New England Conservatory Jazz Studies Department Presents The Music of Dave Holland on Thursday, March 13 at Brown Hall

Join visiting artist-in-residence, renowned jazz bassist Dave Holland as he leads New England
Conservatory jazz students in a performance of his music at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 at NEC’s Brown Hall,
30 Gainsborough Street,
Boston, MA. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, log on
to: http://www.necmusic.edu/music-dave-holland-0
or call 617-585-1122.  

A master of
tone and rhythm, bassist, composer, and bandleader Dave Holland is now in his fifth decade as a performer and his
music possesses a rich and kaleidoscopic history.  His path has led him
from the frontiers of free improvisation to his modern ensembles that fully
embody the Sam Rivers-instilled philosophy of “playing all of it.” The Wolverhampton,
England, native got his big break from Miles Davis, with whom he played during
the trumpet legend’s epochal Bitches Brew period. Solo, and in collaboration,
Holland became a dominant voice in the 1970s – partnering with Rivers, and
working with folk and rock musicians such as Bonnie Raitt and John Hartford, and even had a passing encounter with Jimi
Hendrix. He formed his
first working quintet in 1983, and released Jumpin’ In, and continued to
develop other varied and fruitful relationships with artists such as Anthony
Braxton, Stan Getz, Cassandra Wilson, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Joe
Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Betty Carter, Pat Metheny, Kenny Wheeler, Bill
Frisell, Roy Haynes and Herbie Hancock over the course of his career.

In 2005, Holland formed Dare2 Records, after a long-standing
relationship with ECM Records. Albums on Dare2 include the Grammy-award winning
Overtime (2005), Critical Mass (2006), Pass It On (2008), Grammy-nominated
Pathways (2010), and Hands (2010). Holland’s latest release is Prism (September 2013), featuring Kevin Eubanks, Craig Taborn and Eric Harland.

Awarded an honorary degree by NEC in spring
2004, that fall Holland began a series of residencies here in which he shares
the many dimensions of his activities as soloist, composer, bandleader, and
all-round musician.

NEC’s Jazz Studies Department was the first fully
accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. The brainchild of
Gunther Schuller, who moved quickly to incorporate jazz into the curriculum
when he became President of the Conservatory in 1967, the Jazz Studies faculty has included six MacArthur "genius" grant
recipients (three currently teaching) and four NEA Jazz Masters, and alumni
that reads like a who’s who of jazz. Now in its 44th year, the program
has spawned numerous Grammy winning composers and performers. As Mike West
writes in JazzTimes: “NEC’s jazz studies department is among the
most acclaimed and successful in the world; so says the roster of visionary
artists that have comprised both its faculty and alumni.”  The program currently has 114
students; 67 undergraduate and 47 graduate students from 12 countries.

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