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Small Dave Holland quintet delivers big sounds
Dave Holland played the first of four shows Thursday
Claire Stefani
Bob Karlovits can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7852.
The band showed why it is one of the strongest small groups in jazz Thursday night as it opened a four-day stay at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild on the North Side.
This band presented all original material, some tunes so new they aren't even named. The band members played them in a way few small groups do.
Bassist Holland and his colleagues put together arrangements that are sometimes like big-band charts. The horns of trombonist Robin Eubanks and saxophonist Chris Potter, particularly, play rich, busy lines that sound like something a section would offer.
Vibraphonist Steve Nelson and Holland add to those layers with their own parts, which go far beyond rhythmic support roles. Drummer Nate Smith, who has replaced Billy Kilson, laid down lines that subdivided the rhythms but never lost hold of the groove that kept the tunes driving.
It was a style that lived up nicely to close examination. At the same time, a listener could lay back and simply enjoy the energy.
To top off everything else, the band often went into long sections of multiple improvisations where Potter and Eubanks dominated the sound with work that was sizzling hot in its creativity. They would roar through long passages, staying chordally together but each devising statements that were remarkably fresh.
The evening was filled with steady virtuosity and great variety in tunes.
The songs "Full Circle" and "Jugglers Parade" were high-energy pieces on which the horn players stood out. "He Who Loves Silence," by Nelson, had an almost hymn-like quality at its beginning and end with a blues-like middle.
While every member of the band played with remarkable skill, the work of Eubanks stood out the most. Not only were his articulation and improvisational concepts strong, but his tone was rich and full.
Potter played with similar force and striking speed on tenor and soprano saxes. On the unnamed first number the band played, which Holland jokingly called "No. 1," he slid through a long solo in mid-tempo but responded to the bassist and stepped up the tempo without a hitch.
The concert was performed on the day the band was nominated for a 2004 Grammy award for its album, "Extended Play." It certainly showed the nod was worth it.
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