Dave Holland — front and center

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — Jazz bassists are typically cast in a supporting rather than a leading role, relegated to the back of the bandstand with the rhythm section.

But at New York's Birdland Club recently, Dave Holland stood front and center, surrounded by his quintet, playing mostly his own compositions.

During the set, the British-born Holland would switch roles, laying down deep vamps to uplift the other musicians, dialoguing with the soloists and occasionally demonstrating his own virtuosity with a bass solo. During some stirring group interplay, Holland would break into a big smile, displaying his joy in unselfish music-making.

The 57-year-old Holland has found the right balance to appeal to jazz fans and critics alike.

"I think our music reaches out to people at the same time it challenges them, but in a friendly way," said Holland, sitting in the wood-beamed living room of his 19th century farmhouse. "It's a matter of combining simple and complex elements. One of my role models has been Duke Ellington."

Holland is modest about his achievements, but one would have to go back to Charles Mingus, who died in 1979, to find a bassist making a comparable impact on the jazz scene of his day as a player, bandleader, composer and arranger.

Last year, Holland outdid the many jazz greats who preceded him when he became the first musician ever to sweep four categories in both Down Beat magazine's critics and readers polls — jazz artist, jazz album (for his quintet CD "Not For Nothin' "), acoustic group and acoustic bassist of the year.

This year, Holland has also reached the top as a big-band leader. He won the Grammy for best large jazz ensemble for his CD "What Goes Around," and the group was chosen the top big band in the Down Beat critics poll.

Holland is also part of the all-star collective jazz quartet ScoLoHoFo (with guitarist John Scofield, saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Al Foster), whose debut CD "Oh!" was released in January.

Holland has spent the fall touring the United States with his quintet, but for those who couldn't make one of the gigs, his new double-CD, "Extended Play," his first in-concert recording as a leader, offers a chance to hear the group playing a typical two-set concert at Birdland with nearly two hours and 15 minutes of music.

"I had been getting a lot of e-mails from our fans asking when are you going to do a live recording," said Holland. "I wanted to record the band in a live setting to document the more expansive approach the band takes during a performance. . . . It shows the way the band has developed . . . and that our music is in a constant state of becoming."