Dave Holland – Bass

This one is actually pretty easy, both to read and to play. There isn’t much in the Holland canon that you can say that about but the piece is called ‘Bedouin Trail’ and has the languorous gait of a camel train, going nowhere fast. The one is all about the feel (it has it’s own ‘groove’ but that word has been purloined by a certain section on the bass community and, somehow, doesn’t fit. The track is from the 1998 Dave Holland Quintet album, ‘Points Of View’ and features Holland with Robin Eubanks, Steve Wilson, Steve Nelson and Billy Kilson.

The tune opens with a trombone soliloquy and the bass comes in around 1:12. I assume it is cued as there is no obvious link to the trombone part until the two sync up a few moments later.