Marvin
Holladay

Baritone saxophonist Marvin “Doc” Holladay is a unique musician who has enriched his professional jazz performance career through his active involvement with World music. His full warm sound has earned him the respect and admiration of many or the world’s top musical personalities. Holladay has toured the world with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the J.C. Heard Orchestra and Dizzy Gillespie’s Orchestra. The tour with Dizzy Gillespie took place during the summer of 1988. The Gillespie Orchestra played to standing room only audiences around the world including three major eastern U.S. cities and eight European countries. Throughout the tour, Holladay provided an ongoing source of energy. His artistic dexterity was often praised by critics and musicians alike. Holladay is known internationally for his strong, no-nonsense playing style. He is also respected as a master of improvisation on the instrument made immortal by Harry Carney and recently brought into renewed prominence by Pepper Adams and Hamiet Bluett. But it is Holladay’s versatility that has led him to play with numerous big bands, combos, and some of the best known musicians in the business. A partial list of musical organizations Holladay has worked with includes the Stan Kenton, Woody Herman and Quincy Jones Orchestras, the Duke Ellington Alumni Orchestra, and as a charter member, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. In addition, he has recorded or performed, while a free-lance musician in New York City, with notables Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine, the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Jack McDuff, Benny Carter, Duke Pearson, Gerald Wilson, Jimmy Smith, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, and countless others.