Photos by Don Berryman

"I've tried to find a way to build a vehicle which lets me utilize the full spectrum, which includes the tradition, which includes playing the blues, which includes improvising freely. I love all that music, and there's been a desire to reconcile all those areas, to make them relevant, hopefully, in a contemporary context, as one music."--Dave Holland

In his quintet gig at the Dakota last night, Dave Holland more than fulfilled his goal of utilizing that full spectrum of tradition, blues, and free improvisation. Great bands come to the Dakota frequently, but none with more empathy, swing, and fire than the Dave Holland Quintet. The house was totally full for both sets on Tuesday night, and I assume Monday's sets were packed as well. Bass players may seldom get their due, but Holland's longevity (he was the bassist for Miles Davis' In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew sessions), leadership (he currently leads this quintet and the similarly acclaimed Dave Holland Big Band), and creativity have earned him and his ensembles numerous awards from Down Beat, Jazz Times, and the Jazz Journalists Association, as well as Grammy awards and nominations for a long list of recordings. The quintet's performance at the Dakota left no doubt that the accolades are well deserved.

First and foremost, Dave Holland is a great Personnel Director--he has put together, and maintained, two incredible line-ups of contemporary jazz artists, including the quintet itself, and the Big Band that adds eight more musicians to this core. Chris Potter is quickly becoming the pre-eminent tenor saxophonist of his generation, a marvelous improviser and composer in the best spirit of Rollins and Coltrane, and he's no slouch on soprano, either. His style is a perfect fit to Dave Holland's architecture, weaving wide ranging influences into a richly textured, coherent fabric of sound and emotion. His soprano sizzled across the octaves on "Global Citizen," his tenor sang above the beat on "Last Minute Man," and his short phrases and well-placed squeals on his own "High Wire" prompted a wave of fiery retorts from his bandmates.

Robin Eubanks is simply a stellar trombonist. His compositional as well as performance chops were showcased on the second night opener, "Global Citizen," his symphonic suite that builds on a montuno groove sustained by bass and vibes before moving into an extended trombone solo. This was Eubank's master class in "bone surgery," giving his instrument a rainbow of colors and textures, from the velvety tone of a French horn to the dry vibrato of a trumpet. His interplay with Potter was dazzling on the saxist's "High Wire," on Steve Nelson's "Go Fly a Kite" where the two horns engaged in a dissonant harmonic vamp interspersed with lyrical lines of melody, and particularly on "What Goes Around," the finale of Tuesday's early set, where Eubanks let loose some sensational growls before embarking on a funky dark solo--the most energetic daredevil trombone I've heard.