Willis Holman (born May 21, 1927), known also as Bill Holman, is an American composer/arranger, conductor, saxophonist, and songwriter working primarily in the jazz idiom. Although he has performed and recorded as a tenor saxophonist, Holman is best known as an arranger. Through his acquaintance with Gene Roland, Holman was auditioned by Stan Kenton and hired as a tenor sax player around 1951.
“Bill Holman’s compositions and arrangements are both experimental and basic at the same time; they never for one moment cease swinging, and yet their rhythmic complexities are brilliant. His harmonic sense is quite daring at times, and still his changes are comfortable and logical to play on. All his pieces have form and definite orderliness; they have strength and an underlying feeling of ‘There’s something left in reserve, this isn’t the climax yet.”ANDRE PREVIN August 12, 1958
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