Dave Holland, Another Land *****

A trio that sounds bigger than it is. Holland's beefy beat and Eubanks' canny channelling of flow moves mountains so that a rhythmic impetus that's easy to internalise is enlarged. And that's not all. If you are scouring the Holland back …

Published: 28 May 2021. Updated: 2 years.

A trio that sounds bigger than it is. Holland's beefy beat and Eubanks' canny channelling of flow moves mountains so that a rhythmic impetus that's easy to internalise is enlarged. And that's not all.

If you are scouring the Holland back catalogue for clues as to predecessors and there's plenty of choice closest to this context is when guitarist Kevin Eubanks joined Holland for World Trio. That time the trio was wired for percussion rather than strictly drums as Mino Cinelu was on board rather than as here where drums, in the hands and feet of Obed Calvaire a player probably best known for his work with the great Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander, play a more urgent role. So by this reckoning at Another Land's core it's the Holland and Eubanks ability to enhance their riff-groove flair to then go to market flo'etically with Calvaire, the three riding a certain wave. Another Land was supposed to have come out last year but it's worth the wait and is far earthier than when Holland is with a pianist as chief harmonic foil. Eubanks injects a certain razor edged bluesiness when required but he also is astute at opening up a lot of space, say on 'Gentle Warrior'. In terms of sheer riffery 'Mashup' is unbeatable. Given how Holland is a master of metrical elasticity 'Mashup' is a reminder of how he can get his finger fangs to twang at will as Eubanks merrily pitch bends away but just as easily DH can wrap his own gnashers around a riff that he has rustled up frankly miraculously from scratch that you'll want to chew on all day long. On Edition, out today

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Don the Dreamer from Journeys In Modern Jazz: Britain (1965-1972) streams

Kenny Wheeler's 'Don the Dreamer' from the classic Windmill Tilter (The Story Of Don Quixote) (1969) is the first track on the double LP compilation Journeys In Modern Jazz: Britain (1965-1972) that is part of a raft of new British jazz reissues …

Published: 28 May 2021. Updated: 2 years.

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Kenny Wheeler's 'Don the Dreamer' from the classic Windmill Tilter (The Story Of Don Quixote) (1969) is the first track on the double LP compilation Journeys In Modern Jazz: Britain (1965-1972) that is part of a raft of new British jazz reissues headed British Jazz Explosion: Originals Re-Cut.

Among the personnel is tellingly at the beating heart of the brassily rumbustious vibes-flavoured jauntiness of the sound there on double bass is none other than Dave Holland, one of the most renowned English and British jazz musicians to ever achieve global icon stature in the history of the music that spawned from his time initially playing with Miles Davis on such classics as In A Silent Way.

The compilation also includes tracks by the Don Rendell Quintet, Collin Bates Trio, John Surman & John Warren, the Michael Garrick Sextet, Mike Westbrook Concert Band, Stan Tracey Big Band, Harry Beckett, Neil Ardley and Ian Carr, The New Jazz Orchestra, Alan Skidmore Quintet, Dick Morrissey Quartet, Mike Taylor Quartet and Mike Gibbs.

Part of a new Tony Higgins-compiled series of remasters for vinyl, releases are drawn from the Decca, Argo, Lansdowne, Deram and Fontana jazz back catalogues.

The compilation release date is 16 July the same day as the release of Don Rendell's Space Walk followed in August by Ken Wheeler & the John Dankworth Orchestra's Windmill Tilter (The Story Of Don Quixote) and in September The New Jazz Orchestra's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe.