Bio

Dave Holland was born in 1946 in Wolverhampton, England. He started to teach himself instruments from a very young age, and settled on the bass fairly quickly. He quit school at age 15 to pursue a career in music, and steadily worked his way into the London scene. For a while, he was an on call bassist who would play with American players like Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Joe Henderson when they would play through London. While playing one of these gigs, he was heard by Miles Davis, who insisted that Dave Holland move to New York to join his band. Holland’s move would catapult him to the middle of the scene at the time. He was instantly playing with the likes of Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Steve Grossman, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Steve Coleman, and Gary Bartz. Dave Holland’s playing is one of the hallmarks of modern bass styles. His background of studies ranges from pop, to classical music to jazz and to Indian music, so there are a lot of forces at play when you listen to him.