Dave Holland: Conferences

Conferences is a rare 1998 promotional sampler devoted to bassist Dave Holland, issued as a free supplement with the February 1998 edition of the Italian magazine Musica Jazz. Its 10 selections provide a compact but revealing survey of the English musician’s work. Miles Davis recruited Holland while he was still young, placing him inside a musical world already dismantling its established forms. Holland would later emerge as a formidable frontman in his own right, leaving a trail of hearty breadcrumbs through ECM’s terrain. The title proves unexpectedly apt. Across these recordings, Holland appears as anchoring bassist, bowed cellist, composer, and ensemble leader. Each role speaks differently, yet all belong to the same musical consciousness. The disc presents him alone, including on cello for “Inception,” while also placing him among Kenny Wheeler, Julian Priester, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers, Steve Nelson, Kevin and Robin Eubanks, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Barry…