Bill on Bill: Dobbins on Holman

“I consider Bill Holman to be one of the most important jazz arrangers and composers after Duke Ellington's generation …. Willis has certainly made his own imprint. His music continues to evolve, while always embodying the essence of jazz.” - Bill Dobbins

Steven A. Cerra
Sunday, February 21, 2016
The Note magazine is published twice a year by the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, as part of its educational outreach program.

 The editor is Matt Vashlishan, D.M.A., and you can locate more information about the Al Cohn Memorial Collection, The Note magazine, and how to make a donation in support of the ACMJC by visiting this website: www.esu.edu/alcohncollection. 

 The current edition of The Note magazine - Vol 26 - No. 1 - Issue 65, Fall/Winter 2016 features a well-written and informative essay by composer-arranger-educator Bill Dobbins on composer-arranger Bill Holman, whom many of us believe is a national treasure for the original portfolio of Jazz compositions and arrangements that he has created over the past 60 years.

 Here are some excerpts from Bill Dobbins’ insightful essay:

Bill Holman: A Master of Jazz Arranging and Composing Bill Dobbins
The Note magazine - Vol 26 - No. 1 - Issue 65, Fall/Winter 2016

 “My first encounter with Bill Holman's arranging occurred a couple of years before I even recognized the name. While in high school, my awareness of big bands was limited mainly to Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans (including the collaborations with Miles Davis) and Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band [Verve]. 

 The Mulligan recording, which was the debut album of the band, didn't credit the arrangers for the individual tunes. I really loved all of the arrangements, but I was especially drawn toward Out Of This World and I'm Gonna' Go Fishin'. I was intrigued by the contrapuntal writing, the incorporation of bluesy elements in the melodic content and the way everything swung so powerfully. Many years later I learned that these arrangements were written by Bill Holman. …

 Some of my most rewarding and gratifying experiences have been the opportunities I have had to get to know and collaborate with my musical heroes. I first got to know Bill Holman in 1985 at a jazz workshop in Tubingen, Germany, which was organized by Hans and Veronika Gruber and Advance Music. The workshop included well over a hundred students and about twenty of the world's leading jazz musicians as the faculty, including Louis Smith, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Bobby Watson, Sal Nistico, Richie Beirach, ….”

 “It was interesting for me to learn that Bill Holman was primarily self-taught, although he did take a few courses at Westlake College of Music, where he studied commercial writing with Russ Garcia. It was also refreshing to hear him talk about his arrangements, compositions and the creative process of writing in a simple, easy to follow manner that never got bogged down with technical complexity or pretentious academic jargon. Before the workshop was over I also found out that he was a friendly, no nonsense type of person with a dry and ever alert sense of humor. ….”


 The further I got in my transcription and musical analysis, the more amazed I became at Holman's absolute mastery of the basic techniques of thematic development, counterpoint, reharmonization, orchestration and formal design. Moreover, it eventually became clear that the content of the entire piece was developed from just four simple thematic motives and/or rhythms. And many of the techniques were the same I had become familiar with in the greatest classical composers from Bach to Shostakovich.

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