Dave Holland – Bass

This came up on my mp3 player whilst it was on shuffle and I thought…’ I wonder’? I thought I would give it a try. It is a complete solo performance by Holland, one of the few players who has the chops and ideas necessary to pull this kind of thing off. There is no ‘pulse’ so ‘the groove comes first’ brigade are in trouble with this one here!!

The secret to playing this chart is to let each phrase speak. The fermatas (the sign over the notes that means that the note should be delayed beyond it’s normal length) should not only be trusted but indulged beyond any reasonable sense. Let the notes ring forever. The way I got this down was to trust my ear to tell me where in the bar each phrase starts. Some times I am hearing the phrase starting on the first beat of the bar whilst at other times, it could be on the ‘three and’ or anywhere, whatever my instinct tells me. There are a lot of notes ringing underneath the phrases (usually an open D) and there are a handful of double stops. This is challenging in a really positive sense. It isn’t chops drive, it’s a really organic performance of profound warmth. The ‘trills’ in the middle are, frankly, an approximation and may not be exactly correct but this one is not that kind of performance. I guarantee DH himself would never play this this same way once.

I am actually really proud of this one, not because it is perfect but because it is there. The tune is ‘Emerald Tears’ from the 1978 Dave Holland solo album of the same name. Solo in that the only instrument on here is the double bass.