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CD Review
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Santa Fe New Mexican, CD Review >>
DAVE HOLLAND QUINTET
Critical Mass (Sunnyside/Dare2)
Dave Holland's nine-year-old quintet possesses one of the most distinctive sounds in jazz, in part because of the instrumental mix: Chris Potter on tenor and soprano sax, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibes and marimba, Nate Smith on drums, and Holland on bass. Everyone is hot here. The leader has several fantastic solos (including a bewitching part on the Middle East-flavored "Secret Garden"), but he more often yields the spotlight to the others, and he's egalitarian about the songwriting as well: each of the four other members contributes a tune. The group demonstrates its improvisational vitality on the album's extended sets -- all the songs but one are more than eight minutes long. The quintet typically occupies a complex, urbane groove, but on the closer, "Amator Silenti," it gets into some stratospheric explorations for the firrst time on a recording. The tune opens with an ominous, lower-register intro by Nelson, who wrote it. The others slide in, Holland playing arco, and they mix a slow stew that soon accelerates and expands into a free-improv romp.It's difficult us find anything to criticize in Holland's music, unless you're the type of jazz fan who must have a piano. It's been five years, and hundreds of concerts, since the quintet released a studio recording, and Critical Mass offers more of everything we've heard on previous albums: swing, grace, intensity, and beauty.
Paul Weideman
09/01/06
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