NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT...

MUSIC:

After You've Gone (Woody Herman)
CD: Mosaic Select 31: Woody Herman
Mosaic B0010515-02

NEA JAZZ MASTER BILL HOLMAN IS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE FINEST ARRANGERS IN JAZZ HISTORY. BUT SOMETIMES HIS WRITING FOR THE GREAT BIG BANDS CAME WITH FRUSTRATION. BECAUSE HE RARELY HAD THE LUXURY TO REHEARSE THE BANDS HIMSELF, HIS ARRANGEMENTS SOMETIMES CHANGED...

Bill Holman: One example of a bandleader tampering with my music was a chart of After You've Gone that I wrote for Woody Herman in 1964. He added (with him on clarinet and Nat Pierce on celeste) a little duet. (sings) Then the chart starts. And he did it at the end also. And I was in a club one night when he was playing it and when the arrangement ended there started to be a big burst of applause from the audience. Then they saw that he was still playing so they quieted down. And he played this little tag. And at the end, there was deathly silence. (laughs) He had KILLED the ovation with his stroke of genius!

MUSIC:up and fades

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH COMPOSER, ARRANGER, AND SAXOPHONIST BILL HOLMAN WAS CREATED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.