Willis “Bill” Holman (Part 1)

By Jeff Sultanof

Read Bill Holman (Part 2) and Bill Holman (Part 3).

By now, the composer Bill Holman has been eulogized all over the world. Many writers have written obits and appreciations. I have not read something that goes into some detail about what made Holman unique, what he accomplished, how he influenced others and his influence in music of all types. Certainly the membership of ASMAC is the right place to do this. Members have played his music and perhaps studied it. Some of it may have motivated some of you to write music.

We are still grappling with categories of music. Of course in the commercial world, this is part of the profession. But we should have reached the point where someone who writes music is not necessarily typed. A composer is a composer, whether they are writing for media, the concert hall or a jazz club, whether the music is for one instrument, one or more electronic instruments, or an ensemble of various types. Some music is more ambitious given what it is intended for, but it still involves crafting pitched or unpitched sound, and for orchestration, creating the parts for the individual instruments to realize a sonic vision.

Given the ambition and scale of his music, particularly when he worked in larger forms, Holman certainly should be thought of as a master composer, period. He was one more composer who broke important ground after the dance ensemble dropped from mass popularity, one who was part of a line of music writers who took pop and jazz ensemble music to a level of music heard in the great concert halls. He was equipped to write large symphonic works.

He left an oral history and many interviews over the years. In paying tribute to him in this way, this then is not a conventional biography. It is an exploration of his musical journey which began as a tenor saxophonist and student, his discovery of a musical direction and how it was carried out.

Early in his career, he played and recorded with Ike Carpenter, a pianist who is now largely forgotten, and then moved on to Charlie Barnet, who’d reorganized after the failure of his ‘bebop’ band in 1949. He also played for clarinetist Bob Keene, who later ‘discovered’ Ritchie Valens. He became a student at Westlake College of Music, the legendary school that offered coursework and degrees where the curriculum was the music of jazz. He found an important teacher in arranger/composer Russell Garcia, who taught him counterpoint. In communication with me some years ago, Holman had nothing but praise for Garcia, who gave him a great deal of encouragement.

The story has been told many times. Holman showed one of his assignments to Gene Roland, who was impressed enough to introduce Bill to Stan Kenton. It was assumed that he would join Bill Russo, Johnny Richards, and Roland himself as a writer beside his playing in the saxophone section, but for several months, Holman was at a loss as to what to write. But he was quite taken with the music of Gerry Mulligan, who hitchhiked to California looking for work. Kenton and Mulligan were oil and water – Mulligan thought the Kenton band too large (he particularly didn’t understand the need for five trombones), and Kenton and the concept of traditional swing were total opposites. Mulligan arranged standard songs like “All the Things You Are,” so he was useful (reportedly, Mulligan said that such arrangements were ‘dog work’). But he also contributed “Young Blood” and “Walkin’ Shoes,” and the band loved playing these pieces, requesting them when Kenton left the stand during last sets. Holman in particular loved Mulligan’s concept of musical line in his music, and it fit in with his counterpoint study; Mulligan’s music freed Holman. And he began to write.

An arrangement of “Star Eyes” was not added to the book, but “Invention for Guitar and Trumpet” was. Holman had little regard for this piece in later years, but it accomplished two things: it featured trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and guitarist Sal Salvador, and it was Holman’s first recorded composition. It fit perfectly into a Kenton album—New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm—which highlighted several of the new ‘star’ musicians in his ensemble, and is an album that even non-Kenton followers have in their collections.

William Russo was the chief arranger during this period, but Holman started regularly contributing new music early in 1953, and direction was different from what Kenton had previously offered. Stanley was always conscious of his ensemble being different from Woody Herman’s herd. William Russo’s austere music was more in line with Kenton’s previous path, but Stanley was open to Holman’s almost improvisatory-sounding pieces, particularly since the band liked them, although Holman later said that Stanley was uncomfortable announcing pieces such as “Boop-Boo-Be-Doop.”

In 1954, Kenton recorded two 10″ albums of music, one entirely written by Russo, one of Holman’s work; they were later combined into a 12″ LP when 10 inchers were eased out of the record world. At that point, Russo had left the band, and Holman was the chief arranger, although this was a period when Kenton was doing some writing as well.

Holman’s first album of music is as fresh today as when it was recorded. He made the ensemble sound like a large chamber group thanks to his unison melodies and contrapuntal lines. Several feature musicians in the band; the album opens with a solo piece for Don Bagley, “Bags.” Buddy Childers and Lee Konitz have features (Kenton toured with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and Holman arranged “My Funny Valentine” for Bird). Perhaps the most striking composition on the album is “Hav-a-Havana,” which starts and ends in Latin mode. Holman shows us that he is a master at taking a short motif, repeating and building on it into a solid musical structure. When the band played the Birdland club in New York, composer George Russell was invited to a rehearsal and said that it was the best piece in the entire Kenton book. It was so good that when the Kenton collection was donated to the University of North Texas, “Hav-a-Havana” was missing, no doubt stolen. It was later transcribed by Robert Curnow, head of Sierra Music Publications, approved by Holman, and finally published, as are several scores from this album.

Holman had already played on record dates for Shorty Rogers and Red Norvo. It was logical that he arrange for Woody Herman, and in May of that year, two Holman contributions—“Blame Boehm” and “Mulligan Tawny”—were recorded and released on Columbia Records. Stanley’s swing masterpiece was still to come.

Continue on to part two…

—Jeff Sultanof