Bill Holman (Part 3)

By Jeff Sultanof

Bill Holman addressing audience at the end of his 2023 concert for the LA Jazz Institute

Read Willis “Bill” Holman (Part 1) and Bill Holman (Part 2).

The final article in this series highlights only some of the many wonderful projects essayed by Holman from the mid-60’s on. I have included some not-so-well-known items that are thankfully on YouTube for your enlightenment.

In 1967, Holman composed one of his major works, a Concerto for Woody Herman’s Herd in three movements that was premiered at the Monterey Jazz Festival. To my knowledge, this has never been issued on CD.

It was around this time that Dayton “Bones” Howe, a now legendary recording engineer and producer, worked often with Holman with such artists as The Association and The 5^th Dimension. The vocal arranger for the 5^th Dimension was Bob Alcivar, and they became very good friends.

Buddy Rich left Harry James because the band became the same old-same old series of gigs, and started his own band at a time when such an endeavor was considered folly. Holman was one of the first arrangers he called. Rich didn’t want a nostalgic musical trip; he wanted his band to appeal to young people. Holman wrote works that are now standard big band pieces, as well as arrangement of contemporary songs:

• Here is “Ready Mix.”
• Here’s the Beatles’s “Norwegian Wood” from an appearance on the Ed Sullivan television variety show from 31 December 1967.

Holman wrote for many singers and singing groups:

• Here’s The Four Freshmen singing his arrangement of “Spring isn’t Spring Without You.”
• “Bye-Bye” From “Sarah Vaughan sings the [Henry] Mancini songbook.”
• The great Pearl Bailey singing “[The Long to be] Close to You.”

The Stan Kenton band wanted to surprise the old man, so they asked Bill to write this “Happy Birthday to You” in 1973.

Bill told me that one of his favorite gigs was writing for the Count Basie band.

In 1975, in a letter to me, he told me that he put together a rehearsal band which was meeting weekly, and was very happy to have a place to write just for himself. The band met weekly, and as you can imagine, Bill had no trouble getting veteran musicians to fill its ranks, as well as excellent younger players. The band made albums for JVC and Jazzed Media. Here’s a sample: a treatment of Thelonious Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear.”

He wrote an album for saxophonist Art Pepper with a string ensemble. Here is “Winter Moon.”

Holman also guested with European ensembles. The clip I want you to see is his appearance at a charity event in 1985 for The Royal School for the Blind in the U.K. Bill added strings to his “Theme and Variations No. 2” (original) which he wrote for his 1958 album “In a Jazz Orbit.”

To finish this tribute, here is a complete concert given in 2023 of the Holman band sponsored by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute.

As I stated at the start of these articles, Holman deserved such a tribute certainly to show the range of his talent, and for his considerable contribution to American music in general. He was a great composer, period, no categories necessary, and his music serves as yet another high point in American culture.

—Jeff Sultanof