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Rick Holland

Rick Holland is a recording artist currently living in Upstate NY. He leads his Little Big Band, Uptown Society Orchestra's and his 4tet.

About Me

Rick Holland has received his Doctorate in Classical Performance from Michigan State University. His Master's in Jazz Studies from DePaul University and his BM in Professional Music from Berklee College.

He has played and/or toured with Louie Bellson, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Frankie Kapp, Buddy DeFranco, Cab Calloway and many more.

He leads his 10 piece Little Big Band, The Uptown Swing Orchestra, The Uptown Swing 6tet and the Rick Holland 4tet. He has been a college educator, owned his own Community School and taught and freelanced for over 30 years.

Rick Holland’s flugelhorn improvisations flow with a seasoned musician’s imagination and a hard working trumpeter’s ability to play whatever comes to mind. His piquant touches to the top of the staff (or above) from wherever he happens to be in the improvised melodic line are a great example of where daily practice can take you. His sound is attractive, in fact the sonority he gets from the flugelhorn is an essential component of the group’s impact, and his love of Chet Baker’s melodic invention is completely internalized. Holland’s ability to improvise melodically from his imagination, as opposed to fitting memorized patterns of notes into the chord, is worth careful listening. That’s the way it’s done, folks.

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