Milt Holland
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Milt Holland | |
|---|---|
| Born | Milton Olshansky February 7, 1917 |
| Died | November 4, 2005 (aged 88) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, rock, pop, R&B, funk, soul |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums, percussion |
Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percussion styles in jazz, pop and film music, traveling extensively in those regions to collect instruments and learn styles of playing them.
Holland was born Milton Olshansky in Chicago, Illinois where he attended Theodore Roosevelt High School. His first instrument was the violin which he quickly replaced with Drumset and Percussion. He pursued a passion for jazz drumming and percussion, playing in clubs and shows and on CBS Radio in Chicago. By the age of twelve, he was playing at speakeasies for the likes of Al Capone. He also spent many years on the road in Jazz bands including Raymond Scott.
Career
In the early 1940s, Holland toured and recorded with The Raymond Scott Orchestra.
He studied tabla at University of California, Los Angeles and from 1963 through 1965, with tabla master Pandit Chatur Lal in India, Ramnad Easwaran and others. He traveled through India extensively in the early 1960s and 1970s, and traveled to Brazil and Africa studying popular and tribal rhythms. He was among the first to introduce many of those instruments to western recording.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1946, he played on countless jazz and pop albums, film and TV scores. A sampling of the artists he worked with includes Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan, John Williams, Leonard Bernstein, Elmer Bernstein, Ernest Gold, Quincy Jones, Bernard Herrmann, Nat King Cole, Henry Mancini, Loggins and Messina, James Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Laurindo Almeida, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Seals and Crofts, Ray Manzarek, Michael Dinner, Gordon Lightfoot, Ringo Starr, Nelson Riddle, Kenny Loggins, Jim Messina, Poco, Captain Beefheart, David Blue, Rita Coolidge, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Cal Tjader, John Cassavetes, the Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, Maria Muldaur, Randy Newman, and Joni Mitchell. He played pandeiro, congas and triangle on Mitchell's hit Big Yellow Taxi and congas and percussion on Light My Fire with José Feliciano. He played all the african percussion instruments in sequences of the soundtrack for the film "The Color Purple" (dir. Steven Spielberg).
As part of the so-called "Wrecking Crew," Holland won several gold and platinum records for his contributions. He was perhaps most proud of having helped desegregate the Los Angeles Musicians Union. Eventually, Holland became the first choice for exotic percussion among Los Angeles freelance session musicians.
In films, Holland played bongos and possibly other percussion or drums on the soundtrack of West Side Story and timpani the soundtrack of Silent Running,Tablas and percussion on "Southern Comfort" (1981) with Ry Cooder - to name only a tiny fraction of his output. He was one of seven illustrious percussionists, including Shelly Manne, Jack Sperling, and Larry Bunker, who contributed to the soundtrack of the John Wayne film Hatari!, playing African instruments on the soundtrack album, The Sounds of Hatari, and its title track. He played for the soundtrack of the TV miniseries Roots. He also played the musical accompaniment for Tinker Bell in the 1953 Disney cartoon film Peter Pan and for the nose tinkle in the TV series Bewitched.
