Willis Leonard Holman known also as Bill Holman, is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

/arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, saxophonist, and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 working primarily in the jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 idiom.

Although he has performed and recorded as a tenor saxophonist, Holman is best known as an arranger. Through his acquaintance with Gene Roland

Gene Roland

Gene M. Roland was a jazz composer and musician who played many instruments during his career but was most significant as an arranger/composer and for his association with Stan Kenton...

, Holman was auditioned by Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

 and hired as a tenor sax player around 1951.

Kenton was apparently attracted to Holman's ability to integrate counterpoint and dissonance in subtle yet distinctive ways, and for his knack for making the usually-unswinging Kenton band "swing" in its own particular fashion. Holman became Kenton's chief arranger, and wrote much of Kenton's 1950s repertoire; including one of Kenton's finest albums, Contemporary Concepts. He continued to write for Kenton, on and off, throughout the 1960s and 70s.

In addition to his work for Kenton, Holman has provided charts for Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

, Doc Severinsen

Doc Severinsen

Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...

, Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...

, Terry Gibbs

Terry Gibbs

Terry Gibbs is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.He has performed and/or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, Buddy DeFranco, and others...

, Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Gerry Mulligan

Gerry Mulligan

Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...

's Concert Jazz Band and others. He formed his own California-based band in 1975 and continues to perform with it in the U.S. and worldwide. His 1997 recording Brilliant Corners/The Music of Thelonious Monk won a Grammy award.

in 1969, Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

 recorded "Give Me the Simple Life" with Holman's arrangement on her live album The Sunshine of Your Love.

Bill Holman is also credited with brass arrangements on The Fifth Dimension

The Fifth Dimension

The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire also includes pop, R&B, soul, and jazz.Originally known as The Hi-Fi's, the 5th Dimension changed its name in late 1966, and was best-known during the late 1960s and early 1970s for popularizing the hits "Up, Up and Away",...

's 1969 album, The Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius (album)

The Age of Aquarius is the fourth album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1969 .- Track listing :# "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In [The Flesh Failures]" – 4:51...

.

He received his honorary doctorate through Elmhurst College of Illinois.

Recordings

As leader

• The Fabulous Bill Holman, Jasmin, 1958.
• In a Jazz Orbit
• Bill Holman's Great Big Band, Creative World Records.
• The Norwegian Radio Band Meets Bill Holman" Taurus Records, 1987
• Bill Holman Band - JVC, 1988
• A View from the Side - JVC, 1995
• Bill Holman with the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra. "Further Adventures" 1997
• Big Band Live - Jazzed Media, 2005 (Grammy Nominee- 2006)
• Bill Holman with SWR Band. Hammsler, 2005
• Hommage - Jazzed Media, 2007 (Grammy Nominee- 2008)
• Brilliant Corners, the Music of Thelonious Monk. 2008