Dave Holland – Bass

Well that was a roast! Transcribing ‘complete performances’ is a challenge when you are looking at players with the levels of creativity of someone like Dave Holland. These are complete forms, complex harmony and complex phrases played on an instrument that can easily get lost in the mix and they do not fall into the normal patterns we associate with our chosen instrument. I am not 100% convinced that I have got this completely write but, if you want to hear what Dave Holland does with these kinds of tunes, there is a mountain of information in here. What provoked the transcription was a rehearsal with a friend who put a head chart for this tune in front of me. I thought, ‘I have got to have a go at transcribing that’ before realising the performance is just short of 11 minutes long. Nevertheless, I thought ‘well, no-one else is going to do it’ so here we are.

The complete Dave Holland bass performance from the tune ‘Mr. B (For Ray Brown)’ from the 1998 Dave Holland Quintet album, ‘Point Of View’ (was it really that long ago?). A massive challenge to reader and player alike. I can only do it at half speed! The bass comes in at around the 1:02 mark, after an opening drum solo.