Dave Holland – Bass

One of the most remarkable thing about the great players (on all instruments) is how many of them continually reinvent themselves throughout their decades long careers. Everyone knows about the Miles Davis legends around the BeBop – Classic Quintets – Electric Miles sequence that suggested Miles was the progenitor of everything meaningful that happened in Jazz between the 1940 and the 1980s (I personally think he is given too much credit but who the hell am I?). For me, the greatest tradition in Jazz is innovation and the many facets of Dave Holland’s career are worthy of note as much as those of other genre busting players. Free Jazz with Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea’s trio, electric Miles (of course), trios with Metheny, John Abercrombie or Hank Jones, duos with Milcho Leviev, John Scofield, Barre Phillips, solo double bass (and cello) albums – it just keeps coming. An astonishing discography in terms of range. The band he had with Steve Coleman and Kevin Eubanks produced an intense ‘electric’ recording in the form of ‘Extensions’ (1990) and it was Eubanks who he joined with Eric Harland and pianist Craig Taborn in the even more ‘electric’ ‘Prism’ recording in 2013. It is from this recording the attached transcription is taken.

The tune is ‘The Watcher’, a Eubanks composition. The tune moves between 4:4, 5:4 and 3:4 sections and the section lengths are uneven throughout so you will need to concentrate to pull this off at tempo. It is one of those charts that you need to get into the rhythm of to pull off the reading but, once you ‘get it’, it is actually playable. No solo from Holland, just top drawer ensemble playing from the U.K’s greatest double bass export.