Bill Holman

Willis Leonard Holman (born May 21, 1927), known professionally as Bill Holman, is an American composer, arranger, conductor, saxophonist, and songwriter working in jazz and traditional pop. His career is over seven decades long, having started with the Charlie Barnet orchestra in 1950.

Bill Holman was born in Olive, California, United States. His family moved to Orange, east of Anaheim, then Santa Ana. He started playing the clarinet in junior high school. While attending Orange High School he played the tenor saxophone and formed a band. Although his family had no musical background, Holman was influenced by Count Basie and Duke Ellington while constantly listening to the radio. He was drafted at the later end of World War II and served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946. Through the Navy, he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado and then studied at UCLA.

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