Dave Holland: Another Land

Editor's Choice

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Dave Holland (b, el b)

Label:

Edition EDN

July/2021

Media Format:

CD, Vinyl, DL

Catalogue Number:

1172

RecordDate:

Rec. 2020

The guitar, bass and drums trio can sit anywhere on a broad stylistic spectrum in jazz, encompassing anything from the improvised fusion of Cream, the tonal variety of Terje Rypdal's Chaser or the ingenuity of Pat Metheny's Bright Size Life, to the wider palette of 1975's Gateway where Dave Holland was joined by John Abercrombie and Jack DeJohnette to make unclassifiable jazz. Holland's reunion, after a few years’ gap, with his long-time colleague Kevin Eubanks, plus the galvanising effect of drummer Obed Calvaire, makes for trio music every bit as distinguished as those earlier examples, and an album that – owing to its broad stylistic spread – is also unclassifiable. Additionally, it marks Dave Holland's return to bass guitar on some tracks (notably a piece called ‘The Village’ that opens out into a long almost stream-of-consciousness development) along with some of his best recent work on double bass. His solos on tracks such as ‘Grave Walker’ and ‘Gentle Warrior’ are exemplary. The band fires on all cylinders for ‘The Mashup’ as it does for the second part of ‘Grave Walker’, with precise, driving and often thrilling drumming from Calvaire. By contrast there's some beautiful single line soloing from Eubanks on ‘Another Land’, and a central unaccompanied guitar piece ‘Quiet Fire’ written by Holland forms the calm, still centre of the album. Another Land repays repeated listening, in that its apparently simple constituent parts, honed by pre-lockdown touring, add up to something exceptional, with new details always waiting to be discovered.

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