Though he's too busy to be fully engaged in outside projects, Holland has played on recent Roy Haynes albums and recorded trio dates with such leaders as Geri Allen and Kenny Wheeler-all outings that he says he could not pass up. He even has taken his recording career into his own hands, launching his own label imprint, Dare2 Records in 2005 (distributed by Sunnyside in the U.S., Universal Music Jazz France internationally), after a fertile three-decades-plus association with ECM Records.

A onetime sideman with two titans of jazz, Thelonious Monk (a short tenure) and Miles Davis (a seminal experience during the trumpeter's Bitches Brew era), Holland made his debut as a leader in the early 1970s. He broke in as a leader with Music for Two Basses (1971) with Barre Phillips and Conference of the Birds (1972) with a band featuring Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton. Holland also expanded his work as a side musician to include recording with a diversity of artists such as Bonnie Raitt (Give It Up, 1972), John Hartford (Morning Bugle, 1972) and Lee Konitz (Satori, 1974).

In recent years, his recording career has continued to flourish, recording such milestone albums as his quintet CD, Extended Play: Live at Birdland (2003) and two Grammy-winning big band discs, What Goes Around (2002) and the potent follow-up Overtime (2005). Continuing this impressive creative streak into 2006, Holland released a new quintet album, entitled Critical Mass. The album is the first new studio recording by the Dave Holland Quintet to be released in over five years and marks drummer Nate Smith's debut recording with the band.

Creatively restless, Holland has been involved with a number of other projects, including his own "mini big band," an octet comprising bass, drums, vibraphones and five horns: trumpet, trombone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone. "Like Duke Ellington did, I wanted to pare down the big band," Holland says. "I wrote some music for it and we toured Europe as a part of a British Arts Council program and performed at Orchestra Hall in Chicago in 2005."

Underlying all of the successes in Holland's career is a joie de vivre in the music itself. "In my bands, I like being the bass player-in a supportive role as well as exploring melodic and rhythmic ideas-rather than the featured soloist," he says. "I'm more interested in being part of the celebration. After all, it's hard to party on your own. For me, the most joyous part of the music is when people's spirits and hearts come together."

In October 2006 Holland turned 60. In reflecting on his consistency as a preeminent jazz bassist, he says he feels fortunate in being able to persevere for so long. "When you find yourself struggling against the challenges of the music industry and your rent's due, those are the difficult times when you are tested," he says. "Each musician has to make their own decision about how they want their music to serve. When you make the commitment to stay true to your musical voice instead of giving into the temptations of some fantastic offer, that is when your music gets stronger. That's something I see as a positive result of this commitment: renewed energy. In the end, people do recognize that commitment."

For more information about the Portland Jazz Festival, please visit www.pdxjazz.com.

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