Red Holloway

An exuberant performer whose tenor and alto saxophone both projected warm, appealing timbres, Red Holloway also delivered droll vocals in the blues idiom. In any setting—bop, blues, or R&B—he matched the best players of his day. After working in Chicago with Gene Wright’s big band from 1943 to 1946, Holloway completed Army service, then joined Roosevelt Sykes in 1948 and Nat Towles from 1949 to 1950. Between 1952 and 1961 he fronted his own quartet while also appearing on numerous blues and R&B sessions. National recognition arrived in 1963 during a tour with Jack McDuff, prompting Holloway’s initial recordings as a leader for Prestige between 1963 and 1965. Although he issued many R&B-oriented dates, Holloway remained at core a vigorous bop improviser, a fact demonstrated in the 1970s when his recorded encounter with Sonny Stitt ended in a dead heat. Thereafter he performed chiefly under his own name, with occasional guest appearances alongside Juggernaut and the Cheathams plus sporadic collaborations with Clark Terry. He remained active well into the new century, issuing Standing Room Only on Chiaroscuro Records in 2000, Keep That Groove Going with Plas Johnson on Milestone Records in 2001, Coast to Coast, also for Milestone, in 2003, and Go Red Go! on Delmark Records in 2009. On February 25, 2012, Holloway died in Los Angeles from kidney failure and stroke at the age of 84.