In Bassist Holland’s Little-Big Band, Continuity Fosters Creativity

Bassist Dave Holland has had so many accomplishments in his long career that no one should be surprised that he’s recently taken on yet another musical challenge: leading and writing for a big jazz band. Not quite completely big, in the sense that the group he’s recorded with, and is now touring with, is 13 pieces, three or four shy of the traditional full big jazz band instrumentation.

On Thursday night, the Holland little-big band makes its West Coast debut appearance at UCLA’s Royce Hall, with most of the same personnel as on the just-released, already critically praised ECM recording, “What Goes Around.”

“There are a few players who couldn’t make the tour because of schedule conflicts,” says Holland. “Mark Turner is replacing Chris Potter, who’s touring in support of his own new album [and appearing at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday], and we have replacements for trumpeter Earl Gardner, who’s in the ‘Saturday Night Live’ band, and Andre Hayward, who’s working with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Otherwise, it’s the same guys.”

Working with “the same guys” is something that has been important to Holland since he first began leading his own groups in the early ‘80s.

“It’s a premise that’s always been important to me,” he says, “to keep a continuity of players as much as I can, because it gives us the possibility of creating projects with some growth and development.

“Take recording, for example. We’re planning to do a new album with the big band in November. So what we’re doing now is working out the music on the road. It’s a principle I’ve always used in my small group recording: Go into the studio to record only after we’ve had a chance to explore the music and mature it, to give it a chance to be discovered and investigated. A musical conversation only starts with the notes that you put on paper. After that, you have to start getting into it, running with it, doing things with it to see where it takes you.”

Holland’s previous writing experience for a large group--his big band consists of four saxophones, three trumpets, three trombones, piano, vibes and drums, along with the leader’s bass--was limited. But by starting with the sort of harmonic textures and rhythmic flow characteristic of his quintet, he has done a remarkable job of maintaining a kind of small group freedom within a large ensemble setting.

“I really wanted to keep the flexibility of the quintet,” he explains. “The reason I’m not using a full 17-piece big band is because I wanted more openness in the writing, so that even when I’m using large orchestrated chords, there’s still room inside, some space in the harmony to give it a more open sound.

“I also like to break the band down into smaller combinations, with mixed voicings or with two or three instruments playing behind a soloist and not just the usual brass-against-the-saxes kind of sound.”

Holland’s multifaceted career has provided plenty of opportunities for him to sort out the musical directions that most appeal to him. Working with both traditional jazz bands and avant-garde groups in the early ‘60s in his native England, he replaced Ron Carter with the Miles Davis group from 1968 to 1970, performing on, among other items, the classic “Bitches Brew” session.

Later associations included gigs with Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, Stan Getz, John Abercrombie, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Coleman, Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock.

“I’ll continue touring and recording with the quintet, of course,” he says. “But working with this large group is the musical moment I’ve been looking forward to. It’s complicated and expensive to make it happen, but it’s worth it on a lot of counts. Musically, of course. But also because of what happens inside the band.

“One of the things I was determined to do was to mix the generations in the personnel, not just have it be a one-dimensional age sort of thing. Because I wanted the band to be both a musical and a social arena, the kind of place that encourages the sharing that goes on between musicians, the chance to talk about and to share in the common goal of making music.”

The Dave Holland Big Band at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Thursday at 8 p.m. $40, $35, $30. (310) 825-2101.

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Banjo Bop: There was a time when the banjo’s only connection with jazz reached back to the early days of New Orleans. Although it continued to play a vital role in country and bluegrass, it was replaced in jazz by the guitar after a decade or so.

Until, that is, the arrival of Bela Fleck, whose work with his own ensemble, the Flecktones, has not only reestablished the banjo as an authentic jazz improvising instrument but also has placed it at the music’s youth-oriented cutting edge.

“A lot of people,” says Fleck, “want to put us in the jam band category, primarily because we’re so often on concerts with people like Dave Matthews and Phish.

“And also, I guess, because that particular audience seems to like us a lot.

“But I like to feel that what we’re doing is a little broader than that and that we can have the same sort of appeal to bluegrass fans or to jazz fans with open minds.”

Many of those fans will undoubtedly turn out at Royce Hall on Wednesday, when Fleck and the Flecktones perform in one of the major events in the Verizon Music Festival. And Fleck is pretty much on target with his description of how varied that audience will be.

He also recognizes that the diversity of his music, as well as his audience, is not exactly what the category-driven record business favors.

“It’s strange,” he says, “like playing against type. But it’s always been our saving grace. It’s kind of like the new record contract we have with Columbia, which calls for us to do some classical music.

“The funny thing is that most classical acts these days are asked to do crossover material to try to reach a wider audience. But with us, the record company is perfectly happy to have us do straight-ahead classical stuff. So go figure.”

The 44-year-old Fleck has been cruising through other styles since he was dipping into bebop while attending New York’s High School of Music and Art. The Flecktones have been his primary musical vehicle since the late ‘80s, when he left New Grass Revival to form his own highly idiosyncratic ensemble with bassist Victor Wooten; his brother, percussionist Roy “Future Man” Wooten (who performs on his own unique invention, the Drumitar); and harmonica player Howard Levy (who was eventually replaced by current member, saxophonist Jeff Coffin).

“It’s turned out to be a situation that has worked well for everyone,” says Fleck.

“Each of us pursues solo projects as well as working with the Flecktones, and it works really well.

“In a lot of bands, people feel threatened when individuals go out and do their thing. But in our case, everybody’s really happy to be on the road with the band and still go out and do their own thing.”

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones perform at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Tickets: $40, $32, $25. (310) 825-2101.

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Jazz Awards: The Los Angeles Jazz Society holds its 20th annual Jazz Tribute and awards dinner-concert Sunday from 4:30 to 10 p.m. at the Biltmore Hotel, 506 S. Grand Ave., L.A.

This year’s honorees, most of whom will perform in the concert portion of the event, are Herbie Hancock, tribute honoree; John Levy, lifetime achievement award; Annie Ross, jazz vocalist award; Roger Neumann, composer-arranger award; James Newton, jazz educator award; and Howard Rumsey, Teri Merrill-Aarons Founder’s Award.

Information: (818) 767-6950.