THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2010
6
MusicMaker
Sax man finds his way back home
by Mike Joyce As saxophonist Ron Holloway tries to explain
why he’s no longer a fixture on the Washington club scene, the answer quickly becomes appar- ent. His iPhone chimes; it’s a text message from guitarist Warren Haynes, a member of the All- man Brothers Band and frontman for Gov’t Mule. Haynes is writing to confirm yet another booking — Holloway will join Gov’t Mule on- stage the next night in Richmond. The Washington native’s conspicuous absence in and around town — he returns to Blues Alley on Saturday night for the first time in several years — has a lot to do with the fact that a re- markable array of prominent rock and blues musicians have his number. Bred on bebop, Holloway befriended jazz leg-
ends Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie and Son- ny Rollins early on, long before recording a se- ries of well-received, major-label jazz albums in the ’90s. Before becoming a recording artist in his own right, he supported other musicians in Washington and on the road, including memo- rable stints with musician-poet Gil Scott-Heron (“He would always create this meditative vibe in concert”) and absurdist rocker Root Boy Slim (“That’s when I knew I had joined the circus”). A decade ago, it was impossible to scan regional club listings without realizing how busy Hollo- way was on the local front. Several connections with well-known musi- cians have followed in recent years: gigs with Little Feat, Shemekia Copeland, Derek Trucks, Taj Mahal, Carlos Santana; tours with the All- mans and Gov’t Mule; a four-year run in blues singer Susan Tedeschi’s band. Suffice it to say that the 56-year-old reedman has been on the road a lot. Holloway’s enthusiasm for straightahead jazz remains undiminished. A conversation with the multiple Washington Area Music Association award-winner (42 Wammies at last count) is peppered with anecdotes about his first encoun- ter with trumpet legend Gillespie — in 1977, at the now defunct Showboat Lounge in Silver Spring — and his early, profoundly influential experiences with fellow tenor saxophonist Rollins, now a close friend and supporter. But Holloway attributes his popularity in rock and blues circles to the fact that he has never dismissed other musical forms. After all, he says, “when I’m playing with an R&B or blues group,
holloway continued on 14
SNAPSHOTS FROM THE ROAD Susan Tedeschi
“Susan is easily the loveliest boss I ever had, but she’s much more than a pretty face. She’s a diligent student of American music. I don’t know how many times, while on tour, I’d open the back door of the tour bus and find her studying old blues recordings. Several blues pioneers proposed marriage to Susan. Among them was John Lee Hooker, who went so far as to offer her one of his houses.”
FROM RON HOLLOWAY
Ron Holloway with Grace Potter, far right, and her bass player, Catherine Popper. Holloway has worked with musicians in a variety of genres, including blues, soul, jazz and rock.
RON HOLLOWAY
Appearing Saturday with Julia Nixon at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Shows start at 8 and 10 p.m.
Tickets:
$25. 202-337-4141.
www.bluesalley.com.
The Download: For a sampling of Ron Holloway’s music, check out:
From “Scorcher”: “The Everywhere Calypso”
“How High the Moon” “Sidewinder”
From “Groove Update”: “Epistrophy” “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” “Three Miles Down”
FROM RON HOLLOWAY
Holloway takes the stage with the Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi. He calls Tedeschi “a diligent student of American music.”
Carlos Santana
Taj Mahal “Though most folks think of Taj as a bluesman, we’ve often talked about our mutual admiration for Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and other jazz greats. At Rams Head Onstage a while back, we were playing a blues Taj had written, and during my solo I quoted ‘Blue Monk.’ It completely caught Taj by surprise. ‘He quoted “Blue Monk” on my tune,’ he told the crowd, grinning from ear to ear. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
“I first met Carlos four years ago in Lucca, Italy. Susan Tedeschi, who opened for Santana, introduced us. Carlos was very gracious and invited me into his dressing room before the show. We sat there talking and watching various video clips of Miles and John Coltrane for well over an hour. It’s a great honor to share the stage with an artist who has attained such a level of inner peace and profound musical artistry.”
Root Boy Slim
“Once at the Cellar Door, Root Boy Slim, clothed in a white bed sheet with a slit cut for his head, climbed on top of the Hammond B-3 organ. Not amused, the keyboard player began slowly tilting the organ. In a valiant effort to land on his feet, Slim jumped up and away from the Hammond. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sporting underwear at the time. Billowing with air, the bed sheet wrapped itself around Slim’s neck, leaving everything below exposed — everything!”
DAWN LYNN
Holloway, with Taj Mahal, right, threw some jazz references into his Rams Head Onstage performance with the bluesman.
Gregg Allman “When I toured with the Allman Brothers Band in the summer of 2005, I found it hard to wind down after concerts. I’d be sitting in the front of the tour bus for hours. Gregg would wake up in the middle of the night to use the lavatory and find me sitting there, wide awake. Someone later told me that he wondered if I was claustrophobic or had trouble sleeping in the bunk.”
— Mike Joyce
“All the relation- ships I have with the
musicians I’ve been playing with
recently are ongoing
things. So I guess I haven’t made any enemies.” Ron Holloway
IF YOU GO
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