Biography
Please visit http://www.hollyholmes.com for more audio.
Her debut album, the Climb, reflects Holly's varied influences including Brazilian music (by Caetano Veloso and Dori Caymmi/Nelson Motta), refreshing arrangements of jazz standards (by Van Heusen & Burke and Schwartz & Dietz), including a lovely spin of Frank Loesser’s Never Will I Marry as a waltz, and jazz-tinged covers of popular songs (by singer/songwriter Bill Caskey and Stevie Nicks). She is particularly fond of penning lyrics to modern instrumental jazz standards as demonstrated by Wayne Shorter's Fee Fi Fo Fum, renamed Siren Song with the addition of the lyric. Holly also stays true to Pat Metheny's delicate ballad the Road to You, seen here as the Road to Me. The first recitation is a beautiful wordless solo, followed by an elegant piano solo, and finally closing with the melody, an unorthodox but satisfying choice, with her original lyric. Perhaps most remarkably, Holly puts the jazz back in jazz singer with her imaginative improvisation, executed tastefully on several tracks including Siren Song and I Thought About You. Recorded before the formation of the Illinois-based quartet, Holly was bandleader, co-engineer, co-mixer, and producer.
Holly earned a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz studies from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2000. In the fragile fall of 2001, Holmes was awarded an internship with the jazz programming department at Washington DC's prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. There she assisted with the Dr. Billy Taylor radio series as well as working as an audio engineer for other live performances featuring Nnenna Freelon, Kurt Elling, Freddy Cole, and many others.
In 2003, Holly traveled to Brazil as guest vocalist of a student and alumni jazz quintet representing WMU. The success of the tour inspired her to plan a return trip in order to study Portuguese language and the guitar. In June 2004, Holly was awarded an Emerging Artist Grant by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo to help make this happen. Holly spent six months living with Brazilian families in Salvador and Belo Horizonte, Brazil and there became fluent in Portuguese. She also studied jazz guitar with Celso Moreira, a well-known teacher, performer, and brother of Brazilian guitarist and recording artist Juarez Moreira. Holly's next recording project will feature works by and inspired by the Brazilian artists she met on this trip.
In 2008, Holly graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a Master of Music in Jazz Performance. Holly was the first vocalist to graduate from the U of I with a degree in Jazz Performance. During her two years in the department, she was the featured vocalist of the Concert Jazz Band and performed at the North Texas, Elmhurst, Notre Dame and Millikin University jazz festivals. She was also the featured vocalist of the U of I Latin Jazz Ensemble and performed at the 2008 International Association of Jazz Education Conference in Toronto. In the two groups, Holly premiered compositions/arrangements by Chris Reyman, Carlos Vega and wrote and premiered an arrangement of Edu Lobo's composition "Ponteio."
In fall 2008, Holly will begin the PhD in Musicology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and received a fellowship for research in Brazilian Portuguese language and culture.
Instrumentation
Holly Holmes - vocals,
Matthew Warnock - guitar (Canadian jazz musician, and member of the Holly Holmes/Matt Warnock Duo),
Jon Wegge - bass,
Joshua Hunt - drums
*****We also play extensively as a voice/guitar duo and frequently as a voice/guitar/bass trio.*****
Discography
the Climb, Holly's full-length debut album, was released independently through Holly's company, a wHOLe MESs o' me Records in 2005. Siren Song and Landslide, among others, have received radio airplay. It is available at www.cdbaby.com/cd/hollyholmes and for download at CdBaby's affiliate vendors, like iTunes, MusicMatch, etc.
Links
| http://www.hollyholmes.com |