Davis’ inspiration is Holland’s opus

Spencer Patterson

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 10:27 a.m.

What: Dave Holland Quintet.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: County Government Center Amphitheater, 500 S. Grand Central Pkwy.

Tickets: Admission is free.

Information: 455-8200.

Thirty-five years have done nothing to dim bassist Dave Holland's memories of his first days in jazz legend Miles Davis' touring and studio groups.

"I was 21 years old when I started playing with Miles. The first recording I did with him was (1968's) 'Filles de Kilimanjaro' and I remember the first session, having to sort of get myself together because I'd been listening to Miles' records all my life and suddenly I'm going to be on one," Holland said during a telephone interview from his home outside New York City.

"It was an extraodinary opportunity for me as a young player to work with a great musician and a great leader, somebody who had a very forward-looking vision of the music and was constantly looking for new directions to go in for the band."

Davis' groups pushed jazz itself into a new direction in 1969, releasing "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" -- twin pillars of the electric, rock-laced "fusion" side of the genre. Holland manned the bass for both, and continued playing with the trumpet great into 1970, observing one of jazz's lengendary leaders from close range.

"Miles was a very generous leader. He gave a lot of room for the musicians to play and be themselves, and just gave enough guidance ... to give direction to the music and to focus it."

These days Holland is putting those observations to good use. As leader of the Dave Holland Quintet for the past five years, he has molded his own group into a model of success, releasing three Grammy-nominated albums, including last year's "Not For Nothin'," and earning consistent praise from critics and listeners.

"Certainly, one of the things you do as a musician is you watch other people and see how they do what they do, and Miles did set a great example for me in many ways: how to bring together improvisers, let them have the freedom to explore their own creativity and encourage them," Holland said."

Saturday the 55-year-old Holland will make his first Las Vegas appearance as part of this summer's 13th annual Jazz in the Park series with a free concert at the County Government Center Amphitheater.

Along with Holland, the quintet features Chris Potter on saxophone, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibraphone and Billy Kilson on drums. The five musicians have been together since 1997, when Holland assembled the collection of old friends and playing companions.

"You kind of think about the people you know and what influence you'd like to put together in the band and those all come together as a sort of osmosis," Holland said.

"When I decided to put a new group together I thought about it for a while and this kind of idea came together. I wanted to have two horns because of the writing possibilities for that ... and the vibraphone also appealed to me as an instrument to have in the band because of its texture, and being a part of the percussion family as well makes a very interesting possibility."

Later this year Holland and his core group will expand, becoming part of a 13-piece big band featuring three trumpets, three trombones and four saxophones. Beginning in September that lineup will tour behind "What Goes Around," an album slated for an August release.

"In the beginning, when you put a group together you don't know where it's really going to go," Holland said. "You have a starting idea and from there on it evolves. You try and guide it and write compositions for the band which you're going to explore in certain ways. Obviously, there's a certain development that just sort of happens because of the musicians and playing together and you kind of follow it, see where it's going."

That was certainly the case during the late 1960s, when Holland and a collection of musicians that included pianists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, guitarist John McLaughlin and drummers Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette helped Davis take his music into uncharted territory.

Early in 1969 the swirling, atmospheric "In a Silent Way" hinted at something more explosive to come. Later that year the dense, funkier "Bitches Brew" took the next step, setting the standard for a new generation of electric-oriented jazz.

In recent years Columbia has issued "Complete Sessions" boxed sets for both watermark albums, with "In a Silent Way" expanded to three discs and "Bitches Brew" doubled from two discs to four.

But as Holland attests, audiences expecting to hear Davis & Co. play a more traditional, acoustic program were often less than receptive early on.

"The people that loved Miles' early work, many of those people had a hard time accepting the direction the band was going in in the late 60s, the inclusion of electronic instruments," Holland said. "There were some people who just really wanted to hear Miles play " 'Round Midnight" for the rest of his life, and Miles wasn't prepared to do that. He didn't want to become a museum piece, he really wanted the music to be relevant to the time that he was living in."

And Holland admired Davis' fearless attitude.

"That was another thing that made a big impression on me -- the idea of the relevance of the music, trying to keep growing and keep expanding and not looking back so much. Not just trying to re-create the things that worked in the past, but to take risks," Holland said. "Miles was a man of great courage, and you need to have courage if you're going to step out into unknown territory and sometimes leave behind things that have given you great success. That's not an easy thing to do sometimes."

Likewise, Holland has continued to push the boundaries of jazz since leaving Davis' group. The British native and longtime New York City resident has spent the past three decades playing with a who's-who of top-flight musicians, from his days with Corea in the fusion band Circle to his recordings with free-jazz improviser Sam Rivers.

Holland carries on that tradition of exploration and change with a group that has become a source of particular pride for the bass great.

"I always wanted to have a band that I belonged to -- whether it was mine or somebody else's -- but something that had some continuity and meaning. So that's what I'm trying to do now," Holland said. "I have an opportunity to lead a band and travel around the world with it. I think I should do that -- there's a responsibility to try to do that the best way you can."