Bill Holman

ASCAP Jazz Living Legend Award

Bill Holman, a native Californian, is a tenor saxophone player who performed in bands led by Charlie Barnet, Shorty Rogers, Terry Gibbs and, most notably, Stan Kenton. But his "real instrument" is the big band. Holman’s reputation is built on his prolific work as an arranger, conductor and composer. For over five decades, he has been one of the invaluable cogs in the West Coast Jazz and Pop recording world, providing arrangements and orchestrations to a musical Who’s Who – Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Count Basie, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O’Day, Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald and Woody Herman, among countless others, on the Jazz side; the Four Freshman, the Monkees, the Association, the Fifth Dimension and many more Pop and Rock acts also have benefitted from Holman’s arranging prowess. In 1991, Holman’s arrangements graced Natalie Cole’s multi-Platinum Unforgettable. Holman has led his own big band for many years and was honored with a Grammy for his 1997 album, Brilliant Corners/The Music of Thelonious Monk.