* En anglais uniquement
Lovers of the enchanting jazz songstress Billie Holiday owe a debt of gratitude to this New York saxophonist who provided some of her first on-stage experiences in the early '30s, when Lady Day was just barely that, aged a scant 21 years old at the time. Kenneth Hollon frequently asked her to come along to his cabaret gigs where she became popular singing numbers such as Fats Waller's "My Fate Is in Your Hands" and "Honeysuckle Rose." Although some of the saxophonists who worked with Holiday, such as Lester Young, were of the exploratory, mind-blowing variety of instrumentalists who set the pace for everyone else, this was not what Hollon was about. He was a goodtime saxophonist, with a good sound and a lively tone. Along with his work with Holiday he is mainly known as a member of two of the jazz and R&B genres' most entertaining musical experiences, namely the almost insane scat-singing Slim & Slam and the rocking band of Louis Jordan. He played in the latter band until sometime in the early '40s and then began working with Buddy Johnson & His Orchestra. Already established is what aspect of Hollon's career forever endears itself to Billie Holiday fans, but it is this later stage of his music-making that he consolidates the allegiance of boogie fanatics. The instrumental number "Boogie Woogie's Mother-In-Law was recorded in 1941. Apparently this track is the source of the slide guitar riff used on the Elmore James song "Hawaiian Boogie" and this original version is played on steel guitar along with guess-who on tenor sax. ~ Eugene Chadbourne