DAVE HOLLAND - PRISM:
NEW QUARTET, ALBUM, AND MUSICAL DIRECTION,
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 3 ON DARE2 RECORDS
PRISM FEATURES
KEVIN EUBANKS, CRAIG TABORN & ERIC HARLAND
Project Marks 40 Years Since Holland's
Debut Recording as a Leader
In the 40 years since Dave Holland's recording debut as a leader, with his landmark album, Conference of the Birds,
the bassist, composer, and bandleader has produced a remarkable series
of recordings and groups documenting his eclectic musical journey. On Prism, his latest album set for September 3, 2013 release on Dare2 Records (Holland's imprint, with distribution from Redeye), he introduces his latest working band (of the same name) to the world: an all-star quartet comprised of Kevin Eubanks on guitar, Craig Taborn on piano and Fender Rhodes and Eric Harland on drums. With each band member contributing distinctive compositions, Prism
sets forth a new musical direction for Holland - a horn-less quartet
with an explosive and visceral edge, while maintaining an organic
approach overall.
Debuting at the 2012 TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival last June, Prism
brings together four musicians who are each forging their own musical
path and together have created a unique and contemporary musical
statement on this recording. Holland's groups have always reflected a
collaborative spirit with the goal of creating a musical context that
allows the musicians to express their creative individuality, a concept
that is an underlying theme to the group's namesake and eclectic sound.
"I liked the image of a prism dividing light into spectrum of colors,"
says Holland. "A visual symbol of the one becoming many. The music being
a unification of diverse parts."
The resulting factor of these combined efforts on Prism, Holland's first album in nearly three years, is an electrifying outing that is equally groove-oriented as it is avant-garde. Jazzwise
Magazine has already described the new project as Holland's "...most
visceral recording for many years, recalling the uncompromising
onslaught of his work with Miles [Davis] in 1970, and his own Extensions
band in the late 1980s." Holland attributes a portion of this new
musical direction to the instrumentation. "The sound of this group is
different from other projects I've done previously," reflects Holland.
"Most groups have featured horn players and I've rarely worked with
keyboards in the band. But I wanted a different sound for this group and
started thinking about a quartet with guitar, piano doubling on Fender
Rhodes, bass and drums. That certainly has opened up some different
musical directions."
In conceiving the band's personnel, Holland first looked to reunite with one of his oldest collaborators: guitarist Kevin Eubanks.
The two began working together on various projects in the late 1980s,
and Eubanks soon after led The Tonight Show Band from 1995-2010. "It's
usual for me that the inspiration for putting a group together begins
with the musicians that I want to play with. I'd felt a strong musical
connection with Kevin when we'd played together previously and the time
was right for us to get back together again." Craig Taborn and Eric Harland joined the group shortly thereafter, having both worked with Holland in different contexts over the past few years, and Prism was formed.
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photo credit: Ulli Gruber
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The
album takes the listener through many musical landscapes starting with
the infectious funky groove of the Eubanks' composition "The Watcher"
followed by one of Holland's compositions, "The Empty Chair", a soulful
blues that hints at references to the music of Jimi Hendrix. Taborn's
"Spirals" creates an intriguing setting for the group that moves through
a series of dramatically changing musical developments. Taborn is once
again prominently featured with his dark intro to "The Color of Iris,"
setting a mood which is only slightly lifted with the entrance of
Eubanks on guitar - the pair weave in and out of the spotlight
throughout the song, breaking for a solo by Holland halfway through. The
bassist plays unaccompanied for the first minute of "The True Meaning
of Determination," before Taborn and Eubanks enter with a melody played
in unison, with harmonic precision. Eric Harland's hauntingly beautiful
composition "Breathe" provides a musical space that seems to suspend
time (putting spotlight on Taborn with an introspective solo piano
intro).
Combining
the celebrated virtuosity of Taborn on electric and acoustic pianos and
the soulful scorch of Eubanks in the front line with Harland's
matchless finesse and expressiveness, this decidedly plugged-in quartet
is an explosive outlet for Holland at his unbridled best.
About Dave Holland
Amid endless choices, the sound of a Dave Holland
bass line compels attention. A master of tone and rhythm, the bassist,
composer, and bandleader is now in his fifth decade as a performer and
his music possesses a rich and kaleidoscopic history. His path has led
him from the frontiers of free improvisation to his modern ensembles
that fully embody the Sam Rivers-instilled philosophy of "playing all of
it." The Wolverhampton, England, native got his big break from Miles
Davis, with whom he played during the trumpet legend's epochal Bitches
Brew period. Solo, and in collaboration, Holland became a dominant voice
in the 1970s - partnering with Rivers, and working with folk and rock
musicians such as Bonnie Raitt and John Hartford, and even had a passing
encounter with Jimi Hendrix. He formed his first working quintet in
1983, and released Jumpin' In, and continued to develop other varied and
fruitful relationships with artists such as Anthony Braxton, Stan Getz,
Cassandra Wilson, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Joe Henderson,
Thelonious Monk, Betty Carter, Pat Metheny, Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell,
Roy Haynes and Herbie Hancock over the course of his career. Holland
has received Honorary Doctorates from the New England
Conservatory, Berklee College of Music in Boston and Birmingham
University in the U.K., and he has received an Honorary Fellowship from
the Guildhall School of Music in London.
In
2005, Holland formed Dare2 Records, after a long-standing relationship
with ECM Records, the label where he had developed into a signature
artist. Holland created Dare2 "to have more control over the entire
process of releasing an album. But in the long term, there's a lot of
promise in making music this way, especially with the changing
environment in the recording industry." He has five albums on Dare2,
including the GRAMMY®-award winning Overtime (2005), Critical Mass (2006) and Pass It On (2008). Holland also won GRAMMY® awards for his first big band project, What Goes Around (2002), and as part of the supergroup on Like Minds
(1998), which featured Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and Roy
Haynes. He has consistently been nominated for GRAMMY® awards over the
years, including on Pathways (2010), the debut of the Dave Holland Octet. Holland released Hands, a collaboration with Spanish flamenco guitar legend, Pepe Habichuela, in 2010.
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Dave Holland's Prism
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Upcoming U.S. Prism Appearances:
September 21 / Monterey Jazz Festival / Monterey, CA
September 28-29 / The Dakota / Minneapolis, MN
October 1 / Evanston Space / Evanston, IL
October 4 / MIM Music Theatre / Phoenix, IL
October 5 / Royce Hall, UCLA / Los Angeles, CA
October 6 / SFJazz Center / San Francisco, CA
October 8-9 / Jazz Alley / Seattle, WA
November 26-30 / Birdland / New York, NY
Upcoming International Prism Appearances:
October 16 / Basel, Switzerland
October 17 / Clermont-Ferrand, France
October 19 / Hradel Kralove, Czech Republic
October 20 / Vienna, Austria
October 21 / Skopje, Macedonia
October 23 / Toulouse, France
October 24 / Frankfurt, Germany
October 25 / Umea, Sweden
October 27 / Oslo, Norway
October 29 / Gorzow, Poland
October 30-31 / Amsterdam, The Netherlands
November 1 / Lausanne, Switzerland
November 3-4 / London, UK
November 5 / Elancourt, France
November 6 / Ales le Cratere, France
November 7 / Brescia, Italy
November 8 / Starsbourg / France
November 9 / Nevers, France
Dave Holland's Prism· Prism
Dare2 Records · Release Date: September 3, 2013
For more information on Dave Holland, please visit: daveholland.com
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Jordy Freed · jordy@dlmediamusic.com
Amy Miller · amy@dlmediamusic.com
Information and press materials (including album covers, promotional photos
and bios) on all DL Media artists can be found at our new website: dlmediamusic.com
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