Red Holloway

An exuberant player with attractive tones on both tenor and alto, Red Holloway is also a humorous blues singer. Whether it be bop, blues, or R&B, Holloway can hold his own with anyone. Holloway played in Chicago with Gene Wright's big band (1943-1946), served in the Army, and then played with Roosevelt Sykes (1948) and Nat Towles (1949-1950), before leading his own quartet (1952-1961) during an era when he also recorded with many blues and R&B acts. Holloway came to fame in 1963 while touring with Jack McDuff, making his first dates as a leader for Prestige (1963-1965). Although he has cut many records in R&B settings, Red Holloway is a strong bop soloist at heart, as he proved in the 1970s when he battled Sonny Stitt to a tie on their recorded collaboration. He went on to work mostly as a leader, but also guested with Juggernaut and the Cheathams, and played with Clark Terry on an occasional basis. He continued being active as a player into the 21st century, releasing Standing Room Only on Chiaroscuro Records in 2000; Keep That Groove Going, with Plas Johnson, on Milestone Records in 2001; Coast to Coast, also on Milestone Records, in 2003; and Go Red Go! in 2009 on Delmark Records.

from Wikipedia:

James W. "Red" Holloway (born May 31, 1927, Helena, Arkansas) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Biography

Holloway started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old. He graduated from DuSable High School, where he had played in the school big band with Johnny Griffin and Eugene Wright, and attended the Conservatory of Music, Chicago.

He joined the Army when he was nineteen and became bandmaster for the U.S. Fifth Army Band, and after completing his military service, returned to Chicago and played with Yusef Lateef and Dexter Gordon, among others. In 1948 he joined blues vocalist Roosevelt Sykes and later played with other blues musicians such as Willie Dixon, Junior Parker, Lloyd Price, and John Mayall.

In the 1950s he played in the Chicago area with Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Ben Webster, Jimmy Rushing, Arthur Prysock, Dakota Staton, Eddie Vinson, Wardell Gray, Sonny Rollins, Red Rodney, Lester Young, Joe Williams, Redd Foxx, B. B. King, Bobby Bland and Aretha Franklin. During this period, he also toured with Sonny Stitt, Memphis Slim and Lionel Hampton. He became a member of the house band for Chance Records, led by Al Smith, in 1952. He subsequently appeared on many recording sessions for the Chicago-based independents Parrot, United and States, and Vee-Jay.

From 1963 to 1966, he was in organist "Brother" Jack McDuff's band, which also featured a young guitarist, George Benson.

From 1977 to 1982, Holloway worked with Sonny Stitt, recording two albums together, and following Stitt's death, Holloway played and recorded with Clark Terry.