Billboard : 03/31/1958

Tenorman-arranger and a group of West Coast-based jazz greats have a good bid in this fine six-tune set. Holman’s arrangements are neat and compact, tho allowing plenty of room for improvisation. Standout selection is Come Rain or Come Shine — a number that also shows trombonist Ray Sims to advantage. Strongest appeal will most likely be to big-band, West Coast fans.

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Cashbox : 04/05/1958

Bill Holman, known best for his composing and stints with the Kenton band, is front man on this LP. With a band including such standout jazz talent as Conte Candoli (trumpet), Charlie Mariano and Richie Kamuca (saxes), Holman takes his tenor through hard brass renditions of mostly original material. Two extremely impressive items are Come Rain Or Come Shine and The Big Street. Ok set.

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The Gramophone (UK)
Alun Morgan : November 1958

This is perhaps the best big band recording to come from the Hollywood jazz centre since the earliest Shorty Rogers LP on H.M.V. Holman takes tenor solos on each track, as well as arranging all the material. That Holman is so successful as a writer may be due to his continuing to work as an instrumentalist; playing with a band gives the arranger a view “from the inside looking out,” a fact conceived by pianist-arranger Marty Paich during his visit to this country a few years ago.

The Big Street, which lasts about fourteen minutes, is Holman’s most ambitious project to date, the work being subdivided into three linked sections with parts two and three utilizing material from the first section. Without attempting anything pretentious in the way of composition, Holman has achieved a notable success through the intelligent use of good soloists. Apart from his own playing, there are tenor solos by Richie Kamuca and Charlie Kennedy, while Herb Geller and Charlie Mariano (altos), Conte Candoli (trumpet), Stu Williamson (trumpet and valve trombone), Ray Sims (slide trombone) and Lou Levy (piano) can also be heard. Adding their considerable weight to the proceedings are Al Porcino, one of the best lead trumpeters in jazz today, bassist Max Bennett and drummer Mel Lewis.

With no reservations whatsoever, this album is recommended. My only complaint is that Bill Holman should be called “Fabulous.”

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HiFi / Stereo Review
Nat Hentoff : July 1958

There is little indication that economic conditions will soon permit additions to the already tiny number of working big jazz bands (Dizzy Gillespie abandoned his earlier this year), but big band recordings are still being made by rehearsal units or by men assembled just for the recording date. The Fabulous Bill Holman set is one of the more entertaining of this type. Arranger-composer Holman finds his forms from within jazz rather than attempting to use “classical” structures. His work is characterized by lean, vigorous multi-linear interplay with considerable room for improvised solos. Rarely inventive, his soloists are competent. However, he is blessed with a superior big band drummer in Mel Lewis.

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Miami Herald (Miami, FL)
Fred Sherman : 10/12/1958

If you like the big band sound mixed in thoroughly with your jazz, don’t overlook the Coral album called The Fabulous Bill Holman (CRL-57188). The young Californian tenor sax player leads a talented crew on six tunes which include three of his own. Big number is Holman’s Big Street, which takes the bulk of the concluding side. The arrangements take the honors on the album, establish Holman as a first line talent.

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Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA)
Russ Wilson : 03/30/1958

Six tunes by the arranger-composer who did such a swinging job for Stan Kenton prove Holman’s contention that “a swinging band has a brand of excitement it is impossible to get with a small group.” Additional kudos are due Holman for giving soloists (himself included) sufficient room to build. Drummer Mel Lewis sparks a fine rhythm section.

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San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, CA)
Ralph J. Gleason : 04/06/1958

A collection of tightly arranged originals and popular songs by a big band led by arranger-saxophonist Holman. The writing of the original tunes and the arranging of the standards is all by Holman and the soloists include most of the top rank Hollywood music merchants. Charlie Mariano is the outstanding soloist despite his Charlie Parker sound.

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San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA)
C.H. Garrigues : 04/27/1958

Interesting and effective “mainstream” arrangements for big band by one of the Nation’s top arrangers. An excellent demonstration of how far big band music has grown since the swing days. Among soloists particularly welcome are Charlie Mariano, Stu Williamson and Richie Kamuca.

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St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO)
Charles Menees : 05/25/1958

The versatility of Bill Holman as an instrumentalist (tenor saxophone), composer and arranger in the modern jazz idiom is displayed in full virtuosity in The Fabulous Bill Holman (Coral, 12-inch LP). Everything was specifically written or charted for a big band (15 pieces) and the performance turns out to be one of the best in its field in quite a spell. Holman, as in previous work demonstrated on recordings, composes and scores in a muscularly lean style that allows complete freedom for swinging in the Count Basie tradition. Holman originals are The Big Street, a three-part thematic piece, Evil Eyes and Bright Eyes. A surprise offering is Meredith Willson’s almost-forgotten You and I. Among the sidemen are Trumpeter Al Porcino, Saxmen Charlie Kennedy and Richie Kamuca, Drummer Mel Lewis and Pianist Lou Levy.

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Toronto Star (Toronto, ON)
Roger Feather : 04/26/1958
Four stars

Holman, who was one of the better writers associated with the Kenton orchestra, has written some bright, fast-moving charts for this 15-piece band. His work is melodic and flowing with usually two or three lines going at once. Although these lines are straightforward when they are put together the result is often complex, and always extremely interesting.

The many solos are uniformly good, with Holman having the most frequent ones, but all are slightly overshadowed by the exciting writing. The band is kicked along splendidly by Lewis and in general they never stop swinging. The sound is light and has a wonderful happy feeling.

The major work on the album is a 17-minute, three-part composition called The Big Street. It, like the rest of the LP, is direct and hard-hitting. Airegin has some good Condoli. Come Rain, Come Shine features a moving Ray Sims solo and Bright Eyes has excellent Levy piano.

Holman’s charts are logically built and come to rousing climaxes. He writes excellent backgrounds for his soloists and continually adds delightful surprises. This is an impressive and highly recommended album.

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Down Beat : 09/04/1958
John A. Tynan : 5 stars

Though this album has been in release for some months (some discerning thief made off with our review copy thus delaying the review) there hasn’t been another big band record released in the interim from the west coast that has so much to offer. This is one of the year’s outstanding big band albums.

Holman arranged all the numbers, composed three of the six. Most interesting track in the album, The Big Street, is an extended work by the 31-year-old Californian. It takes up most of the B side and makes for an excellent closer.

Thanks to Mel Lewis’ consistent propulsion and the undeviating bass work of Max Bennett, the rhythm section leaps along in overdrive all the way. In addition to his completely tasteful intros and solos, pianist Lou Levy fills to capacity his rhythm role.

Under the firm guidance of the lead chair men, the saxes and brass sections play with a precision outshone only by a tremendous, all-pervading drive. There rarely is a sloppily played phrase in the entire set.

Opening with a shouting Airegin, the first side is well balanced by the following tracks, a catchy, medium paced Evil, a smoothly gliding You and a rocking Bright that features trumpets tackling the principal line.

As a contrasting opener to the second side, Shine is taken slowly with Holman’s tenor roughly caressing the melody for a chorus before Sims enters restrainedly and unpretentiously to speak his piece. Here again the belting brass, perfectly balanced by engineer Dayton Howe, engulfs everything.

Writing of his The Big Street in the liner copy, Holman points out its division into three parts and says he tried to “…make use of basic melodic and rhythmic materials. Backgrounds, interludes and some ensembles are built from thematic material, with an attempt made to make each version of a fragment swing as much as the original.”

Apart from some powerful solo work in Street by Candoli, Levy and the tenors, most of the excitement stems from the composer’s ensembles. As a unified work this piece can be considered Holman’s finest writing to date. It is emotionally moving and conceptually fresh. Best of all — it swings around the maypole and back again.

For the best in west coast big band jazz, this is it.

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Liner Notes by Burt Korall

With modifications relative to individuals and individual situations, the jazz composer-arranger has generally veered in one of two directions within the last few years.

“The avant-garde,” as noted by Leonard Feather in his Book Of Jazz (Horizon Press) “draws heavily from European music, experiments with atonality and the twelve tone system,” grafting, sometimes in a compatible manner, foreign techniques to the body of jazz.

Those falling into the second category enrich from within, or as Feather aptly put it, “attempt to grow from within the natural resources of jazz, with little or no recourse to atonality and with frequent references (in wider voicings and with greater harmonic scope) to the basic styles of Fletcher Henderson, and to the Basie tradition…” In essence, the traditionalists: those who take their stand for the earthy history, the established identities of jazz.

It is within the latter category that Bill Holman most comfortably fits.

In cross-the-continent correspondence concerning this album Bill made his position clear.

“In the writing for this album, I was working for form, continuity, and economy while trying to retain the swing and vitality necessary to a good jazz feel. This aim is certainly not new, but I think it’s a direction in which jazz can do a lot of growing.

“I don’t consider myself an innovator. Rather than use odd instrumentations and/or pseudo-classical writing, I prefer to build the music on a fairly traditional base, letting what novelty there is come from the swing and sincerity of the band and the soloists, and from what individuality might be in the writing.

“The instrumentation here is a common one for a band of this size. It’s light but capable of generating a lot of energy when required. The harmonies used are mostly simple, not so tense that they defy swing… Harmonic progressions should provide momentum of their own.

“Melodically, I try to write human, singable lines with natural curves, sometimes trying for an improvised feel… Rhythmically, I use a lot of syncopation and off-beat accents in the ensembles as a band seems to be able to get together easier on off beats than on on beats.

“Solos are fewer but longer, to give the soloists a better chance to build something of their own. Regarding backgrounds to soloists, I feel they shouldn’t be confining to the soloist, (Ed. note — they usually aren’t in Holman’s writing) although this premise is sometimes sacrificed for the sake of continuing a mood or idea.”

During the course of our correspondence, I asked about writing procedure.

“Naturally, there must be an idea to start with — something to give the piece direction. Once this direction is taken, the music should unfold along it, balancing its tensions and releases until at the end, it has sufficient completeness and stability to stand by itself and say, ‘This is… We are… I remember… He said… We like or I imagine.'”

We spoke of influences. Of course, all one hears, sees, likes has its effect on building one’s personality, but there is always a crucial assemblage of people that leave their mark. In truth, this is a phenomenon that has no end. This is learning.

“My main writing influences have been: — (in chronological order) — Henderson, Ellington, (Ed. note — Holman’s definitive concern for form) Kenton, Rogers, Mulligan and Montrose… My current favorites are Cohn, Mandel, Wilkins and Brookmeyer as composer-arrangers; and Rollins and Golson as composers.

“Not much I can say about blowing, I just blow. However, my saxophone influences have been: (in chronological order) — Beneke, Hawkins, Thompson, Getz, Young, Cohn, Sims, Rollins and Coltrane … Current favorites — Rollins, Cohn, Coltrane, Sims. These influences are only the main ones. I suppose I’ve been influenced some by everything I’ve ever liked…” (Ed. note — For this listener, Holman’s basic derivation is Lester Young; the imprint of the ‘harder’ school personified by Sonny Rollins, accessible).

Holman’s commentary on his medium for expression on this album — the big band — gives further insight into his musical posture, personality.

“I’m interested in this size band as a medium for my ideas for several reasons.

“First, a swinging band has a brand of excitement that is impossible to get with a small group. Second, I believe that through choice of personnel, instrumentation and style of writing, a big band can play with the time, sensitivity and restraint approaching that of a good small group. Third, I’ve never felt complete freedom in writing for a big band. Some bands are not allowed to play anything that comes near ‘dance band style’: (this is a feeling I enjoy working with sometimes — the traditional base mentioned above — see Come Rain Come Shine and The Big Street – Part II) some won’t play anything but dance music; (it can be overdone) some try for constant excitement; (this is nerve-wracking) some want constant funk. (I must admit to some ‘high class’ moments)… At any rate, this is the first time I’ve been completely free with a big band, (Ed. note — to put the aforementioned elements in their proper perspective) and it sure was a ball.”

The listener, if familiar with the Kenton orchestra circa 1955, will certainly note the similarity in sound and orientation between that edition of the Kenton band, and the band on this record. Holman fashioned both bands along lean, clean, pulsating lines, and in the case of the former, relieved it of much of its ponderous, top-heavy quality.

It is to be noted that Bill’s work generally expresses a deep concern for, and peculiar facility for working with melodic lines; the building of ideas in a natural, moving manner. I believe that this will become most apparent in the listening.

In our correspondence, Holman made special reference to the longer pieces in this set.

“On You and I and The Big Street, I tried to make maximum use of basic melodic and rhythmic materials. Backgrounds, interludes and some ensembles are built from thematic material, with an attempt made to make each version of a fragment swing as much as the original… In The Big Street, the melody of Part II is derived from the C phrase of Part I. Part III is derived from the A phrase of Part I… Part I has an ABABCD form.”

Within this impressive band, the excellence of the rhythm section should be pointed up, notably the drumming of Mel Lewis, who knits the band together in an imaginative yet functional manner, fully delineating the pulse, playing meaningful breaks and solos, embellishing the color values within each arrangement.

In addition, Holman and I are unified in our positive feeling concerning the fine work of lead trumpeter Al Porcino. In assessment of value for this venture, Porcino’s contribution should not be overlooked.

A final word from Holman wraps things up.

“My main ambition is to make more records of my own. After three and a half years of writing for all types of jazz groups, I feel a great need to make a statement for myself…”

From this vantage point, it would certainly seem that this album is a meaningful step in that direction.

Biographical Sketch…

Bill Holman, a 30 year old native Californian, first manifested interest in music as a teenager, started playing clarinet at 13, going on to tenor at 15. After spending two years in the Navy, studying engineering at the University of Colorado and UCLA, he decided to go into music full-time in 1948.

In order to pursue this course, Holman attended the Westlake College of Music (1948-50) and studied counterpoint with Russ Garcia… First playing with local bands around Los Angeles, then with Ike Carpenter, Holman joined Charlie Barnet (1951), Stan Kenton (1952-3), attaining national recognition for his playing and writing with Kenton, remaining on the Kenton arranging staff until the early part of 1956.

Since then, he has contributed to the Kenton library on occasion, written for recordings, played with Conte Candoli, the Lighthouse All Stars, the Shelly Manne unit, and Shorty Rogers’ Giants…

Currently, Holman resides in “a typical Los Angeles suburb” with his wife and two young sons.