Great Players Red Holloway (1927-2012)

[6441]

On this day 8 years ago, Red Holloway passed away in California. I had the privilege of recording and touring with Red in 1974, and as I listened to the Mayall album we did, I realized that I couldn't find a single saxophone solo on it! Even the tenor or bari parts he played are mixed down so low, you strain to hear them. There's a piece in 6/8, "Perfect Peace", with Red playing flute and me on guitar. All of the songs came to us as a quick "piano run-through and make up your own parts". The only charts I remember are the words written on brown paper bags and napkins. Red played his part on flute and then overdubbed a harmony to it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOCTCXVHFwE


Red was an amazing player with a blinding technique he liked to show off on his recordings with Sonny Stitt., but he could also play lyrically with lots of soul and melodic ideas mixed in to that mastery. Here's the ballad You Don't Know What Love Is from his album "SRO". His spoken intro is exactly how I recall Red. I can still hear him telling every waiter in Europe, "More gravy!".

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtj-V3rr6G0


Red's life story and extensive discography is here: Red Holloway - Wikipedia

RiP Red.

 

[Mark Hancock]

Great stuff. I have never listened to Red Holloway before. I'm guessing that David Sanborn did.

 

[mark_addy]

I was going to start a thread on this guy, but here one is. My cousin gave me a big pile of CDs a while back, and having had a bit of a sort out I was in the car listening to him and Sonny Stitt on the album 'Just Friends'. I like Sonny Stitt ( - it seems a bit pointed to add I like Charlie Parker - but there you go). On this album, perhaps Holloway outplays him a little, at least in terms of tone. They're both playing some pretty fast, and generally focussed bebop. From the little I read about him online, I got the impression he was known as a blues player, which seems odd to me given the complicated changes on some of the tunes on this album, and the fluency with which he plays over them. I'd be interested to hear if anyone here has much to add about him.