Tony Holland was born August 19th in Pontiac,Michigan to parents Frederick and Hazel Holland. Pontiac at this time was a hotbed of activity with the average young kid excelling in various mediums. Pontiac at the time was buzzing with artists,dancers,poets,athletes,academically inclined minds and musicians. I was introduced to music and jazz in particular,in spite of what I wanted to do,from the baby crib,jazz and gospel was a given. My uncle,Howard"Blue" Dooley,had all the albums you could ask for,Sonny Stitt,Donald Byrd,Miles,Trane,Lee Morgan,Lou Donaldson,Bird,etc and these were heard from the crib onward. My Grandfather,Thomas"T.C."Holland, had original pressings of Mamie Smith,Flecther Henderson,Bessie Smith and Andy Kirk,you know that era, so I didnt want for nothing. I was in music from a very young age, we had to go to church,EVERY SUNDAY, dont even think about not going Tony, I was told,so church choirs and singing in general was my start. In Pontiac, we had this "wrecka stow" named K.D.s Records, and I remember vividly going there to buy 45rpms of all the latest music at the time. From there my aunt, Carolyn Holland, purchased albums by Nina Simone,"Mississippi Goddam" ,I remember,Jimmy Smith, Dinah Washington and like minded artists and got a lot of education from her. There was a brother named Ahmed, who had a store named Ahmeds Imports and he stocked all thing of African culture and had various jam sessions there where I met all sorts of musicians,poets etc, in that environment. Then there was brothers Obadiah and Rashid McConnell where I really cut my teeth in marathon, and I mean MARATHON sessions of unbelievable musical expression. In church, my mother was the pianist for Trinity Baptist Church for many years and she told me they were constantly out dancing and partyin while she was pregnant with me so I guess i got a lot from that as well. Me and Lawrence"Frye"Currington, Mike Ramsey, my sisters ,Linda and Cathy and brother Douglas and many others to numerous to mention, were knee deep in choir and of course we cut our teeth vocally during this period. Barry Burch,Raymond Wiggins,Benji,Freddie and Paul McAllister, Sylvester"Sonny"Robinson,David McCallum,Duane Eason,Micheal Ramsey were singers in a group styled after the Temptations and we performed at the 20 Grand in Detroit and eventually opened for James Brown and the Fabulous Flames at Wisner stadium in Pontiac. Me,Barry and "Wig" used to hang tough. We would hang at Barry's house which happened to be a mansion, owned by his grandfather who was Lawyer- Leon Hubbard and we would go thru the house and play pool on each of the 4 pools tables in the house and then go play and sing on all of the 9 pianos throughout the house. Also we would go a few houses down and take advantage of the hospitality provided by another heavy brother in Pontiac,who had and still has a exstensive musical library ,heavy with jazz, promient laywer Elbert Hatchett. His brother Bubby Hatchett was a hell of a pianist as well. A hop,skip and a jump from there was were I grew up ,over my mom's Mother and Father,Margret and Charles Dooley's house, which was around the corner from Hank,Thad and Elvin Jones house. Pontiac was jumpin during this time as you can see. We would hear these conversations that Miles,Trane,Stitt,Bird,etc is are in town and lots of the time they were around the corner,with Uncle Howard hangin with them as usual, probably gettin some home cookin from the Jones brothers folks. Hayes Jones, the Olympic Gold Medal winner is from Pontiac, and a community center was built and named after him. A lot of events happened here which showcased the acheivements of my peers in Pontiac and a lot of other stuff happened here as well. But I remembered it with much fondness. One more thing i remember that I cant leave out, to show the buzz of the city,was being able to witness the rise of the P-Funk, Funkadelic ws constantly in Pontiac or at Oakland University. I thought they were residents I saw them so much.,Roseland Skating Rink, LIVE,UPCLOSE,Tiki Fulwood,Eddie Hazel,Billy Nelson,Dr.Funkenstein and company in diapers and bed sheets,before they had the big production budgets,I loved the singers of course(all your goodies are gone,I Just Wanna Testify, etc) but being a musician noticing the music was a natural. Being in school, brought the Tonette,the black
song flute, then clarinet. I moved from clarinet,thru all the other clarinet family to contrabass clarinet. Then switching to saxophone ,went thru all of them too, to contrabass saxophone. I play sopranino, soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet. From these beginnings in Pontiac, Michigan all these developments took place. Graduating from Pontiac Central I went on to Michigan State University, with lifelong friends Wayne Coleman,Tyler"Buzzy"McClendon,Reggie Hayes,cousin J.C.Bard,and eventually hooked up with Roscoe Mitchell and became one of the founding members of the Creative Arts Collective, which allowed me by the grace of I AM to perform with many,many members of the AACM based in Chicago. Roscoe taught me to think of musical expression in groundbreaking ways to numerous to mention. Lester Bowie is my main man and helped to "blow away the cobwebs in my mind". Fred Hopkins,Malachi Favors,Joseph Jarman,Muhal Richard Abrams,Don Moye, were frequent vistors to this scene and we performed many concerts of exciting known/unknown musical forays. Also at this time I was involved with a groungbreaking group called UHURU UNLIMITED,w/ Overton,Joe & Dave Loyd,Charlotte Steele, Bill"BamBam" Melville, Satori Shakoor, Bill Squezzer, Joe Aikens, Joel Davis,and eventually, thru our friend/fellow student/manager Bill Sparks,(currently with Prince) went on to open for The Main Ingredient, Barry White and we were inches from opening for Sly and the Family Stone. Overton is currently an artist w/Dr. Funkenstein. From there, the "D" was the next stop,where I hooked up with Harold McKinney,Marcus Belgrave,Ali Muhammad, Kenn Coxx, Ron Brooks,Donald Walden, Wendall Harrison, Ray McKinney,Charlie Gabriel and many others who I will include later when my memory kicks in. Creative Arts Collective moved from its East Lansing base to the "D" as well and brought a lifelong assocition w/ Faruk Bey,Tani Tabbal,Sadiq Bey, Griot Galaxy and w/C.A.C., we went on to tour Europe. I currently am listening to the music of Salif Keita, SunRa, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter in the main cause he plays saxophones and his tone, intonation and the way he "scrambles his eggs" is of the utmost importance to me. Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie are also a major factor in my approach as I have worked with them extensively. CHECK LINK www.emile.wonderpowers.com for additional info. updates upcoming
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