” because if you’re nervous, you can’t function. You can’t think straight. Your body is tense and all that.
With a certain amount of experience you learn to put that stuff away, and you focus on the job at hand, which is to play the music and immerse yourself in the moment of what is going right then. Not thinking about “How am I doing? Did I play OK in that particular solo?” You have to just do it, and think about it later.
It’s like Miles famously said, “I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later” (laughs)
You have to immerse yourself into the act of doing it. That’s my thing.
And, if you do that, you tend to not think about much else.
********
“we had no rehearsal when I did the first gig with Miles or with Stan. You’re supposed to do your homework, come in and be ready”
********
DID MONK OR GETZ GIVE YOU ANY GOOD CAREER/MUSIC ADVICE?
None whatsoever.
DID YOU MEET KENNY BARRON THROUGH GETZ?
No. I met Kenny in the leisure way of “I live in New York; he lives in New York, so we’ll meet at festivals and gigs”.
He asked me to do a recording with him. I think it was in the late 80s, called Scratch. Since doing that record, every time I saw Kenny, we’d always say “We’ve got to do some more stuff” which went on for years.
It wasn’t until finally in 2013 we started doing duos together.
********
“the first thing I felt was ‘What an amazing feeling to be in a rhythm section with Monk on the piano!'”
********
YOU’VE DONE BASS DUOS, DUOS WITH BARRON, DUOS WITH SAM RIVERS. SINCE THERE IS NO DRUMMER, IS THE BEAT? IN YOUR THUMB, BRAIN, JUST IMPLIED? HOW DO YOU KEEP FROM SPLINTERING?
(chuckles) Where is the rhythm? The rhythm is in your body!
It’s a physical feeling. You can’t calculate it. You can’t measure swing; you can’t measure a beat. There are no straight lines in nature and there are no even beats in music. Music breathes rhythmically.
The way I learned about rhythm was through two ways. One was playing with records and playing with things that I wanted to learn how the musicians were making it feel like that, and just getting in there and trying to match what I was hearing and feeling.
The other way was from the actual musicians I got to play with. As we’ve mentioned, I’ve had an incredible opportunity with some drummers that are just amazing.
I just try to stay open to learning from every experience.
I started playing music when I was five, on the ukulele, so rhythm was always something that I related to.
The rock and roll bands that I was in as a teenager were playing dance music. I played dances both for young people and also for ballroom dancing. Music really came out of a dance setting in the early days. It was only later that it became something that everyone came and just sat down and listened to.
*********
“With a certain amount of experience you learn to put that stuff away, and you focus on the job at hand, which is to play the music and immerse yourself in the moment of what is going right then. Not thinking about “How am I doing? Did I play OK in that particular solo?” You have to just do it, and think about it later”
*********
THAT’S HOW I GREW UP IN THE GREEK PICNICS. THERE WAS A BAND, AND EVERYONE JUST GOT INTO A CIRCLE AND STARTED A DANCE
My first gig in London was in a Greek restaurant for a year! I played Greek music. The man that led the band was a Greek musician, playing tenor saxophone, but also bouzouki, accordion and sang.
We’d play a kind of mixture of jazz, and Art Van Damme kind of things with the accordion as well as classic Greek songs. It was the first time that I played in 5 and 7, and I was only 17-18.
That was a tour that I did with Johnny Ray, the crooner. He was with a big band, and this gentleman was the tenor sax player. The rest of the band came from London. I had been doing a summer season, but he hired me for the Johnny Ray tour.
At the end of the tour, the tenor player said he had a gig starting in London, so it was the perfect stepping stone.
AND WITH A GREEK BAND, YOU DEFINITELY ATE WELL
(Laughs). Too well! That moussaka just about did me in. Not to mention the deserts!
*********
“Where is the rhythm? The rhythm is in your body!”
*********
WITH ALL OF THESE DRUMMERS YOU’VE PLAYED WITH. DID YOU EVER START A GIG AND THINK “I’M IN OVER MY HEAD” WITH ANY OF THEM?
WAS THERE EVER A “BAPTISM BY FIRE” WHERE IT MIGHT MAKE OR BREAK YOU?
Tony Williams.
When I joined Miles’ band in ’68, that band had been together for at least five years. After five years of playing that many gigs together, a band is functioning on another level. There is so much that just understood.
The first thing is, when you come into a band like that, you have to start learning what the signals are.
But the thing was, Tony had this wonderful relationship with Ron Carter, and so I listened to those records intensely and practiced with them. 2431
When I came into the band, they had been using different bass players on gigs, because Ron had already left the group a year before. They were just picking up bass players in different locations.
*********
“You can’t measure swing…There are no straight lines in nature and there are no even beats in music. Music breathes rhythmically.”
**********
Herbie (Hancock) said to me sometime later “we didn’t even bother listening to the bass player after awhile” (laughs) They just couldn’t keep up. He told me “we even had one guy faint on the bandstand” . I don’t know if that is true, but I think it was. “I was just impressed that you were still upright at the end of the first night”. (laughs)
So, when I got on the bandstand, there was no rehearsal, but I had practiced with the records with Tony on the drums…the intensity of the whole group was something that took my breath away, but Tony’s playing…well, he’s a phenomenal musician.
********
“Herbie (Hancock) said to me sometime later “we didn’t even bother listening to the bass player after awhile” (laughs) They just couldn’t keep up. He told me “we even had one guy faint on the bandstand”
********
Herbie said many times that Tony was the pacesetter in the rhythm section. He had a huge influence on how that rhythm section developed over those years.
I felt that he just wasn’t ready to give any quarter with me. It was like I either got it together, or I sank. Sink or swim.
At first I felt a little rattled by it, but I started to say “What a minute: this is an opportunity to really learn and to develop a strength of digging my heals in and holding my own with this this amazing drummer.
It took me some time to kind of feel that I was playing to my satisfaction.
*********
“you come up with a lot of obstacles: planes that are cancelled, rooms that haven’t been booked properly and things like that. Some musicians learn to roll with it, and others just complain and moan and groan about everything. That can destroy the groove just as well”
*********
WAS THERE EVER AN “AHA” MOMENT WHEN WILLIAMS MADE YOU FEEL THAT YOU “WERE IN”?
That only happened in 1991 when we all came together. I took part in a world tour with a band to celebrate Miles after he died. There was a memorial tour,
Ron didn’t do about 9 weeks of it at the end of the tour for personal reasons, and I came in.
At that point, Tony came to me and said, “Yeah, OK”. He was then in a different place, I was in a different place and we came together on different terms at that point.
I must say that I have so much respect for Tony and his accomplishments as a drummer. I owe him so much for what I had to learn in order to play with him during that time.
AND YOU DIDN’T PASS OUT!
This is good! (laughs)
*********
“I felt that h (Tony Williams) just wasn’t ready to give any quarter with me. It was like I either got it together, or I sank. Sink or swim”
*********
A BUNCH OF “BOOTLEG” ALBUMS WITH YOU AND THE “LOST” MILES DAVIS QUINTET CAME OUT. DO YOU EVER GO BACK AND LISTEN TO YOUR “OLD” RECORDINGS?
I like to move on, but I like to listen when I learn that there’s something there. I like to check it out and get a perspective on what we did, because it always sounds different to how you thought it might have been at the time.
You’re looking at it from a distance, now. You’re a bit removed, so you get a different perspective on it. I listen to them initially, and then put them aside. I listen to it intensely when we’re mixing it
Even with new recordings, we do the record, we listen to the takes, we decide on what we’re going to use, go in and mix it and master it. By the time the record has come out, I’ve listened to every note on that record in every detail.
You try to learn from each experience before you move forward.
*********
“There’s a certain thing about being a bass player that you learn to work in different situations, as a rhythm section player”
*********
THIS LATEST ALBUM OF YOURS FEATURES YOU PLAYING BOTH ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRIC BASS. WHAT MAKES YOU DECIDE WHICH ONE TO PLAY, AS THE OTHER MUSICIANS STAY THE SAME?
OR WITH MILES, IS IT INTUITIVE, OR ARE YOU GIVEN INSTRUCTIONS?
I played the electric bass until I was 17. I’d had an acoustic bass from when I was 15, with which I’d play my Ray Brown records.
When I switched to acoustic bass full time, I didn’t pick up the bass guitar much at all. I was working almost exclusively as an acoustic bass player.
I did a tour with Roy Orbison on electric bass. I did some sessions in London on electric bass.
Miles heard me in London playing acoustic bass and asked me to join the band, so that’s what I came to do.
It was only about a year into the group, after Bitches Brew came out, that I started to feel that some of the music, especially as we were using electric piano more, that the music would benefit more from the use of electric bass.
I went to Miles and I said “I’m happy to play some electric bass if you’d like me to”. He said, “Fine, it’s up to you; if you want to do that, great.” So, I got an electric bass again, and that’s when I started doubling on both.
After I left Miles, I didn’t play electric anymore, except Tropic Appetites with Carla Bley and a bit else, but nothing much.
********
“You have to immerse yourself into the act of doing it. That’s my thing”
********
WHAT GOT YOU BACK INTO IT?
It was about 4-5 years ago when I had an electric bass made for me by Michael Tobias, who lives in my area. He’s an incredible luthier. This bass got me really interested in playing electric bass again.
Also, the trio with Kevin Eubanks and Obed Calvaire seemed like a perfect spot for that to happen. Kevin started saying to me “C’mon! Bring out the electric bass!”
We did a gig at the Village Vanguard about 2 ½ years ago, I took the electric bass to that, and I enjoyed playing it.
That’s when it started to come to my mind when we recorded the trio album to do some of the things on acoustic as well as electric.
SO IT WASN’T BECAUSE YOU WERE GETTING NOSTALGIC FOR ROY ORBISON OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT
No, but that was a good memory. That was some time ago.
He was a great composer. Those songs that he wrote; he wasn’t messing around.
We had a fun time; it was with a large group.
*******
“(Miles) gave everyone a tremendous amount of freedom in what we could do, and we took a lot of liberties. (chuckles) We really stretched out the music with him, but he wanted to see what we could come up with. He fed off of that, and that’s what a good leader does. They don’t just come in with a finished concept; they come in with a direction, and they try and get the right musicians to help move that direction forward
*******
WITH YOUR LATEST ALBUM (ANOTHER LAND) , DO YOU APPROACH YOUR INTERACTION WITH OBED DIFFERENTLY ELECTRICALLY THAN ACOUSTICALLY?
No. We’re listening to each other.
What I try to do is to play the electric bass with the same musical concept that I have for the acoustic, but just utilize the uniqueness of the electric bass and choose to do that because of the nature of the piece that we are playing.
The nature of the composition determines whether I choose the acoustic or electric, but my relationship with Obed remains the same no matter what we play.
Of course, we’re treating different compositions with slightly different approaches, but we’re working on that together.
One of the things that I’m really pleased about this new album (Another Land) is that we had a long preparation time for it.
As I said, we started playing as a trio with Obed at least 3 ½-4 years ago. At the point we decided to do the recording was when I felt that the music had matured to the point where we could capture the quality of the live performance, but get it done in the studio.
The reason for that being what I wanted to do was because on the “live” performance we do a LOT of improvisation of forms. In other words, we use the compositions as skeletons around which we can change transitions, have different possibilities between the compositions which are made up at the time. We wanted to keep that spontaneous element in the studio recording. Although the tracks are significantly shorter, we wanted to keep the spirit.
That’s why I’m so pleased with this record; I think we really accomplished that goal.
********
“we decided to do the recording was when I felt that the music had matured to the point where we could capture the quality of the live performance, but get it done in the studio”
********
YOU DID A SIMILAR RECORDING WITH EUBANKS A FEW YEARS AGO. AT THIS STAGE IN YOUR CAREER, DO YOU USUALLY DO LIVE GIGS TO PREPARE FOR THE RECORDINGS?
Yes, that was Prism. Every record that I’ve done has involved preparation in live performance.
One of the exceptions is an album called Uncharted Territories, which came out a few years ago. It’s mostly an improvisational album. It’s a double cd and there are only 2-3 composed pieces. Everything else is improvised; it has Craig Taborn on keyboards, Ches Smith on percussion and Evan Parker on the saxophone. Evan had never played with Ches or Craig before.
Craig and I played together in the Prism band, and I had not worked with Ches before. I heard Ches and loved his music and his approach, so I wanted to do something with him.
But the first time that we actually played as a group was in the studio.
But this was actually a good thing in that context because we were just starting to play. When *****we were recording a take, we just started. We had no discussion, didn’t plan it, didn’t know how we were going to start, continue or how we would end.
The fact that we had never played together as a group before made it very interesting and very exciting, because we were getting that initial response.
********
“Every record that I’ve done has involved preparation in live performance”
********
ALSO ON THIS LATEST ALBUM IS SOMETHING THAT IS HARD TO CARRY OFF, AND WHICH YOU DO SO WELL, BOWED BASS PLAYING. IS BOWING THE BASS A MORE SPONTANEOUS ASPECT, OR IS IT DEVELOPED IN THE COMPOSITION
I did a lot of bowing on Uncharted Territories because of that context 4005. Its’ another aspect of the bass language.
I favor pizzicato playing when I’m improvising because of the definition that you can give to the rhythm. The concept that I have on the instrument, whichever it is, is built around pizzicato playing.
But, there are times when the bow adds a beautiful color or moment to the music. When that occurs to me, I’ll pick it up.
I used to do more soloing with the bow, but as Duke Ellington once said when asked what the secret of success was, he said “Doing what I do best”.
Sticking with what your strengths are is usually the best way to go. I do practice with the bow every day. It’s a part of what I do, but in terms of when I’m performing and recording its still a small part of my language.
********
“Duke Ellington once said when asked what the secret of success was, he said “’Doing what I do best'”
********
YOU PLAYED WITH SOMEONE WHO SEEMED TO DROP OUT OF MUSIC. WHAT HAPPENED TO ERIC KLOSS?
He moved out to the West Coast. I was in touch with him a few years ago. He might have come out to a gig I did out there. As far as I can tell, I think he’s still playing. Pat Martino was also on the records that we did, along with Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette.
WHEN YOU WERE DOING THOSE GROUND BREAKING AL BUMS (BITCHES BREW, IN A SILENT WAY) WITH MILES DAVIS THAT YOU WERE DOING ANYTHING SPECIAL, OR WAS IT “JUST ANOTHER JOB” AT THE TIME?
When you are part of a group that’s being led by an extraordinary musician like Miles was, who was always moving forward with his music, you expect things to change. In any creative group over a period of time the music evolves. That’s what it felt like; it felt like we were evolving the music along the lines that Miles was interested in.
We were being given a great deal of leeway in terms of how we approached that idea. He gave everyone a tremendous amount of freedom in what we could do, and we took a lot of liberties. (chuckles) We really stretched out the music with him, but he wanted to see what we could come up with.
He fed off of that, and that’s what a good leader does. They don’t just come in with a finished concept; they come in with a direction, and they try and get the right musicians to help move that direction forward.
*********
“When you are part of a group that’s being led by an extraordinary musician like Miles was, who was always moving forward with his music, you expect things to change. In any creative group over a period of time the music evolves. That’s what it felt like; it felt like we were evolving the music along the lines that Miles was interested in”
*********
GIVE ME A FEW BOOKS THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ
How do you choose just three books?!? What’s made a huge impression on me?
The I Ching is an important book.
Zen and the Art of Archery (by Eugene Herrigel)
I read a lot of history books. I just read The Chaos Theory book, for instance. That was fascinating. I liked The Team of Rivals about Lincoln’s cabinet. An incredible book in order to think about what leadership is.
I love poetry, and I was thinking of which book of poetry to recommend, as I enjoy so many. But you have to include Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
WITH THAT IN MIND, WHO LIVING OR DEAD, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE OVER FOR AN EVENING AND PICK HIS OR HER BRAIN?
I’m mentally sifting through all of the people that I admire. I’d say Duke Ellington.
WHAT MUSICIAN, LIVING OR DEAD, WOULD YOU PAY $1000 TO SEE PERFORM?
John Coltrane. I never saw him.
WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE SOMEONE GAVE YOU FOR EITHER MUSIC OR LIFE?
Miles said so many things to me that were so informative.
There was a time when I was playing quite busily on my instrument behind the soloist and so on. I was really trying to dialogue with him in kind of an extreme way. Miles just kind of let it happen for awhile. He came up to me …after the concert, and he just said, “Dave, you know you are a bass player.” (chuckles)
It kind of set me thinking about the balance between the supportive role and the interactive role that the bass plays in the rhythm section, and how to balance those two things more.
********
“I was really trying to dialogue with (Miles) in kind of an extreme way. Miles just kind of let it *happen for awhile. He came up to me …after the concert, and he just said, ‘Dave, you know you are a bass player.'”
********
WHAT GIVES YOU THE BIGGEST JOY IN LIFE?
Nature.
DO YOU DO A LOT OF HIKING?
I do some hiking. There’s a lot of trails in the Catskills. I’ve got an app called “All Trails”. It locates all of the trails that are in whatever area you are in. it rates them by level of difficulty, etc. It also locates where you are on the trail, so you don’t get lost, which is very important. (laughs)
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHEN YOU’VE GONE?
Doing the best that I could.
DO YOU THINK YOU WILL EVER TOUR WITH THIS BAND?
We’re just getting ready to hit it!
We were going to bring the record out last year, but with COVID there was no touring to be done. We just decided that we didn’t want to sit on the recording any longer, so we’re bringing it out now.
The trio will be touring in ’22.
HOW IS THIS ALBUM AND GROUP PREPARING YOU FOR YOUR NEXT PROJECT?
In the last 10 years I’ve been trying to work in different contexts that allow me to have settings which I like to play in and want to explore more.
The last few albums, working backwards we’ve got Another Land; before that was Without Deception with Kenny Barron and Johnathon Blake. Then there was Uncharted Territories with Evan Parker, the free improvisation album. I had AZIZA with Lionel Loueke and Chris Potter and before that was the Prism album. There’s also a flamenco album I did with Pepe Habicuela.
Those albums are all very different, but they also all connected together in my heart in terms that they are just a different suit of clothes on the same body.
There are also albums I did as a sideman, such as with Anouar Brahim, the oud player from Tunisia.
I’m in the final quarter of my life, that’s fine; that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
One of the things I’ve been thinking in relation to that is to have the freedom to document all of the different ways that I like to play. That’s part of what’s going on.
**********
“Those albums are all very different, but they also all connected together in my heart in terms that they are just a different suit of clothes on the same body”
*********
I’M IN A MEN’S GROUP, AND WE’RE ABOUT THE SAME AGE AS YOU ARE. ONE OF OUR MOTTOS IS “YOU DON’T WANT TO PLAY DEFENCE IN THE LAST QUARTER; KEEP MOVING THE BALL FORWARD”
“Go Not Quietly Into The Night” (As Dylan Thomas said)
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CONCERN?
The state of the world. That human beings will start to understand that we’re all from one seed; we’re all brothers and sisters.
I wrote a poem at the beginning of the lockdown. It’s on my twitter page. It’s very simple, about “We are one, no matter what race we are, we are one/No matter what color we are, we are one/No matter what age we are, we are one” Like that, and we are all from one seed. All brothers and sisters.
I wish for the world that we can move towards a real understanding of that, and put it to reality. Let’s share what we have with each other and make this world what it can be.
It can happen; it’s right there to be had. All it takes is a change of a point of view.
Is it going to happen? I have some serious doubts. At least not in my lifetime, with too many factions going on.
If you ask me in an idealistic way what I’d wish for, that’s what I’d wish for.
*********
” we’re all from one seed; we’re all brothers and sister”
*********
THAT REMINDS ME OF THE FAMOUS QUOTE BY GK CHESTERTON, “THE PROBLEM, SIR, IS ME”
IT COMES ACROSS SO EASILY THAT DAVE HOLLAND IS MOST INSPIRED BY NATURE. WITH THIS INSIGHT, IT’S NOW MUCH EASIER TO UNDERSTAND HIS MUSICAL TRAJECTORY, WITH A MAIN PATH GOING INTO A WIDE NUMBER OF RABBIT TRAILS, EACH ONE TAKING THE WALKER TO A CERTAIN INSPIRING VISTA. BUT,AS WITH ALL GREAT HIKERS, HE RETURNS TO HIS MAIN PATH, AND AS WE ARE NOTICING WITH HIS LATEST ALBUM RELEASES, HE IS ASCENDING, AND REACHING THE ZENITH OF HIS TREK.