Dave Holland

at Birdland (NYC), January 22

Since this wasn't a "D.C." show I'll keep it short... just don't want to forget it! Cameron and I heard a gorgeous set of standards reinterpreted by Dave Holland and Steve Nelson (vibraphone). This was the final night of a week-long Dave Holland "festival" at Birdland that also featured his big band and quintet.

I was up in New York for the annual conference of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and Cameron went up to meet with the production director for New York's Fringe. We had the best seat in the house right up front. Concert was amazing, lived up to high expectations. The duo texture necessitated thoughtful reductions at every turn - no piano and no drums meant these two had lots of work to do to keep the tunes clear and the rhythm swinging. They made it look easy.

There was the obligatory jazz club applause after every solo -- and these were remarkable solos. However, after one particularly thorny vibraphone solo which was done mostly with chords rather than a single melodic line, there wasn't applause - which seemed crazy to me since Mr. Nelson had just navigated the most outrageous trip through some otherworldly harmonic substitutions and I really couldn't believe it. Strange that this particular effort - which sounded like the most astonishing solo of the night to me, was not properly acknowledged. Wacky. Anyway, it was a real treat to hear them (and even worth the super high prices).