Pushing Boundaries : In an era when there’s not a lot of traffic in writing for bands, Bill Holman’s career is steady--and the jazz keeps percolating

When he was a teen-ager, Bill Holman felt that he had a thing for mainstream big-band writing, and time has proven he knew what he was talking about.

Over the years, the distinguished composer/arranger/bandleader has contributed hundreds of charts, as big-band arrangements are called, to large ensembles led by Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich and Doc Severinsen’s Tonight Show Orchestra, as well as to college groups and his own band. And though there’s not a lot of traffic in composing and arranging for bands these days, Holman, a native of Orange County, still gets plenty of work, both here and in Europe.

“Yeah, my career is solid, but not spectacular,” he said, his hirsute face typically deadpan before he broke into a peal of gentle, self-effacing laughter.

“The phone is still ringing,” he continued, sitting in the living room of the Hollywood home he shares with his wife, Gaye. “There’s always something to do. I could do more, but I’m pretty comfortable at this level, because with the kind of music I’m writing, I don’t like to rush.”

Holman’s jobs range from an occasional chart for Severinsen to a commission from a college ensemble to yearly contracts to write music for and appear with the West German Radio Network band in Cologne. He works at the piano in his downstairs studio, approaching each task painstakingly.

“The idea for a tune or arrangement starts with me just thinking about it, letting it percolate,” said Holman, 62. “Then I’ll get a lick here, a lick there, try out a chord progression, either end up rejecting it or using it, and so on.”

He always keeps the requirements of the designated ensemble uppermost in his mind.

“For example, now I’m working on a commission for the jazz band at Elmhurst College outside Chicago,” said Holman, who leads his band today at the Count Basie Ballroom of the Compton Lazben Hotel in Compton. “I did one for them last year that they liked, and that the band director, Doug Beach, said they played well.

“So he wants another piece, kind of an opener, a hot up-tempo piece which I seem to have a reputation for,” he went on, smiling at the thought. “I asked him who his strong soloists were, and what the capabilities of the various sections were. For example, here I’m not writing the trumpet parts too high.”

Wailing trumpet parts are just what Severinsen wants Holman for--he has crafted about 30 arrangements for the flamboyant brassman/celebrity. One of these, a version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train,” garnered Holman a 1987 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement.

“Doc likes to be featured with or over the ensemble, and since the tunes are for the “Tonight” show, they have to be fairly exciting,” said Holman, whose ensemble is spotlighted on “the Bill Holman Band” (JVC Records.)

Asked about his present compositional direction, Holman thought for a moment, and said, “I’m trying to push the boundaries a little and still keep the jazz feel, which to me means ‘human sounding.’ I’m getting away from the things that came out of the dance band-jazz band style, like familiar chord progressions and textures, sort of trying combinations of different instruments. . . . I don’t know.”

He paused again, frustrated at the difficulty of explaining. “Music itself doesn’t translate into words at all, but we’re talking about techniques, which if I were a little more verbal, I might be clearer about.”

Then he continued. “I always used to try to approach jazz writing as improvising, keeping that quality about it,” he said. “But with pushing the boundaries, I’m starting to get less of the improvised feel. I’m not entirely sure that’s the way I want to go, but I’m kind of going that way to see if it works out.”

Though Holman doesn’t write every day, he would like to. “It helps to write steadily,” he said. “If I let a couple of weeks go by, it’s like pulling teeth to get started. I feel totally divorced from the whole process. Music? Me? Actually, the first couple of days after a break are hard, but then you get into it.”

A good work day would find Holman putting in four hours, he said. “I’d be happy with that, but if I did six, I’d feel more like I was pulling my weight. Still, there are always distractions . . . the phone, having to send out charts, writing bills.”

Holman, who also plays tenor saxophone, is mostly self-taught, though he did study arranging and composition at the Westlake School of Music in Hollywood from 1948 to 1951. Soon he was working with bands led by Charlie Barnet and Kenton, and it was for the latter, between 1952 and 1954, that he first established himself as a first class composer and arranger whose charts swung like mad, yet had a provocative quality.

Playing with Kenton also provided Holman with the opportunity to get to know one of his idols, the great saxophonist Zoot Sims, who had first made an impression on Holman when he was with Woody Herman’s “be-bop band” in 1948.

“I had been getting more and more into Zoot and hoped to meet him someday,” Holman recalled with a nostalgic smile. “Then when Stan was in New York, we had an off night, and Zoot was playing somewhere, and I said, ‘I’m gonna go meet him.’ I was scared because he had this scowl, a penetrating look that made him seem fierce. I introduced myself, and he turned out to be this gentle guy, really soulful. I never expected that. We had a great time.”

Sims and Holman deepened their friendship when Sims joined Kenton for a year in 1953. “In 1953, Zoot joined Stan’s band, and at that time, the band was traveling in cars, and he got assigned to my car, which was always referred to as ‘the Space Car,’ ” Holman said, chortling.

From the mid-’50s until the mid-’60s, Holman worked both as a saxophonist in small bands with drummers Shelly Manne and with Mel Lewis, where he was co-leader of the band, and with trumpeters Conte Candoli and Shorty Rogers. But the lack of work for jazz players in the burgeoning studio scene made him place his emphasis on his writing.

“I figured I had to make a choice,” he said. “It was either learn four or five other instruments so I could compete in the studio scene, or become a writer. And I didn’t consider myself a good enough player that I could make it as a jazz tenor saxophonist.”

After recording his tunes with studio ensembles on a few LPs, such as the recently re-released “In a Jazz Orbit” (Andex) and “The Fabulous Bill Holman” (Coral), in 1975 Holman decided to jump in with both feet and form his own band. The band has been rehearsing at the Musicians Union Local 47 on Vine Street in Hollywood almost every week since he started it, but engagements have been considerably less regular. Still, Holman manages to accentuate the positive.

“Well, it’s great we made the record” on JVC, he said. “And last month we played at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which was another first. Things that haven’t happened before keep happening. And I’ve talked with the people at JVC about doing another record after the first of the year.”

Saying his home life is “super--Gaye and I get along great,” Holman seems satisfied with his musical milieu. “My career is pretty much what it is,” he said matter-of-factly. “I don’t imagine it’s going to build a lot from here. I’m just fortunate there are still a lot of jazz bands out there.”