b. 1917, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 4 November 2005, Los Angeles, California, USA. Holland played drums as a child, starting his professional career in 1929. During the early 40s he was on the staff at CBS, then joined Raymond Scott’s band for some 1941 recordings and a tour, following which he settled in Los Angeles. There, in 1947, he was with Alvy West And The Little Band, making records on some of which Anita O’Day sang. From the 50s onwards he was constantly in recording studios with artists such as Benny Carter, Buddy Childers, Elmer Bernstein (for the 1955 soundtrack album for The Man With The Golden Arm), Scatman Crothers, the Four Freshmen, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Thompson, Herbie Mann, Amos Milburn, Billy Daniels, Buddy DeFranco, Eartha Kitt, the 1958 soundtrack album for I Want To Live on United Artists Records with Johnny Mandel, Stan Kenton, Neal Hefti, Frank Capp, and Cal Tjader. In the early 60s Holland studied tabla in India with Chatur Lal and Ramnad Easwaran, as well as visiting Africa in pursuit of further percussion concepts. He employed his tabla playing on record with a late 60s recording date with Bill Plummer And The Cosmic Brotherhood.
Holland remained in steady demand in the 60s, 70s and 80s, recording with Nancy Wilson, Lalo Schifrin, the 1964 soundtrack of Gone With The Wave, Joe Pass, John Klemmer, Stanley Clarke, and Quincy Jones, on the soundtrack albums for The Hot Rock and Roots. He recorded with Barney Kessel (1975), Laurindo Almeda (1980 and 1983), and Victor Feldman (1982). Among Holland’s other film work were Peter Pan (1953), The King And I (1956), West Side Story (1961) and To Kill A Mockingbird (1962). He also worked on numerous television shows.