In the world of jazz, Dave Holland has been around the block a few time. The 53 year-old English-born bassist has accompanied a virtual Who’s Who of modern jazz during his long career, including Thelonious Monk, Miles Daivs, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. For this CD, he enlisted four virtuosos to round out his quintet—Chris Porter on saxes, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibes and marimba and Billy Kilson on drums. This is a great straight-ahead, trad jazz with no pretense at being anything but that. Five of the nine cuts are Holland originals with the other four musicians contributing one song each. On several tracks, Holland employs some complicated, 5/4 rhythm structures he learned from a fellow musician from Tunisia and others use a 9/8, comprised of sections of five and four beats to the measure. These technical innovations make for an interesting mix. Most of the tracks are long—six minutes-plus with three over ten minutes—and this allow the musicians more than adequate time to perform their best in their solos. “A Seeking Spirit” is an eleven-minute jam with some great improv work by Eubanks whose trombone would fit nicely into a New Orleans brass marching band. On one or two tracks, the sax and ’bone solos are a little too free-form and uncontrolled for my traditional tastes but, overall, this is an excellent CD. A fine additon to any modern jazz collection.