This time on The Breakdown, bass legend, composer, and 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dave Holland speaks to a group of bass players about uneven time signatures, tracing their history in jazz going back to landmark recordings by drummer Max Roach and their common use in Indian classical music. Holland answers questions and presents his approach to breaking longer rhythms into smaller units, stressing their internalization, and improvising within rhythmic patterns.

Holland performed with his New Quartet at SFJAZZ on 5/24 with saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, pianist Kris Davis, and drummer Nasheet Waits. View a full-length video of their performance on-demand here: https://www.sfjazz.org/athome/on-demand/dave-holland-new-quartet/

Far more than one of the jazz world’s greatest bassists, Dave Holland has inhabited the music’s adventurous edge ever since Miles Davis hired him to anchor his band in 1968 as it rapidly morphed from an acoustic powerhouse to a pioneering fusion combo.

After spending years exploring the outer reaches with Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers and founding the pioneering Gateway Trio with John Abercrombie and Jack DeJohnette, the British-born bassist started leading his own ensembles which have served as a proving ground for a legion of celebrated improvisers.

24 albums as a leader and collaborations with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Kenny Wheeler and dozens more have made him among the most versatile and prolific bassist/composers in jazz history. He was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2017.