View Larger
Rate it!
Average: 4.5 (38 ratings)
- Date Released: August 29, 2006
- Genre: Jazz
- Style: Contemporary
- Label: Dare2 Records / Sunnyside Records
One of the great modern bandleaders and bassists in an unexpectedly optimistic outing.
-
We Say...
Long tuned into to the avant-garde but not of it, always open to new and non-Western rhythms yet loyal to jazz first, bassist Dave Holland was leading the modern mainstream field before the term was a twinkle in some taxonomist's four eyes. For over 20 years, he's also been a staunch advocate of the collaborative, multigenerational working-band approach. Even a casual listen to his quintet's first album with new drummer Nate Smith will reveal that this is no pickup band — saxophonist Chris Potter and trombonist Robin Eubanks bounce off each other with the ease of prime-era Lewis and Martin, and the responsive rhythm section sounds made up as much of virtuoso listeners as virtuoso players. As usual, Holland shares compositional duties with the sidemen, and favors muscular ostinatos placed beneath urbane melodies. Critical Mass is sunnier than most previous Holland quintet outings — optimism even prevails on the New Orleans-inspired blues, "Easy Did It," a highlight along with Potter's "Vicissitudes," on which Steven Nelson, the group's ace in the hole, builds a sterling marimba solo around almost childlike three-note sequences.
-
They Say...
One word that comes to mind when listening to Critical Mass is generosity. Double-bassist Dave Holland, four decades into his career, could certainly be forgiven for taking the word "leader" at its literal meaning, calling all the shots and keeping his musicians at bay. But that's not what he's about, and at any given time Critical Mass could just as easily have been credited to saxist Chris Potter, trombonist Robin Eubanks, vibist/marimbaist Steve Nelson, or drummer Nate Smith. Each player is provided with ample moments in which to take charge, and not fleeting, gratuitous moments but rather significant chunks of solo/lead space. Holland's belief in sharing extends to the area of composition as well. Each bandmember contributes one piece to the album (Holland does claim the other four, however) and, more often than not, uses that opportunity to shapeshift, to push the band -- and make no mistake, this is a band, not a random collection of studio players -- into unexplored territory. That's not to say that Holland takes a back seat -- his presence is always strongly felt -- only that he recognizes that the bass is, first and foremost, a support instrument and he's content with using it as such when the piece calls for it. When he does step in to take the leadership role, he is endlessly creative, commanding in his ability to sidestep predictability and further his own legend. The particular mix of instrumentation here allows for numerous rhythmic and tonal variations as well: on the album's longer pieces, in particular -- Eubanks' exploratory "Full Circle," Holland's appropriately hypnotic "Easy Did It," Nelson's multi-hued "Amator Silenti" -- the quintet's cohesiveness and utmost respect for one another becomes clearer by the minute.
-
You Say...
Write a ReviewI would like to say...
“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”
Rolling Stone
| 01. |  |
The Eyes Have It |
7:00 |  |
| 02. | |
Easy Did It |
11:17 | |
| 03. | |
Vicissitudes |
9:58 | |
| 04. | |
The Leak |
5:45 | |
| 05. | |
Secret Garden |
8:42 | |
| 06. | |
Lucky Seven |
8:36 | |
| 07. | |
Full Circle |
12:15 | |
| 08. | |
Amator Silenti |
9:17 | |
Find a problem with a track? Please let us know.
08 Total Tracks, 72:50 Total Length
We will send an email to with the tracking ID for this issue.
Before reporting defective tracks, please note that you can re-download all of your tracks without losing credits. Please try to re-download your tracks in case a temporary issue caused your problem. If, after re-downloading your tracks, you are still experiencing issues, report them below.
Note: This form is for reporting defective tracks only.
For all other issues (billing, trouble downloading, etc),
contact Customer Support.
Credits
- Robin Eubanks - Trombone // Robin Eubanks - Group Member // Greg Calbi - Mastering // James Farber - Engineer // Steve Nelson Quartet - Marimba // Steve Nelson Quartet - Tambourine // Steve Nelson Quartet - Vibraphone // Steve Nelson Quartet - Group Member // Christopher Drukker - Package Design // Anthony Ruotolo - Assistant Engineer // Niklaus Troxler - Cover Art // Louise Holland - Producer // Damien de Clerck - Release Coordinator // Ulli Gruber - Photography // Garrett Shelton - Release Coordinator // Nate Smith - Drums // Nate Smith - Group Member
Choose from over 4 million
music downloadseMusic features legendary and emerging artists in every genre: classic rock to classical,indie to international, soundtracks to spiritual, jazz to country and many more.
MP3 downloads work on any digital media player
With eMusic, you OWN your music without any restrictions. Burn music to a CD, play it on your computer, mobile phone or any digital media player - including iPod®, Zune® and Walkman®.
Songs as low as $0.25
eMusic subscriptions start at just $11.99 a month for 30 downloads - that's less than $0.40 per song! And it gets better from there - our plans go as low as $0.25 per song!
Music Discovery
eMusic is about discovery. We make finding new music fun again with music recommendations from our award-winning team of music experts, member playlists and new music features.
Cancel anytime
With all the great music and site features we're pretty sure you will love eMusic. If not, no problem. You can cancel at any time and keep the music you have downloaded.
© 1992 - 2008 All Media Guide, LLC