Critical Mass
For years now, there has been no more proficient working band in jazz than the Dave Holland Quintet. Like such precursors as the Jazztet and the Jazz Messengers, it balances songcraft and improvisation with consummate ease. And the seasoned frontline of saxophonist Chris Potter, trombonist Robin Eubanks and vibraphonist Steve Nelson goes beyond the usual tag-team solos in engaging in complex time schemes and coloristic shifts, extending themes and partaking of overlapping lines.Critical Massboasts some of the band's catchiest tunes while showcasing its fondness for mussing up their clean foundations with free-spirited exchanges before restoring civility. The material ranges from bassist Holland's Middle Eastern-tinged "Secret Garden" to drummer Nate Smith's hip-hoppy "The Leak." Powerfully contained on tenor, Potter sounds like he's been listening to the great, departed Steve Lacy on soprano while Nelson plays up his percussive skills on marimba. If the album doesn't have the excitement of past efforts, that's partly because Smith, as strong as he is, doesn't have the sudden explosiveness of his precedessor, Billy Kilson. Perhaps, too, the band has settled a bit into familiar patterns. Still, this is a class act.--Lloyd Sachs