Dave Holland Quintet

Bijoux · #1 06-11-2002, 09:58 AM

Just saw Dave Holland Quintet! it was amazing! He plays a real small bass, in fact it looks like a 5/8 or 1/2 size, I didn't pay attention to the pick up, but he had a mic with a gooseneck, I know for sure it was not the AMT, Trinity or AudioTechnica, anyway the sound of the bass wasn't that great, you know Gallien Krueger 112 feeding a 410 Hartke aluminnun speakers (argh!) actually on a second thought considering the equipment he uses the sound was pretty good, I know I couldn't make that work, anyway those guys are out there, I really need to hear something in 4/4 now.

brianrost · #2 06-11-2002, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bijoux
He plays a real small bass, in fact it looks like a 5/8 or 1/2 size

I think he's just a big guy who makes the bass seem small.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #3 06-11-2002, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brianrost

I think he's just a big guy who makes the bass seem small.

I can confirm this...I saw him at the Jazz Kitchen in Indy a couple months ago playing with Chris Potter and Robin Eubanks, and he towered over both of them. I was up pretty close, and it looked like a 3/4 size axe to me.

Bijoux · #4 06-11-2002, 02:55 PM

Well, I am 6 feet tall, he was a little shorter than I am, I told him what a great concert, he was right next to me, than I went towards the stage to check out his bass stuff, well when I look over the vibes and I see part of the bass I first thought I was looking at the upper bout when in fact I was looking at the lower bout, I am telling you that bass was right in front of me, plus like I mentioned before Dave is probably 5'8" or so and he had most of the endpin out he bass stays pretty straight and the nut was barely above his eyebrow, I have a 7/8 and big 3/4 and a small 3/4, his bass definetely looked smaller than my small 3/4.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #5 06-11-2002, 05:07 PM

Maybe it was a different bass?

Bijoux · #6 06-11-2002, 07:12 PM

It could be, even on the picture at the front desk the bass looked small and the endpin was way out, I was whaching him playing the bass and it seemed like the string lenght could be close to standard, I noticed he was shifting a lot on the lower positions.

Andrew Jones · #7 06-11-2002, 08:50 PM

I Know this has nothing to do with what ever bass you saw him playing but theres a guy in boston who has one of daves old baases its the one he used on the Ones All album (the solo one) Its a 3/4,s and not a small one at that.

AJ

Peter McFerrin · #8 06-11-2002, 10:02 PM

Holland is mostly definitely not 5'8". I am 6'2" and he is as tall as I--I shook his hand and he gave me an autograph when I saw him back in September.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #9 06-11-2002, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Peter McFerrin
Holland is mostly definitely not 5'8". I am 6'2" and he is as tall as I--I shook his hand and he gave me an autograph when I saw him back in September.

I didn't want to mention this since I didn't meet him in person, but I'm also 6'2" and he seemed to be about my height....of course, it's difficult to tell because he was on a stage. Chris Potter is definitely on the small side though, which is what gave me the idea that Holland might be making his bass look small, since he made Potter seem small. That said, Potter SOUNDED huge.

Peter McFerrin · #10 06-11-2002, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald

I didn't want to mention this since I didn't meet him in person, but I'm also 6'2" and he seemed to be about my height....of course, it's difficult to tell because he was on a stage. Chris Potter is definitely on the small side though, which is what gave me the idea that Holland might be making his bass look small, since he made Potter seem small. That said, Potter SOUNDED huge.

Yeah, Potter's not a big guy. But boy howdy does he have a monstrous tone, especially on soprano.

Another thing about Holland: his hands are about the size of regulation Frisbees, if not bigger. I felt like my arm was gonna come off when he shook my hand.

gruffpuppy · #11 06-12-2002, 08:02 AM

Speaking of size, how about Ritt Henn?

Marcus Johnson · #12 06-12-2002, 04:41 PM

Ron Carter got some big hands. I met him at a McCoy Tyner gig, and the handshake reminded me of the thing that came out of the spaceship at the end of "War of the Worlds".

Bruce Lindfield · #13 06-13-2002, 02:51 AM

An intresting debate - I think I mentioned something like this after I saw Dave Holland with a chamber orchestra playing a new composition dedicated to him : "Bass Inventions".

I had seats very near the front and it was a sitauation where there was no stage as such but raised seats which went back and up - so when you came in, you walked round the instruments.

So, on the left was Dave Holland's bass and on the right was the bass of the chamber orchestra's bassist - and there was a huge difference in size! Holland's bass was closer in size to the Cellos than the "Orchestral" Double Bass.

He was also using an amp, while the Orchestra (of course) played unamplified - so I mentioned before how the two basses were almost like different instruments - one acoustic and the other virtually an "electric" bass?

Having said that - the stuff that Dave Holland was playing on his bass was incredible - like a concerto - and would probably have been impossible on another instrument. So I'm in no way criticising him - I loved his playing and was hugely impressed.

Just interesting, the differences in instruments...

JimK · #14 06-13-2002, 04:43 AM

Damn-
Why not e-mail Holland or post a message @Jazz Corner?
His website can hit from www.jazzcorner.com

He & Robin Eubanks are very cool & usually very prompt in responding, too.

How 'bout The Dave Holland Big Band?

Bruce Lindfield · #15 06-13-2002, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JimK
Damn-
Why not e-mail Holland or post a message @Jazz Corner?
His website can hit from www.jazzcorner.com

He & Robin Eubanks are very cool & usually very prompt in responding, too.

Are you sure? I posted a question there to Dave Holland months ago, about recordings of "Bass Inventions" and got no reply!

JimK · #16 06-13-2002, 05:32 PM

...probably 'cause he knows you.

You can always try Robin Eubanks in the "Ask The Musicians" forum @
www.jazzcorner.com/speakeasy

Bruce Lindfield · #17 06-14-2002, 12:00 PM

Woildn't that seem a bit "personal" or downright rude?

Ermmm, Robin - you know Dave - well how tall is he really and how big is his instrument...exactly!

AMJBASS · #18 06-14-2002, 12:54 PM

Dave Holland plays on a small French bass(probably around 120 yrs. old). It is a flatback, and is probably 5/8 to small 3/4. Great sounding bass!

Jazzin' · #19 06-29-2007, 12:00 PM

Pics of his quintet from last night...

He's using the same setup described in the first post of this thread, started in 2002.

The actual bass body is smaller, but the scale is the same as a 3/4 DB. It's a normal DB from the bridge-up. It's squished on the lower half of the bass.

Mark Carlsen · #20 06-29-2007, 12:52 PM

Almost looks like a Czech-Ease...