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 mostly work as a leader, but has also guested with Juggernaut and The Cheathams, and played with Clark Terry on an occasional basis. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide