Two Daves

I have been playing a lot of Dave Holland on my Live365 station.  Holland is a brilliant bass player and equally brilliant band leader.  He has his own label now, Dare2Records.  I purchased a two record recording from the site, including Pathways, by the Dave Holland Octet, and a Flamenco duet with Holland and guitarist Pepe Habichuela.  The latter isn't jazz, but it is great if you have been in Madrid recently. 

Pathways is well worth listening to.  I am playing 'Blue Jean'.   Here is the lineup:

• Antonio Hart (Alto Sax and Flute), 
• Chris Potter (Tenor Sax and Soprano Sax), 
• Gary Smulyan (Baritone Sax), 
• Alex "Sasha" Sipiagin (Trumpet & Flugelhorn), 
• Robin Eubanks (Trombone), 
• Steve Nelson (Vibraphone and Marimba), 
• Dave Holland (bass), 
• Nate Smith (drums)

 I am also playing a cut from Extensions (1990) by the Dave Holland Quartet.  This is an interesting, slightly fusionesque offering (chiefly due to the electric guitar sound).  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Dave Holland
• Drums – Marvin "Smitty" Smith
• Guitar – Kevin Eubanks
• Saxophone – Steve Coleman

Meanwhile I have added a couple of numbers from Dave Murray's Black Saint Quartet (2008).  From the Live in Berlin album: 'Dirty Laundry' and 'Banished'.  This is one of the many truly great jazz albums that go without recognition.  Please seek it out and nail it down. 

• Bass Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – David Murray
• Composed By – David Murray
• Double Bass – Jaribu Shahid
• Drums – Hamid Drake
• Piano – Lafayette Gilchrist

Miles Davis Quintet Bootleg Series Vol. 2

Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 2).  This box set is one of the most valuable documents to emerge from jazz vaults since the advent of the compact disc.  The Quintet is as follows:

1.       Miles Davis (trumpet)

2.      Wayne Shorter (tenor and soprano saxophones)

3.      Chick Corea (electric piano, piano)

4.      Dave Holland (bass)

5.      Jack DeJohnette (drums)

Wayne Shorter, of course, returns from Miles’ second great quintet.  The rest of the band is new.  They never recorded in the studio, something Miles apparently regretted.  I believe this is the first official release of their music.  It would be enough to get three CDs and a DVD of new music from a Davis quintet to make this a red letter occasion. 

However, this is also priceless as a document of the last big turn in Miles’ career.  ‘Bitches Brew’ appears twice in the collection.  The Dark Magus is about to emerge, leaving jazz rather behind in my view.  In this collection, however, Miles and his crew are still firmly in the template that was established with the Plugged Nickel recordings in 1965.  This is genuine jazz in anyone’s book.

Like The Bootleg Series Vol. 1, the music is pensive yet intense.  It presents a series of solos mostly unmoored from any central melody.  Also like Vol. 1, it is not nearly as laconic as the Plugged Nickel sessions.  If anything, these recordings are a step away from avant garde. 

However, the third quintet, if one may call it that, clearly displays the fusionesque elements that show where Miles is going in 1969.  Having Shorter play soprano feeds this impression.  Most of all, the inclusion of Chick Corea on electric piano gives several of the numbers a Return to Forever touch. 

I am not as ready as I once was to agree with Stanley Crouch about Bitches Brew.  Crouch, a brilliant jazz critic, thought that Miles’ recordings after 69 were just an example of sellout.  I am still making up my mind after all these years.  I will say that I wish we had a few more years and some studio recordings of this last jazz quintet.  Holland and DeJohnette are consummate jazz men.  Miles could have molded this group into as powerful an instrument as his first two quintets, if he hadn’t decided to go in a different direction. 

Judged on its own merits, the Bootleg Series Vol. 2 is a marvelous collection of music.  I am playing:

1.       ‘Paraphernalia’

2.      ‘Nefertiti’, and

3.      ‘Round Midnight’.

Anthony Braxton

Listening to Anthony Braxton recordings is a little like watching Doctor Who.  The Tardis door opens on to anything from a Victorian parlor to a garden full of fauna from another galaxy.  It's fair to warn you that, with Braxton, you get more of the second than the first.  The vast majority of Braxton's recordings are very challenging jazz compositions with titles like 'Opus 23J' or 'Composition No.114 (+108a)'. 

I am confused by a lot of this work, but when I get Braxton I find his work very gratifying.  I am playing a couple of Braxton interpretations of other composers work.  'You Stepped Out of a Dream' is a duet with bass boss Dave Holland.  It is a fantastic display of Braxton's talent.  I have it from the box set The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton.  It is from Five Pieces (1975) which also features Barry Altschul on drums and Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flugelhorn. 

I also added 'Miss Ann', an Eric Dolphy composition, originally from Duets 1976.  This pairs Braxton with Muhal Richard Abrams.  

If you only had two Braxton recordings, I would recommend first the two disc The Charlie Parker Project (1995).  Here's the lineup:

• Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Contrabass Clarinet – Anthony Braxton
• Double Bass – Joe Fonda
• Drums – Han Bennink (tracks: 1-1 to 1-5), Pheeroan AkLaff (tracks: 1-1 to 1-10)
• Piano – Misha Mengelberg
• Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Ari Brown
• Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Paul Smoker

I've had 'Dewey Square' playing but I just replaced it with 'Yardbird Suite'.  I don't know Misha Mengelberg, but her  his playing is magnificent.  Intrepid reader Jason corrects me below regarding Misha Mengelberg. 

The second album I would recommend is Six Monk Compositions (1987).  Here is the lineup:

• Bass – Buell Neidlinger
• Drums – Bill Osborne
• Piano – Mal Waldron
• Saxophone [Alto] – Anthony Braxton

This might be my single favorite cover of Monk compositions.  I have worshiped at the Church of Waldron for a long time now.  I have 'Four in One' playing. 

Sam Rivers 1923-2011

Sam Rivers passed away just one day after Christmas.  I wasn't aware of this until I noticed the tribute show to Rivers at In the Groove: Jazz and Beyond, hosted by my friend and jazz hero, Ken Laster.  I already had  a good serving of Rivers on my Live365 station.  I have substituted a couple of new cuts. 

One is the title cut from Fuchsia Swing Song (1965).  I believe that this was Rivers' first recording as leader.  Here is the lineup, from Discogs:

• Bass – Ron Carter
• Drums – Anthony Williams
• Piano – Jaki Byard
• Tenor Saxophone – Sam Rivers

A second cut I am playing is 'Surge' from Waves (1979).   This is all out free jazz: every kind of energy pushing out from the inner structure of the music with only a hint of narrative. 

• Bass, Cello – Dave Holland
• Drums, Percussion – Thurman Barker
• Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute, Piano – Sam Rivers
• Tuba, Horn [Baritone] – Joe Daley

It's a pretty good example of River's long association with Dave Holland.   I am also featuring 'Ghetto Lights', from Bobby Hutcherson's superb Dialogue (1965). Don't miss Freddie Hubbard's toe curling blues. 

• Bass – Richard Davis (2)
• Drums – Joe Chambers
• Piano – Andrew Hill
• Tenor And Soprano Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Flute – Sam Rivers
• Trumpet – Freddie Hubbard
• Vibraphone, Marimba – Bobby Hutcherson

River's was twenty-four karat.  He manages to show up on a lot of very basic jazz for several decades.  I only recently fell in love with his opera. 

Last, but not least, here is a beautiful clip of Rivers and Holland playing in Germany in 1979.  Enjoy:

Sam Rivers & Mario Schiano

I just downloaded a marvelous recording by Sam Rivers and Mario Schiano.  Rendez-Vous includes Barry Altschul on drums and vibes and the incomparable Dave Holland on bass.  It is a pretty good illustration of the awesome strengths and weaknesses of avant garde jazz.  

The first, title cut is begins with a moody series of cries that seems to promise a long, abstract sound track with all the interest provided by the film.  Then it resolves into the second number, a noisy, smoke house blues called "Brother Sam."  A little Duke Ellington is showing here.  After that, we get a version of "Lover Man" that is nothing short of genius.  I just love this cut.  I have included both 'Brother Sam' and 'Lover Man' on my Live365 station.  

The next three cuts grow increasingly abstract and airy.  I like them all, but you have to have share my taste for avant garde abstraction to appreciate them.  This is human passion cut into chunks and reassembled.  Welcome to Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.  Keep your arms and legs away from the action. 

The Powerful and the Subtle: Dave Holland and Chris Potter

The difference between a listening to jazz live and listening to a jazz recording is analogous to watching a baseball game in the stands versus watching the game on TV.  Some there are who will tell you that only the live experience is real.  This is truer among jazz fans than among baseball fans. 

The latter example tells the tale.  All things considered, I'd rather watch a great ballgame in the stadium.  The late evening summer sun, the air and the echoes, the smell of popcorn and beer, these don't come through even in HD.  Nevertheless, there is much to be said for TV.  You see more, and when it counts, you get to see it twice.  These days you can run the DVR back to take a third look.  No seat in the stadium beats the camera view. 

The analogy breaks down over the fact that one will listen to good music over and over.  The ideal, I suppose, would be to sit in a jazz club listening to a great performance, and then get the recording of that performance on your iPod.  Even better, you might get a video recording on the event. 

For Christmas this year I got a new iPod.  My old one had 60G's of storage space.  With 750 jazz albums and a lot of podcasts, I filled the damn thing up.  My new one has 160G of space.  So much to do, so little time.  I confess: I want to have my whole collection at my disposal all the time. 

The first new thing I put on my new baby was The Dave Holland Quintet/Extended Play:Live at Birdland.  This is live jazz at maximum power.  Almost all the cuts are more than ten minutes in length.  I would love to have been there, but I can be there again and again.  Here is a sample. 

Dave Holland Quintet/Prime Directive/Extended Play: Live at Birdland

 This is live page four jazz at its best.  Trust me.  There will be that guy who keeps dancing ridiculously hard, only he will be in your head.  Chris Potter fills in on sax.  He is as sharp and compelling as ever.  I think that Holland's genius is evident in the inclusion of a trombone (Robin Eubanks) and vibes (Steve Nelson).  Billy Kilson plays drums. 

For a little contrast, here is a cut from a recent Chris Potter album.  Potter has a large ensemble behind him.  It is lush, poetic, bread and sauce.  Hearing this live would be a great experience.  But it is just as well heard on your iPod, and it's easier to go to the bathroom.  This cut is wonderful:

Chris Potter 10/Family Tree/Song for Anyone

Well, Happy New Year, Jazz Babies!  I am getting pretty lonely here.  If you like this blog, post a note or two. 

More Dave Holland

Ken Laster has a Dave Holland special with a lot of a lot of Holland's music and an interview. I am very jealous. Ken gets to talk to Dave Holland. For some reason, we don't get a lot of great jazz men stopping in Aberdeen, South Dakota. But listening to Holland discuss his experience with Miles Davis was priceless. One common theme you get when Miles' sidemen discuss his leadership is that of minimal input. Miles was apparently very good at directing his players in a way that brought out their individual talents without in any way limiting their individual genius.

Ken's interview with Holland is very good. The question he asks about composing, do you write a bass line first and then compose around it, is just what I would have asked him. The answer is what I would have hoped for: he wrote for the people he had in mind to play the parts. Jazz is personal in that sense. I was especially interested in Holland's comments on the role of the bass in a jazz combo. If you like jazz, and like to think about what you are hearing, this interview is right down your street.

In this modern age I do get to listen to Dave Holland's music. I posted recently on Holland and his great album Conference of the Birds. Today I acquired another Holland recording, Points of View. Here is a sample:

Dave Holland Quintet/The Balance/Points of View