Matthew Warnock (guitar); Jon Wegge (bass); Joshua Hunt (drums)...and others as coincidence or opportunity allows
The recordings on this page feature the talents of many old friends:
Laura
The U of Illinois Concert Jazz Band directed by Chip McNeill
Alto Soloist, Carlos Vega
Arrangement by Chris Reyman
Lígia
Chris Reyman - piano
Jon Wegge - bass
Joshua Hunt - drums
Nora Barton - cello
Siren Song
Brett Farkas (guitar)
Chris Sargent (piano)
Daniel Thatcher (bass)
Quincy Davis (drums)
Little Yellow Moons
Rob Cookman (accordion)
Bill Jones (guitar)
Mark Ziegler (bass)
Jeff Moehle (drums)
the Road to You
Chris Sargent (piano)
Daniel Thatcher (bass)
Quincy Davis (drums)
Never Will I Marry
Earlie Braggs (trombone)
Bartosz Hadala (piano)
Mark Ziegler (bass)
Fred Knapp (drums)
Influences
Cassandra Wilson, Carmen McRae, Julia Dollison, Beck, Björk, Caetano Veloso, Elis Regina, Gilberto Gil, João Gilberto, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, John Abercrombie, Portishead, Beth Orton, Thelonious Monk, Dave Douglas, Paul Simon, Tribalistas, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter...
Formal Bio:
Born and raised in the Midwest, Holmes earned a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz studies and voice from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2000. During her undergraduate degree, she studied privately with voice teacers Professor Diana Spradling and recording artist and Professor Sunny Wilkinson. Holmes received a full-tuition Medallion Scholarship to attend WMU and graduated magna cum laude.
In 2001, Holmes was awarded an internship with the jazz programming department at Washington DCs prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where she assisted with the Dr. Billy Taylor radio series as well as working as an audio engineer and programming assistant for three other jazz performance series. In 2003, Holmes traveled to Brazil as guest vocalist of a student and alumni jazz quintet representing WMU. The success of the 5-concert tour inspired Holmes to return to Brazil, and in 2004, Holmes was awarded an Emerging Artist Grant by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo to aid her studies in Portuguese language and music in Salvador and Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Also following graduation, Holmes recorded, engineered, mixed, and produced her debut album, the Climb, released in 2005. Reflecting her varied influences, one can hear Brazilian music, refreshing arrangements of jazz standards, as well as jazz-tinged covers of popular songs. In the fall of 2006, Holmes was the first vocalist to be accepted into the Jazz Performance program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the tutelage of Barrington Coleman, Chip McNeill and Tito Carrillo. During her time there, she was the featured vocalist with the Concert Jazz Band and the Latin Jazz Ensemble, and she appears on both groups' 2008 releases entitled "As of Yet" and "Bomba Mundo" respectively. Holly premiered arrangements of "Vera Cruz" and "Laura" by composer Chris Reyman, of "Blue in Green" by Carlos Vega and her own arrangement of Edu Lobo's "Ponteio" sung in fluent Portuguese.
Holly currently performs in the Midwest with her jazz quartet and jazz duo with guitarist and professor Matthew Warnock, as well as with other ensembles in several genres. She has performed abroad in Canada, Belgium, France, and Brazil as well as for the International Association of Jazz Education conference in 1997 and 2008. Holly's college vocal jazz ensemble, Emerge, won a Downbeat Student Music Award in 1998. As a teacher, she encourages healthy singing for all ages and for all styles, whether classical, musical theater, jazz, or pop.
Holly is currently a PhD student in Musicology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she holds a fellowship in Latin American and Caribbean Studies in order to research Portuguese language and Brazilian music.
Informal bio:
I am a jazz singer, lyricist, arranger, reader of books, cook, gardener, sailor, futebol-watcher, speaker of two languages and singer of five, wonderer and wanderer, vegetarian, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, cousin, and damn fine wife. After six great years working in arts administration, gigging, and eventually running off to live in Brasil, I am living in Champaign and happy to again be a student of music and life.
Olá, Hollyyy!!! Quebrando tudo no myspace, hein? Essa Laura ta muito chique! Eu também gostei muito de cantar e gravar contigo. Vamos nos encontrar, sim! Super beijo! See you... :)
Holly, thank you for your sweet compliments! It really means a lot coming from you! It's great to able to hear you again too (on your page), especially since I had to miss you when you were here last. Will you be back at all this summer? I'd love to get coffee or something...
OLÁ!...this mounth my new tune is "GOLD FEVER"...listen it in my player...and take a look to my invited artist (video)...thanks my friend and have a great week! LM reunion,Portugal
How's it going, Holly? I'm in Chicago for a couple of months before heading out to the West Coast. Maybe I will get a chance to check out one of your gigs. I gotta see how far away those places are from me.
