Isaac "Redd" Holt (born May 16, 1932) is an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...
drummer.
Early life and education
Holt was born in
Rosedale, Mississippi
Rosedale is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,873 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, down from 2,414 in 2000. Located in an agricultural area, the city had a stop on ...
, and raised in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. He first began playing drums as a student at Crane High School, where he played in an ensemble with future collaborators
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...
and
Eldee Young
Eldee Young (January 7, 1936 – February 12, 2007) was a jazz double-bass and cello player who performed in the cool jazz, post bop and rhythm and blues mediums.
Born in 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, Young started playing upright bass at the age of ...
. Holt studied music at the
Chicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
History
Founding
Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld Sr (1841–1923), founded the college in 1867 as the Chicago Academy of Music. The institution h ...
and radio and television at
Kennedy–King College
Kennedy–King College (KKC) part of City Colleges of Chicago, is a public two-year community college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Kennedy–King is a part of the City Colleges of Chicago, a system of two-year education that has existed ...
.
Career
Holt enlisted in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in 1955 and was stationed in Germany, where he played with a military band, and upon his return worked with Lewis, alongside Young, from 1956 to 1966, in addition to recording with
Earl Bostic
Eugene Earl Bostic (April 25, 1913 – October 28, 1965) was an American alto saxophonist. Bostic's recording career was diverse, his musical output encompassing jazz, swing, jump blues and the post-war American rhythm and blues style, which h ...
and James Moody near the end of the 1950s.
In 1966, Young and Holt split with Lewis and formed their own group,
Young-Holt Unlimited
Young-Holt Unlimited (also known as Young-Holt Trio), were a U.S. soul and jazz instrumental musical ensemble from Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young, formerly members of Ramsey Lewis' jazz trio, ...
, which went on to achieve commercial success as an instrumental soul band. After the group's dissolution in 1974 Holt continued on as Redd Holt Unlimited, playing under this name into the 1990s, and worked in jazz education in Illinois. He founded the Gumption Artist Workshop, which was active from 1980 to 1985, and played internationally, including at the 1988
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
and in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
in the late-1980s and early-1990s. For 15 years, Holt also played with a trio at the East Bank Club in Chicago. The studio sessions produced a vinyl LP named, It's A Take! on the Treehouse Record label with eight full-length jazz standards.
Discography
As leader
* ''Look Out!! Look Out!!'' (Argo, 1963)
* ''Isaac, Isaac, Isaac'' (Paula, 1974)
* ''The Other Side of the Moon'' (Paula, 1975)
With
Eldee Young
Eldee Young (January 7, 1936 – February 12, 2007) was a jazz double-bass and cello player who performed in the cool jazz, post bop and rhythm and blues mediums.
Born in 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, Young started playing upright bass at the age of ...
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...
* ''
Ramsey Lewis and his Gentle-men of Swing
''Ramsey Lewis and his Gentle-men of Swing'' (later rereleased as ''Swingin) is the debut album by American jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, recorded in 1956 and released on the Argo label.
Never on Sunday
''Never on Sunday'' ( el, Ποτέ την Κυριακή, ) is a 1960 Greek romantic comedy film starring, written by and directed by Jules Dassin.
The film tells the story of Ilya, a Greek prostitute (Melina Mercouri), and Homer (Dassin), an Am ...
Bossa Nova
Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
Hang On Ramsey!
''Hang On Ramsey!'' is a live album by the Ramsey Lewis Trio which was recorded at the Lighthouse in 1965 and released on the Cadet label.The Groover'' (Cadet, 1972)
* ''Solid Ivory'' (Cadet, 1974)
* ''Reunion'' (Columbia, 1983)
With others
*
Lorez Alexandria
Lorez Alexandria (born Dolorez Alexandria Turner; August 14, 1929 – May 22, 2001). was an American jazz singer, described as "one of the most gifted and underrated jazz singers of the twentieth century". She became established in the midwest b ...
Eden Atwood
Eden Atwood is an American jazz singer and actress. She is the daughter of composer Hubbard Atwood and the granddaughter of the novelist A. B. Guthrie Jr.
Career
Atwood was born in Memphis, Tennessee. When she was five, her parents got a divorc ...
, ''No One Ever Tells You'' (Concord Jazz, 1993)
* Bill Henderson, ''Sings'' (Vee Jay, 1959)
* Jeremy Monteiro & Young & Holt, ''Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival'' (J.J. Jazz, 2001)
* James Moody, ''Last Train from Overbrook'' (Argo, 1958)
* Shelley Moore, ''For the First Time...'' (Argo, 1961)
*
Ken Nordine
Ken Nordine (April 13, 1920 – February 16, 2019) was an American voice-over and recording artist, best known for his series of word jazz albums. His deep, resonant voice has also been featured in many commercial advertisements and movie traile ...
, ''Son of Word Jazz'' (Dot, 1957)
* Ken Nordine, ''Love Words'' (Dot, 1958)
References
;Footnotes
;General references
*Deborah Gillaspie and
Barry Kernfeld
Barry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians.
Education
In 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at U ...