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CD Review: Songs of Summer
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Cranky Crow World Music, CD Review: Songs of Summer >>
Dave Holland Quintet (U.S.)
Critical Mass Dare2 Records/Sunnyside
By: Patty-Lynne Herlevi
Dave Holland's Quintet's upcoming release, Critical Mass, (release date--August 29), fuses world music influences with luminous American jazz. I am reminded of Brazilian Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto's Canto Do Rio while listening to Holland's Critical Mass. Both quintets feature a cooperative spirit between its musicians and possess a lightness of being. Holland's recording also features elements of Latin jazz, Arabic motifs on Secret Garden, which was inspired by a visit from he Tunisian oud-player Anouar Brahem, who also recently released the CD, Le Voyage de Sahar (ECM).
However, even with the Arabic influences, Holland's Critical Mass does not supply us with the moody atmospheric jazz or Ravelian piano that appears on Brahem's recording. Overall, Critical Mass features an American sound and a cooperative spirit based on a democratic spirit between the musicians. All the musicians which includes, Dave Holland on double bass, Chris Potter on tenor and alto sax, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steven Nelson on vibraphone, marimba and tambourine and Nate Smith on kit drums take their turn in the spotlight or engage in counterpoint with the sax going one way and the trombone another while the interlocking bass and percussion anchor the music.
The multigenerational quintet features musicians ranging from 32 to 59, (Holland will turn 60 in October). Holland himself was once a youngster in Miles Davis' band, during the Bitches Brew session. "I benefited from being a young player. And now for me the energy and new ideas that a young player brings to the music can be renewing." Perhaps that is why the 8 tracks possess a joie de vivre. Certainly there is a youthful quality combined with 1960's jazz. I am hearing fragments of Miles Davis and John Coltrane performed with a great deal of vitality. I find that listening to this recording actually boosts my energy level. I feel a sugar high without the sugar. There's everything here from world influences melted into jazz, shimmering vibraphone solos, sensual horns and Holland's rock-steady bass--the glue that holds it all together.
Holland mentions in a press release interview that he chose to follow his own musical voice rather than sell his soul to the music industry. You will not find any star soloists here, but you will hear plenty of solos from all the musicians. You'll find jazz history peppered throughout the CD, musicians that perform from instinct and musical cooperation. I would be hard pressed to pick favorite track, but I am enjoying the counterpoint of saxophone and trombone as well as, a vibraphone solo that appears on The Leak. The only thing leaking here is good vibrations that will hopefully lead us to critical mass of awakening to Universal Love. If not, you still have a good soundtrack for the evolutionary ride wherever we choose to go en mass.
07/31/06 >> go there
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