Marty Holmes Octette - Art Ford's Party For Marty

Jazz Party, also known as Art Ford's Jazz Party, was a TV series featuring jazz musicians on WNTA-TV in New York City, which aired on Thursdays at 9pm ET from May 8, 1958, to December 25, 1958. It was a music-focused continuation of Art Ford's Greenwich Village Party, arguably the last series to appear on the DuMont Television Network, which ceased operations on August 6, 1956, though only broadcast on WABD as that station was becoming WNEW-TV after the sale of the DuMont-owned stations to Metromedia.

The 90-minute shows hosted by Art Ford (1921–2006), were distributed by the NTA Film Network. The shows also aired on Armed Forces Television. All episodes were filmed in a New Jersey studio, except for the final episode, which was recorded on August 11, 1958, in New Orleans, and aired on December 25.

Musicians who appeared on the series included Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Henry "Red" Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Marty Napoleon, Georgie Auld, Buster Bailey, Vinnie Burke, Roy Eldridge, J. C. Higginbotham, Les Paul, Dick Hyman, Anita O'Day, Connee Boswell, Mae Barnes, Chris Connor, Sylvia Syms, Mary Osborne, Teddy Charles, Harry Sheppard, Maxine Sullivan, Alec Templeton, Abbey Lincoln and many others.

Marty Holmes (1925-2001) was an American saxophonist, arranger and composer.

Holmes learned violin at six, saxophone at 15 and clarinet at 16; He also learned the piano as an autodidact. He began his career in the early 1940s; he played in an army band during World War II. After his discharge from the US Army, he first worked in various swing and dance bands, including as with Jerry Wald, Bobby Byrne, Tommy Reynolds, Neal Hefti and Tito Puente. He also worked as arranger for Larry Elgart, Johnny Long and Tito Puente, for whom he wrote the numbers "The Floozie" and "What Are You Doing, Honey?" wrote. In 1957, Holmes founded his own octet (including trombonists Sonny Russo, Eddie Bert, Robert Ascher and Sam Takvorian), whose LP Art Ford's Party for Marty was released in 1959 on Jubilee Records. His composition "Was There a Call For Me?" was recorded by Bobby Darin.

Holmes was a highly respected teacher of harmony and theory. He was a 40-year member of ASCAP and was recognized in Leonard Feather’s "Encyclopedia of Jazz" (1962 edition). A member of the Local 802 music union since 1942, he served the organization as an officer in Manhattan in the 1990s. Holmes died in September 2001 at the age of 76. In the field of jazz, he was involved in seven recording sessions as a saxophonist and arranger between 1953 and 1994. *wikipedia.org*

Marty Holmes is primarily known for his relationship with Latin bandleader Tito Puente, with whom he served as both a sideman and a composer. In the latter category there are several evocative titles and musical questions, perhaps related to each other in the case of "The Floozie" and "What Are You Doing, Honey?," respectively. Singer Bobby Darin cut Holmes' "Was There a Call for Me?" some eons before the invention of the cell phone. A Brooklyn boy, Holmes dabbled with violin and got into the reed family as a teenager. His picked up piano on his own and by the late '40s had found employment in a series of dance bands. The Holmes surname was a stage name, probably changed from the original Hausman due to public distaste for all things German in this time period. The Puente connection, resulting in at least a dozen albums, came about following Holmes' stints with Neal Hefti and Tommy Reynolds, among others. Much of the Puente catalog featuring this artist was reissued in the '90s. The sole Holmes solo effort was the festive Art Ford's Party for Marty, originally released in 1959. *Eugene Chadbourne*

Marty Holmes Octett

Art Ford's Party For Marty

The Exciting New Sound Of The Marty Holmes Octette

Jazz turns a new corner as Marty Holmes comes into his own.

This amazing young man is the first modern musician to breathe warmth and heart that distinguished the Swing Era into the bright new 1960 music world. The dragon that conquered the big band of the thirties and forties is met square on by Marty Holmes' incisive planning. The big band became too big and transportation and payroll costs forced it to virtually disappear from the scene. The Marty Holmes Octette is small enough to survive and big enough for the full sounds you hear in this album.

In this first exciting set on Jubilee, I believe Marty submits his passport to fame. The sounds are alternately cool, sweet, and hot and yet – to use a term with still describes the goal of every popular musician – it really "swings".

People, and particularly, their own personalities, can create a jazz era. In the thirties, Fletcher Henderson, Don Rodman, Mary Lou Williams and Jimmy Lunceford gave us much of the same spark that made Swing so universally accepted. Marty Holmes' unique capacity to light this flame under today's more intellectual jazz structures is how beautifully in this album. Here for the first time is the proper blend of the emotions and the intelligence of the jazzmen of this era.

We cornered Marty at the session, and he said so simply, "I have believed for a long time that good jazz must be a stimulant; it must convey an invigorating feeling to the listener, and should make him feel happy rather than depressed. It should leave him with a good taste in his soul. It's got to swing!" We agreed and marveled as we listened to what he was able to do with his basic five-horn section. He produces almost any sounds he needs for Holmes-jazz, anything from a trombone choir to a full ensemble.

Marty's hobbies are playing piano, listening to classical music and reading about all breeds of dogs. He has a wire-haired terrier named Duffy for which "Duffy's Dilemma" is named. Possibly the thing about Marty that impresses you most if the utter sincerity about his fight for the dignity of the jazz musician. He said it after the session as we set around listening to the playbacks. "One of the most disgraceful things present today is the stigma attached to the jazz musicians, and his "zero" standing in the community. Too many people forget that the jazz musician is a professional like a lawyer or a doctor; he has spent many years learning his craft; he is trying to protect something that after all is an American heritage; he is one of the few professional men who has any inborn talent; therefor he should not be shunned and looked upon as a 'social mis-fit': he is early that. I believe that a step in the right direction insofar and "PUBLIC  RE-EDUCATION is concerned is good, healthy swinging jazz.

In this great album, Marty says the same thing in music. *Art Ford (liner notes)*

Despite hyperbole in the liner notes, this is an ordinary session in which trumpeter Burt Collins is the only striking soloist.

The leader plays barely adequate jazz tenor, and his arrangements, while unpretentious, are far from uniquely inventive. The medium and up-tempo tracks are the more invigorating. The ballads tend to limp. *N. H. HiFi/Stereo Review, December 1962*

Marty Holmes and his octette, a modern jazz group, turn in good performantes here of group of standard, with Holmes featured on sax. I'ts listenable modern jazz, not too far out or not to far in and the stereo sound is good. Tunes include originals like "Duffy's Dilemma",  and standards including "Someone to Watch Over Me". *Billboard, April 20, 1959*

Side 1

1 - Duffy's Dilemma

(Marty Holmes)

2 - Someone To Watch Over Me

(Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)

3 - Pepper Pot

(Marty Holmes)

4 - I Get Along Without You Very Well

(Hoagy Carmichael)

5 - Love Walked In

(Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)

6 - Party For Marty

(Marty Holmes)

Side 2

7 - Moonlight In Vermont

(John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf)

8 - Four Bluesers

(Marty Holmes)

9 - Maybe Soon

(Marty Holmes)

10 - Tales Of Wales

(Marty Holmes)

11 - Was There A Call For Me?

(Woody Harris, Marty Holmes)

12 - Coolus Maximus

(Marty Holmes)

Marty Holmes (tenor sax); Burt Collins (trumpet); Sonny Russo, Eddie Bert, Robert Ascher, Sam Takvorian (trombones), and other unidentified personnel.

Recorded at Regent Sound Studios, New York City, 1958.