When looking back at the remarkable career of arranger, composer, and saxophonist Willis Leonard “Bill” Holman, it is important to consider how he has so profoundly influenced generation after generation of big band players and writers. Of course, many came to know of him for his work with the likes of Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Peggy Lee, Maynard Ferguson, Natalie Cole, and hundreds of others, or perhaps from his humble but top-notch discography as a leader. Yet, at this point, an equal number of younger players are more likely to have first heard the name Bill Holman playing his widely circulated arrangements in school and college bands. Indeed, he has made countless contributions, knowingly or unknowingly, to the pads of bands from legendary to professional to amateur, making it impossible to overstate the influence he has had on large ensemble jazz over the past seven decades…