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| Craig Taborn / Dave Holland / Kevin Eubanks / Eric Harland Photo:Ulli Gruber |
Dave Holland and his band are embarking on an eight-city North American tour in support of his latest album – Prism., from September 21 through November 30. The band, comprised of Kevin Eubanks on guitar, Craig Taborn on piano and Fender Rhodes and Eric Harland on drums, will be touring in support of their new album, Prism (available September 3). The tour will include performances at The Monterey Jazz Festival; The Dakota in Minneapolis, MN; Evanston Space in Evanston, IL; MIM Music Theatre in Phoenix, AZ; Royce Hall at UCLA; SFJazz Center in San Francisco, CA; Jazz Alley in Seattle, WA and Birdland in New York, NY.
In the 40 years since Dave Holland's recording debut as a leader, with his landmark album, Conference of the Birds, the bassist, composer, and bandleader has produced a remarkable series of recordings and groups documenting his eclectic musical journey. On Prism, his latest album release on Dare2 Records (Holland's imprint, with distribution from Redeye), he introduces his latest working band (of the same name). With each band member contributing distinctive compositions, Prism sets forth a new musical direction for Holland - a horn-less quartet with an explosive and visceral edge, while maintaining an organic approach overall.
Debuting at the 2012 TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival last June, Prism brings together four musicians who are each forging their own musical path and together have created a unique and contemporary musical statement on this recording. Holland's groups have always reflected a collaborative spirit with the goal of creating a musical context that allows the musicians to express their creative individuality, a concept that is an underlying theme to the group's namesake and eclectic sound. "I liked the image of a prism dividing light into spectrum of colors," says Holland. "A visual symbol of the one becoming many. The music being a unification of diverse parts."
The resulting factor of these combined efforts on Prism, Holland's first album in nearly three years, is an electrifying outing that is equally groove-oriented as it is avant-garde. Holland attributes a portion of this new musical direction to the instrumentation. "The sound of this group is different from other projects I've done previously," reflects Holland. "Most groups have featured horn players and I've rarely worked with keyboards in the band. But I wanted a different sound for this group and started thinking about a quartet with guitar, piano doubling on Fender Rhodes, bass and drums. That certainly has opened up some different musical directions."
In conceiving the band's personnel, Holland first looked to reunite with one of his oldest collaborators: guitarist Kevin Eubanks. The two began working together on various projects in the late 1980s, and Eubanks soon after led The Tonight Show Band from 1995-2010. "It's usual for me that the inspiration for putting a group together begins with the musicians that I want to play with. I'd felt a strong musical connection with Kevin when we'd played together previously and the time was right for us to get back together again." Craig Taborn and Eric Harland joined the group shortly thereafter, having both worked with Holland in different contexts over the past few years, and Prism was formed.
Tour dates:
September 21 / Monterey Jazz Festival / Monterey, CA
September 28-29 / The Dakota / Minneapolis, MN
October 1 / Evanston Space / Evanston, IL
October 4 / MIM Music Theatre / Phoenix, AZ
October 5 / Royce Hall, UCLA / Los Angeles, CA
October 6 / SFJazz Center / San Francisco, CA
October 8-9 / Jazz Alley / Seattle, WA
November 26-30 / Birdland / New York, NY
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