Bassist
Dave Holland has led many different ensembles in his 60-plus-year career. They include everything from solo and duo outings to big bands. That said, his trio dates have been among the most memorable: They include four albums with the Gateway, with guitarist
John Abercrombie and drummer
Jack DeJohnette, 2019's
Good Hope with
Chris Potter and
Zakir Hussain, and 2020's
Without Deception with pianist
Kenny Barron and drummer
Johnathan Blake.
Another Land is an evolutionary trio offering.
Holland's band includes guitarist
Kevin Eubanks and drummer
Obed Calvaire.
Holland and
Eubanks worked together on 1990's Extensions and 2013's quartet offering
Prism. Veteran
Calvaire, currently a member of the
SF Jazz Collective and a prolific session drummer, has toured with
Holland and
Eubanks since 2015.
Another Land marks the group's recorded debut; its musical approach was conceived during those gigs.
These nine tunes include four each by the bassist and guitarist, with another by
Calvaire.
Eubanks' "Grave Walker" lends weight to the reputation of this group as a power trio. It emerges without an intro as full-on, knotty jazz-funk.
Eubanks is a wildly diverse player. He leans in with punchy chordal vamps, razor-wire single-string runs, and a rhythmic strut that meets
Calvaire's funky breaks and martial snare with grease and grit.
Holland emerges in the foreground, riffing and vamping, adding a colorful harmonic dimension to the rhythmic assault. "20-20" commences as a moody tonal meditation with
Eubanks fingerpicking to sparse maracas and droning bass notes. He goes silent before delivering a massive blues riff ratcheting the intensity.
Calvaire responds with elegant restraint -- even playing double time -- as
Holland bridges their interplay with deft, pulsing pizzicato runs and accents.
Eubanks' choppy rhythm vamps balance the funky soul of Nile Rogers and
Prince, while his fleet, spiky jazz-rock runs recall the post-
Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. This trio is capable of sublime swing too. Check the intricate, silky interplay between bassist and guitarist on the title track as
Calvaire illuminates their inquiries with lithe hi-hat and snare work.
Holland's three-note upright vamp introduces
Calvaire's dancing kit on "Gentle Warrior."
Eubanks unfolds the spectral melody in stages as the band increases the tempo. They converse in subtle yet weighty call-and-response in the bridge. The single "Mashup" is another muscular groover wedding post-bop, blues, rock, and funk across jarring, striated cadences that never lose the groove. The dialogue between
Holland and
Eubanks is startling; they go at one another upping the ante in rounds before
Eubanks' elegant solo calms the waters a bit as
Calvaire combines rockist intensity and funky breaks with post-bop swing. Closer "Bring It Back Home" is a gentle stunner. Its slippery bluesy articulation references
Jimi Hendrix's later R&B-influenced work with bassist
Billy Cox.
Another Land finds this trio putting forth a complex rhythmic approach to jazz harmony, chromaticism, and improvisation, while sounding loose and carefree. ~ Thom Jurek