Science of Music: Literary Interludes

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Giving It Up

I’ve been teetering on the edge of my seat at the Dakota Bar & Grill for nearly an hour. Now I’m standing up, shaking my head in disbelief, calling out encouragement to the Dave Holland Quintet, which has come to town for two sold-out nights. Saxophonist Chris Potter’s hands are a blur as his horn honks, sings, squeals. Trombonist Robin Eubanks talks back, sliding from high pitch to low pitch, stripping the gears as he changes speeds. Billy Kilson’s drum kit is a musical machine gun—crisp, clean, and tight enough to hurt James Brown. And on bass, grooving with a grin, is the 56-year-old bandleader, bassist Dave Holland.

This isn’t jazz the way the mainstream media trains the masses to think of “jazz”—corny as cocktails at the Playboy mansion or, worse, some sort of math class for music geeks. This is something entirely different. It is free, but funky as a mix master’s turntable. It’s brainy, but punk-rock raw. Just before I give myself over to it, I conjure one last cogent thought: I wish that those I care about could instantaneously be transported to this place, because everyone should know what it is to feel this good.

Then I’m gone.
—David Schimke, from the Minneapolis alternative weekly City Pages (2002)

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