Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John Joseph Harold Holmes, better known in the music world as Johnny was born in Montreal, Canada on June 8, 1916. He began playing cornet at 10 and studied briefly with C. Van Camp. After playing trumpet for a year in 1940 in a co-operative band, the Esquires, he took over its leadership from 1941 to 19.50.

After establishing the Johnny Holmes Orchestra they played Saturday nights at Victoria Hall in Montreal that was broadcast on CBC radio. They occasionally toured in Quebec and Ontario. One of Montreal’s leading dance bands of the day, it boasted a healthy jazz quotient and benefited from Holmes’ ability to identify talented younger musicians. At various times his sidemen included Nick Ayoub, Al Baculis, Percy and Maynard Ferguson, pianist Bud Hayward, Art Morrow, and Oscar Peterson. Lorraine McAllister and Sheila Graham, in turn, sang with the band.

Holmes retired from music from 1951 to 1959 but was heard 1959 to 1969 on several CBC radio shows including The Johnny Holmes Show, Broadway Holiday, among others. His orchestras made several broadcast recordings between 1966 and 1973 for the CBC’s LM series and continued to perform periodically until his retirement from music in 1978. One edition without saxophones took the name Brass Therapy.

He wrote numerous arrangements for his orchestra and his radio shows, more than 40 songs, and such extended works as The Fair City, a jazz suite dedicated to Expo 67. Trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer Johnny Holmes, who has no known recording on line, passed away on June 11, 1989 in Montreal.

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