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About Ron Holloway
Ron Holloway is an American tenor saxophonist known for his ability to adapt to virtually any musical environment. He is one of the busiest tenor saxophonist’s on today’s music scene in any genre! Ron has been touring internationally as a member of Susan Tedeschi’s Band but still finds time to appear as a frequent special guest of the Allman Brothers Band, Warren Haynes & Gov’t Mule, the Derek Trucks Band, Taj Mahal and Little Feat. Recently, Ron performed with Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, The Allman Brothers Band, Joan Osborne, Michael Franti, John Paul Jones, Ruthie Foster, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, The Lee Boys, Karl Denson, Robben Ford, Tal Wilkenfeld and Col. Bruce Hampton at the Warren Haynes 20th Anniversary Christmas Jam.
In the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz renowned jazz critic Ira Gitler describes Ron Holloway as ‘a bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm blue feeling.’ “1977 was a pivotal year in my career. For the first time I was making my living solely from playing music. I was living in an apartment a couple of blocks from my old high school in one direction and a couple of miles from my parents in the other. Late one morning I was recovering from playing until the wee hours when the phone rang. It was my Dad informing me of a new club that was due to open a couple of miles up the road from where I was living. The name of the club was the Showboat Lounge and Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie were among the scheduled performers.” On the first night of Dizzy Gillespie’s first week Ron went to the club armed with a tape recorder. “I arrived about 45 minutes before showtime, asked where the dressing room was and headed in that direction. As I approached the room I realized the door was ajar because I could hear Dizzy warming up. He was holding out long tones, starting with the lowest notes and coming up the scale in half steps. When I got to the door I stood in the frame for a second, Dizzy looked up and immediately asked ‘Whatcha got on the tape?’ I said “Mr. Gillespie this is a tape of myself sitting in with Sonny Rollins at Howard University”. To that he responded ‘Let’s hear it!’ and patted the chair next to him with his hand as if to say ‘sit here’. I sat down, pressed play and Dizzy listened intently. After he’d heard my solo he whirled around in his chair and with all the enthusiasm of a child asked: ‘You got your horn?’ I said “No sir, I didn’t want to appear presumptuous.” Dizzy grinned widely and said ‘Presumptuous– now THERE’S a word!’ We both burst out laughing”. Ron performed that whole week with Dizzy. Afterward, Dizzy extended an invitation to Ron to sit in anytime.
Ron Holloway joined Dizzy’s quintet in the summer of 1989. He remained a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s final quintet until Diz’ passing on January 6, 1993.
“Among the many things I would like to do is reflect the entire history of the tenor saxophone in my playing. The saxophone is a relatively young instrument but what an illustrious legacy it already has. There’s much to be done!”
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