ADAM HOLZMAN

Adam Portrait

New album: "MANIFESTO" (Lipstick Rec.)

Biography

Keyboarder Adam Holzman is one of the most innovative musicians of the 90s. The musicians magazine "Keyboards" named him one of the top 10 players of his instrument, "Down Beat" lauded his "killer groove" and compared him to Jan Hammer - and even the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" praised his live shows.

Born on the 15.Feb.1958 in New York City, Adam Holzman grew up in California and started classical piano lessons at age 12. But his main influences were "The Doors", Leon Russell and Dr.John. He started getting into progressive rock and jazz-rock during the late 70s, which in turn led to a growing interest in jazz.

"First I was influenced by groups like "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or "Yes". When I heard Chick Corea, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Billy Cobham I got completely turned on to jazz." he says today. "But I only started getting serious about jazz harmonies when I was in my late 20s. Even today there are still some gaps in my jazz knowledge. But I do not consider my musical role to be a keeper of jazz traditions. I try to make entertaining music today, influenced by rock, jazz-rock, funk and a lot of other styles and ideas."

One of his first big jobs was a new recording of the opera "Carmina Burana" by composer Carl Orff, led by Ray Manzarek of the "Doors" and produced by Philipp Glass. He then played with various groups including the group "Fents", which was co-founded by him before coming to the attention when he worked for singer Randy Hall. Miles Davis first hired Adam Holzman for some keyboard work for "Tutu" and then as second keyboarder for the following live tour. While Miles Davis hired and fired musicians at an enormous rate during these years, Adam Holzman actually stayed for almost 5 years. "I must have done something right", Holzman says today."I was so nervous in the beginning - I didn't think I would survive the first tour." He must have done a lot of things right, since Miles later promoted him to "musical director", when Robert Irving left the band in 1988. After one more year Adam Holzman moved on - to a close cooperation with Michel Petrucciani, who asked him in 1989 to join him for a cooperation to which he also contributed several compositions. "I couldn't resist the challenge, because it gave me a chance to expand in several ways - both as a writer and as a player, since the live shows were much less structured than Miles shows."

During the early 90s Adam Holzman also worked for Chaka Khan, Robben Ford, the band "Kelvynator" and many others while preparing his solo career, which started with "In A Loud Way", which was released in the USA in the fall of 1993.

Parallel to this he also founded a steady live band, which was originally called "Mona Lisa Overdrive" (inspired by William Gibson's novel). Because of copyright reasons, the name was later changed to it's current name "Overdrive". The first lineup of the band included bassman Steve Logan and drummer Van Romaine

Group picture

During 1994 the band changed before a tour of Germany and Poland. It now includes Aaron Heick (Sax, ex-Chaka Khan Band), Freddy Cash (Bass, formerly with "Arrested Development" and Mark Ledford) , Juju House (drums, ex "Chaka Khan Band" and "Arrested Development" , drummer on the legendary recording "Slave To The Rhythm" of Grace Jones) and guitarist Mitch Stein, who performed for Tania Maria, David Sanborn and Chaka Khan (among others).
In 1995 Adam appeared in the US with his own band and continued occasionally performing with Michel Petrucciani - but also was a member of Wayne Shorters group, which toured worldwide in fall of 1995. While Wayne Shorter got very mixed reviews on this tour, many reviewers lauded Adam as one of the outstanding musicians in the backing band.

As a hobby Adam Holzman also draws cartoons. He is married to guitarist Jane Getter and they have a son, who was born 1994.

Current album: "MANIFESTO"

Selected discography:

As leader, co-leader or co-composer:

As keyboarder:

Miles Davis - TUTU (Warner)

He worked as a live keyboarder for:

Grover Washington Jr., Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis , Michel Petrucciani , Robben Ford , Mino Cinelu, Chaka Khan , Kelvynator, Fents

Author: Alex Mercke-mail: 73233,557@compuserve.com
Last Updated: 7. Apr 1995