Dave Holland on Miles Davis as a Bandleader

Few jazz bassists can match the pedigree of Dave Holland, thanks to his work with Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Chick Corea and just about everyone else. In this clip Dave Holland recounts a BIG lesson he learned from Miles Davis.
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[@ar9v]

I absolutely love how everyone that tells a Miles Davis story _has_ to do a Miles impersonation

[@nevilleattkins586]

Its the law.

[@qtaroj]

One must conjure up the spirit of the guru when quoting the guru 😁

[@samferguson9171]

Dave is a true genius of the music. His playing with Miles was intensely busy (especially at the beginning, as he explains here) but always funky in a way that defies all conventional understandings of what “funk” even is. His eloquence and openness here are also telling: he is intelligent, humane, perceptive, ever-inspired. It’s also clear that he learned how to lead, at least in part, from watching Miles lead. A truly heavy dude.

[@Frisbieinstein]

Holland, funky? Huh. I'll take Bootsie.

[@MrDanilop45]

Also a great teacher

[@fviannaval]

Beautifully put, my friend. He could be so funky on a double bass, which is not a very common or obvious thing when you consider it.

[@EJSlothrop]

​@Frisbieinstein I'll take them both. They're different. The beauty is that we don't have to choose. We get both.

[@rhythmfield]

@@FrisbieinsteinDave Holland is absolutely funky. Also, British players have a different sort of funk-not the same as the great Black American funkmasters-the Brits have their own thing going (think Bill Bruford, Phil Collins, Percy Jones etc)

[@user-ip1bw9fd2x]

Dave’s work with Sam Rivers and Barry Altschul in the 70s was stellar. That trio gave one of the very best performances I’ve ever witnessed in 50 years of concert-going.

[@siriusra2692]

.........when Dave Holland put a wah wah pedal on his Bass with Miles Davis at the Isle of Wight concert .....he was Bootsy Collins before Bootsy Collins......that was some funky bass playing ........Jack and Chick was having a ball .......😅😊

[@Exileonbackroad]

Dave Holland is one of the best jazz players of the last 50 years, and his 80s Quintet one of the best working groups in the same period, just incredible.

[@adamodimattia]

I think he repeated the success of the first quintet of the 80's with the one of the 2000's too.

[@McDoinky]

Dave is known primarily for his upright playing, but his Fender Precision tone is so gnarly, especially at the Isle of Wight gig.

[@clancywiggam]

All the best players I have worked with are reflective, open to criticism and above all humble. I asked a guitarist to not STRUM during my bass solos once, and he flew off the handle and would not even look at me for the rest of the gig.

[@guidofacchini]

Have you been GENTLE with him?

[@paulgentile1024]

could have been worse... I think miles would have done more than not just look ya if you told him that

[@rustybeltway2373]

Berklee joke: How do you get a guitar player to shut up? Put a chart in front of him.

[@ericvanjames8395]

🤔

[@golds04]

Beautiful. Also it is so funny how whenever they speak of, or about Miles/ the imitation seems to be an inevitability . 🎉❤

[@intuneorange]

Dave is a lovely man and has been around so many important musical projects If he has the time he is quite accessible and he shares Definitely a man of goodwill

[@zangsax]

One of my major inspirations as a musician along with Jack DeJohnette great players, great group leaders and so musical.

[@christophercharles9645]

Dave brings so much to every situation he plays in. Swinging with more traditional beboppers; sensitive & supportive in a duet form; chunky & deep grooves; an ability to take other leader's songs and bring a bit of his own sound and something new even in an old chestnut. He took inspiration from earlier masters - Leroy Vinnegar, Ray Brown, Scott LaFaro - and then raised the bar even further. His solo bass albums (two as of this writing: Emerald Tears, 1977 & One's All, 1996) alone show him as a true genius and the at top echelons of performers, on any instrument.

[@haroldbranch7971]

wow, never even heard Dave Holland talk before. Dave is one of the greatest as far as I'm concerned

[@carterpaul2688]

My fav bassist by far

[@ElMarko2000]

So humble and so talented. What a guy!

[@PabloHeldmusic]

Thank you Maestro Dave!

[@adamodimattia]

Evidently Tony Williams wasn't the easiest person to work with, especially for bass players. John McLaughlin said in one of the interviews here on YT, that while working on the Trio of Doom, Jaco and Tony were both very temperamental and at each others' throats :) That's why the band didn't persist longer than one record and a couple of shows.

[@fideliusconcrete4871]

Paul Chambers, Ron Carter and Dave Holland - those were the long time regular bassists Miles had in his bands. And when one of those has anything to say about music we can only listen and learn so much. Thank you Dave for this important talk.

[@rightchordleadership]

Dave one of the greatest

[@Barry101er]

That recent LP "Another Land: wonderful

[@bmuhamad]

Glad Dave got the memo, & flourished.

[@PabloVestory]

Amazing!

[@morganneher8643]

It is cool on the Big Band records for one example, how Dave will give you super solid bass when you want it and then go outside everything at incredible times, he mixes it so well.

[@dwdrummer9000lc]

Awesome ✊🏽

[@argot4086]

this is Gold!

[@MrDanilop45]

Love ❤️

[@bradsillasen1972]

Holland is and always will be on my 'A' list, but as I've matured I see more the value in Miles' comment. Not that I don't still enjoy an active upright, but if you contrast a busy style with say, Peacock, the value of a solid bottom is apparent.

[@garygomesvedicastrology]

Peacock was a pretty active bass player from what I have heard of him on record. I saw Dave Holland with Sam Rivers and was just astonished by his ability. It seems a shame to not allow a virtuoso to be a virtuoso. I understand Mr. Davis's concept; I just think he likes more restrained playing. That isn't my personal preference for a bass player. It sort of mirrors Davis's comment to Coltrane when Coltrane said he just didn't know how to stop playing and Davis said he could always take the horn out of his mouth. It also explains why, for me, Davis hired Wayne Shorter, because Shorter's solos were very economical. It's one reason I have never really been excited by Davis's groups. He hires the greatest players but then wants them to reign themselves in, which seems self defeating to me. I respect Davis, but personally don't like what he often produces because of this tendency. I understand the philosophy behind it, but I don't enjoy the result. It doesn't excite my ears.

[@TheEleatic]

I saw DH with Sonny Rollins and once with Joe Henderson. Al Foster on drums both times. As great as it gets.

[@justinmosher7146]

Miles once told me the world was gonna roll me

[@thatpaulschofield]

Butter notes.

[@dwaneyocum1718]

Miles was such a great person. We used to have him babysit our kids, and we loved watching him dressed up as the Easter Bunny in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Once he beat a clarinet player to death with his trumpet for playing the wrong note. Miles never cared for the reed section.