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dave holland's electric

Dave Holland's fender (i think it's a fender) has an unusual headstock shape.
Was this standard on some of the 80's or early 90's models?

btw, i love his electric playing.
(with miles, and here with Jack DeJohnette's group with Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock)
 

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Classical_Thump said:
I love Dave's upright playing, what albums feature his best electric work?

Examples of Dave on electric are RARE. I would recommend Miles' 'It's About That Time: Live at the Filmore East, March 7, 1970'.

Trying picking up the DVD 'Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue', which includes the full Isle of Wight festival performance.
 
Here's a part of an 2000 interview :

Q.You occasionally step into the world of electric bass. Describe your relationship with the instrument.

DH
I like playing electric bass. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it. I have a lot of fun playing it, but there are so many great players on the electric bass that have spent a life developing the instrument uniquely like Marcus Miller and Jaco. I prefer to let them have that and I’ll stick with what I do. It’s also to do with the nature of the acoustic bass and character of it. It’s very much a part of the music I’m hearing. The electric bass is still part of my vocabulary, but I don't feel as much of a distinctive voice on the bass guitar compared to my much more personal connection to the acoustic bass. I feel that’s my strongest position to take musically, so why not take that?

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the parallel realities group DVD that was mentioned above has Dave playing electric on about 3 songs (my favorite is 9 over reggae which grooves like heck over 9/8).
that's where i got that screenshot picture. :p

he played electric on a couple of tracks on a steve coleman or m-base album. can't remember which one... this is gonna keep me up tonight, damn.

also, i think he was on electric on 1 or 2 songs on either Big Fun or Bitches Brew with Miles.
great stuff.

i like Dave on electric cuz he doesn't try to sound like an electric bass guitar virtuoso. just plays real solid.
 
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soholounge said:
i like Dave on electric cuz he doesn't try to sound like an electric bass guitar virtuoso. just plays real solid.

On the other hand, he is clearly a DB virtuoso...!! ;)

I saw him play a piece written for him, by the contemporary classical composer Marc Anthony Turnage - "Bass Inventions"

This was for solo Jazz Double Bass and two ensembles - so there was a small Chamber Orchestra and a Jazz ensemble - circa Miles electric period - electric pianos, drums etc.

Dave Holland stood in the middle and had an extensive, complex, written part, as well as sections where he improvised solos in a Jazz fusion style - it was certainly virtuoso stuff!! :)
 
I’ve been a fan of Dave Holland for a long time. Saw him live first in the mid seventies in Québec city when he and Anthony Braxton played duets live. Awesome. Saw him again last night (more than 45 years later) with the Université de Montréal Big Band… WOW. He really gets into the music and its excitement and is so graceful, inspirational, and kind to the young generation… I also discovered much earlier his amazing electric playing on an LP by a band led by Neil Larsen and Buzz Feiten (1972) - he played electric on the song Malibu which has a wonderful « RB-jazz » feel to it - check it out here: . He also wrote Three Step Dance which is straight out from his work with Miles Davis in the intro - but moves later harmonically into the best jazz fusion grooves of the period:
He also plays electric on a few tracks from the trio album/CD Another Land that came out in 2021 with Kevin Eubanks and Obed Calvaire which harkens to the best jazz fusion - available on BandCamp: See also this other thread about this album: Dave Holland to release new album in May
There are several other albums of note where he plays electric that you could share with the TB community.
 
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