Dave Holland brings his bass to the head of the class at NEC
Composer and bass player Dave Holland, fresh off a spectacular 2004 that saw him dominating jazz polls and launching his own record label (the first release, ''Overtime," is due out Feb. 22), is in the midst of a four-day intensive teaching residency at New England Conservatory. It's not Holland's first stint at NEC; he taught there between 1987 and 1990. Nor will it be the last: Holland is slated to become NEC artist-in-residence beginning next year, which will involve similar visits by him once each semester.
Let's start with the big question: Can jazz be taught?
Well, it is taught. It's been taught ever since it started. It's just not been institutionalized teaching, mostly. It's been taught through transmission from one musician to another. For me, that's still the best way.
Who were some of your best teachers?
I had a formal teacher for the bass. He was a classical bassist, James Edward Merritt. He taught at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and I studied with him for four years. He was the principal bassist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Apart from that I had teachers all through my life who have been friends and musicians that I've played with. I'm still learning from the musicians that I play with.
You joined the NEC faculty full time in the late '80s. What made you decide to do that, and what made you decide to leave?
I wanted to retreat from the music business for a couple of years, and I enjoy teaching. In its best form it's a very pure and unspoiled way of dealing with the music and talking to young players who have that uncorrupted sort of view of what the music is.
You've asked the students who attend your two afternoon jazz bass master classes to work up solo pieces to perform for you.
Yeah. What better way to judge a person's musical ability than to have them play a piece of music for you?
During one of your sets with Jim Hall in Cambridge this past December, you mentioned performing in front of Charles Mingus when you were younger.
Oh yeah, a couple of times. On my 30th birthday I was playing at the Vanguard with Betty Carter, and Mingus came in to hear Betty and was very nice to me and gave me a few encouraging words.
There are people out there who think that bass solos are boring and that there are too many of them. Gary Giddins, for example, has jokingly likened them to TV commercials. What's your opinion?
Ray Brown told me this joke. It's about a married couple that wasn't speaking to each other. Psychiatrist said, ''Go down to this place, I'll give you an address, and you'll find a table and a couple of chairs. Just sit there and something will happen, and then this will help you." So they go down, sit down at this table, and out comes a bass player, and he starts playing a solo. And the couple immediately starts talking to each other. OK, as far as bass solos are concerned, certainly in my band you won't hear me playing a bass solo every tune. I don't want to hear a bass solo every tune. I don't want to play a bass solo every tune. On the other hand, bass solos are no less interesting in my mind than any other instrument if they're done creatively, with form and taste and development and so on.
Besides being a bass player, you're a celebrated bandleader and arranger-composer. Are you teaching those other things during your NEC residency?
Absolutely. I'm going to be doing probably one or two master classes with the bass players, but there's going to be a composition class, ensemble classes. I'm planning on covering quite a wide range of what I have to offer.
You've also now launched your own record label, Dare2 Records. Will you spend time speaking with your students about that being the wave of the future?
Absolutely. One of the things that needs to be talked about with young musicians is how to run their business and how to watch out for themselves and learn from the mistakes of the past. You have to be creative in business as well as in music.
Dave Holland performs Thursday night at 8 in Jordan Hall. The free concert, featuring Holland performing his compositions with NEC students, is open to the public. Call 617-585-1122.
