An English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for 5 decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.

At 20, he was already keeping a busy schedule in school, studios and Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, where he often played in bands that supported such touring American jazz saxophonists as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Joe Henderson. He also linked up with other British jazz musicians, including guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Evan Parker and reedsman John Surman.

In 1968, Miles Davis heard him at Ronnie Scott's, playing in a combo that opened for the Bill Evans Trio, and wanted him to join his band (replacing Ron Carter). He was a member of Davis's rhythm section for the next 2 years, appears on the albums In a Silent Way and Bitches' Brew. In the first year of his tenure with Davis, Holland played primarily upright bass, but by the end of 1969, he played electric bass guitar (often treated with wah-wah pedal and other electronic effects) with greater frequency as Davis's music became increasingly electric and funky.

He has since worked as a leader and as a sideman with many other jazz artists.