The first track from "AZIZA," a new album from a group of the same name – a collective ensemble brought together by legendary bassist Dave Holland (Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Kenny Barron, Kenny Wheeler, Roy Haynes, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock), saxophonist Chris Potter (Dave Holland Quintet, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Pat Metheny), guitarist Lionel Loueke (Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock) and drummer extraordinaire Eric Harland (Terence Blanchard, Charles Lloyd, SF Jazz Collective, Dave Holland Prism).

The group’s name comes from the mythology of Dahomey, the African kingdom that would become Loueke’s homeland of Benin. Aziza is the god of inspiration, a small, elusive woodland creature that lends its magic to artists and hunters in the woods. It’s an apt name for a quartet that so deftly blends the spiritual and the earthy, the organic and the mystical.

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Aziza Final Mixes

"Aziza Dance" (Comp. Lionel Loueke) by Dave Holland / Chris Potter / Lionel Loueke / Eric Harland

Over the course of a nearly five-decade career, bassist/composer Dave Holland has exemplified that evolutionary process in musical form, reinventing his concept and approach with each new project while constantly honing his instantly identifiable voice. Since Holland’s professional debut in the mid-1960s, that voice has been heard in a remarkable number of different contexts. From the electric whirlwind of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew-era band to the elegant flamenco of his collaboration with Spanish guitar legend Pepe Habichuela; accompanying the great vocalist Betty Carter in her last years to forging a new sound with the pioneering avant-garde quartet Circle alongside Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, and Barry Altschul; standing alongside legends like Stan Getz, Hank Jones, Roy Haynes, and Sam Rivers to providing early opportunities to now-leading players like Chris Potter, Kevin and Robin Eubanks, or Steve Coleman; Dave Holland has been at the forefront of jazz in many of its forms since his earliest days. Since 2005, Holland’s output has been released on his own Dare2 Records label, founded so that the bassist could exercise greater control over the recording and release of his music. The move came on the heels of a fruitful relationship with ECM Records that had lasted for more than three decades. Attentive to devising a one-of-the-kind packaging to match the product within, Holland drafted world-famous graphic designer Niklaus Troxler to craft the label’s distinctively bold and colorful look. Born in Wolverhampton, England in 1946, Holland shifted seamlessly between jazz traditions from the beginning. While still in his native country, he collaborated with forward-thinking peers like saxophonists Jon Surman and Evan Parker and pianists Chris McGregor and John Taylor while also playing with more traditional forebears from an earlier generational, such as saxophonists Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott. It was while playing at Scott’s storied Soho jazz club in 1968 that Holland was spotted by Miles Davis, who immediately hired the young bassist for his ground-breaking electric ensemble. He served as artistic director for the Banff Centre Jazz Workshop in Alberta, Canada for seven years in the 1980s and is currently an artist in residence at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Miami.

Dave Holland

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