Another Land

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, 2019s Good Hope with Chris Potter and Zakir Hussain, and 2020s Without Deception with pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Johnathan Blake. Another Land is an evolutionary trio offering. Hollands band includes guitarist Kevin Eubanks and drummer Obed Calvaire. Holland and Eubanks worked together on 1990s Extensions and 2013s 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 groups 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 Calvaires 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. Hollands three-note upright vamp introduces Calvaires 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 Hendrixs 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