Dave Holland's Freedom Call: A Jazz Legend at 80

Dave Holland's Freedom Call is a landmark jazz release celebrating the bassist and composer's 80th birthday with six LPs of previously unreleased live recordings. Edition Records brings together three of Holland's most celebrated ensembles — Sextet, Quintet, and Prism — in one definitive collection that spans his most creatively fertile years.

Why Freedom Call Is a Jazz Event Worth Your Attention

Turning 80 on 1 October 2026, Dave Holland has spent six decades shaping jazz from the inside — from replacing Ron Carter in Miles Davis's band in 1968 to leading Grammy-winning big-band projects in the 2000s. Freedom Call is his first box set, drawn from roughly 30 hours of archived live recordings he had never previously released. The project came together through a nudge from his daughter and manager Louise, and a strong creative partnership with Edition Records.

Three Ensembles, Three Approaches to Jazz Improvisation

The box set moves through three distinct sonic worlds. The Sextet, featuring Mulgrew Miller and Eric Harland, delivers a near big-band energy with blistering solos and rich group interplay. The Quintet — with Chris Potter, Robin Eubanks, and Steve Nelson — pushes further into the space where composition and improvisation blur. Prism, a quartet with Kevin Eubanks and Craig Taborn, goes furthest of all: driving, bluesy jazz-rock with open improvisation and dramatic mood shifts that pull from soul, funk, and even classical influences.

What Freedom Call Says About Music and Society

Holland chose the titles Freedom Call, Unity, Synergism, and Freedom deliberately. In his liner notes, he draws a direct parallel between jazz improvisation and the values of a just society — respect, tolerance, and compassion. For Holland, the best ensemble playing is a model of what human cooperation can look like at its finest. That philosophy has guided his work from his earliest days on the European jazz scene through to today, and it gives this box set a weight that goes well beyond a birthday retrospective.

Key Takeaways

Freedom Call is more than a career retrospective — it's a living document of jazz at its most collaborative and free. Whether you're new to Dave Holland or a longtime listener, this box set offers an essential window into one of the music's great minds at the height of his powers.

Author: Sebastian Scotney

Source: UK Jazz News

Published: September 28, 2026