Bill Holman: Octets, 1950s

November 14, 2018

Bill Holman: Octets, 1950s

One of my favorite West Coast jazz arrangers is saxophonist Bill Holman. His work for ensembles of all sizes, from quintets to big bands, is gorgeous. While listening to Richie Kamuca's albums yesterday from 1956 and '57, I was thunderstruck by an octet session Bill played on and arranged. Which made me think about how superb all of Bill's many octet sessions are from the 1950s—whether he's playing in one, arranging or both. [Photo above of Bill Holman in the 1950s]

So I dipped into Tom Lord's online Jazz Discography to count off Bill's octet dates during that decade:

Kenton Presents Jazz: The Bill Holman Octet (1954)
Duane Tatro's Jazz for Moderns (1954)
Lennie Niehaus, Vol. 3: The Octet #2 (1955)
The Compositions of Bobby Scott, Vol. 2 (1955)
Shorty Rogers's Clickin' With Clax (1956)
Shorty Rogers and the Giants (1957)
Richie Kamuca's Jazz Erotica (1957)
Art Pepper's Mucho Calor (1957)
Gerry Mulligan Song Book Vol. 1 (1957)
Mark Murphy's This Could Be the Start of Something (1958)

The one I wasn't familiar with were the octet tracks on Kamuca's Jazz Erotica (Hi-Fi Jazz) recorded in May 1957. The musicians were Ed Leddy and Conte Candoli (tp), Frank Rosolino (tb), Richie Kamuca (ts), Bill Holman (bar,arr), Vince Guaraldi (p), Monty Budwig (b) and Stan Levey (d). The octet songs are 'Way Down Under, Angel Eyes, Star Eyes, I Hadn't Anyone Till You, The Things We Did Last Summer and Indiana. [Photo above of Richie Kamuca]

Bill's arrangements for 1950s octets miniaturized his swinging and sunny, harmony-rich sound for Stan Kenton mid-decade. The arrangements on these Kamuca-led tracks are spectacular, particularly 'Way Down Under, Angel Eyes, Star Eyes and The Things We Did Last Summer. What's more, Kamuca's solos are earthy, swinging and right on the money. A shame an entire octet album wasn't recorded. Or two.