Rick Holland Quartet

"Rick Holland’s music is certainly not radical or innovative, but is some of the best group playing in its genre of Jazz Bop." - Robert D. Rusch, President of Cadence Records

Listen to the Rick Holland Quartet with Harmonicist Hendrik Meurkens playing "Someday My Prince Will Come"

The Rick Holland Quartet

Rick Holland Quartet offers Evenings of Jazz and fine concert performances by a core group of versatile jazz performers. In the last few years, Hollands quartets, quintets and sextets have performed with Grammy-nominated players such as Fred Hersch, Bobby Watson and Hendrik Meurkens. Other featured performers have included Bill Dobbins, Rich Thompson, Fred Stone, John Neyrges, vocalists Nancy Donnelly and Downbeat winner and Rochester legend Nancy Kelly!

Listen to RHQ with Hendrik Meurkens playing "Youd Be So Nice To Come Home To.

"Rick Holland is one of my favorite improvisers and has one of the most beautiful flugelhorn sounds Ive heard. He creates smooth, fluid, melodic lines, reminiscent of Chet Baker.- Kerry Strayer, Freelance Jazz Artist, Kansas City Mo.

"At the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts we have had a number of occasions to use the services of the Rick Holland Quartet. Whether for a small concert hall setting, a reception in one of our galleries, or as a headline draw for our Art and All That Jazz Series, Rick Hollands work has consistently met the highest of performance standards for our audiences. When the subject of jazz comes up at our museum, our members, visitors and patrons inevitably want to know the answer to one question: "When is the next performance by Rick Holland?" I would highly recommend this innovative artist as one of the class acts to grace our institution and the Kalamazoo community through his work as a performer, a writer and a recording artist." -- Gordon Bolar, Development Director, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

"We are looking forward to having the Rick Holland Quartet appear at our Food, Wine & All That Jazz event on October 24th in Grand Rapids,Michigan. This event is one of the most highly anticipated social gatherings in West Michigan with attendance nearing the 1000 mark. We have people who come to the event from as far away as Chicago, Detroit and Traverse City to taste a wide selection of gourmet foods with over 250 domestic wines and listen to great jazz music. The groups appearance adds immensely to the ambiance of the evening and compliments the food and wine offerings, all to help raise funds to support public television and radio. This is a great group, and we have asked them to play this event on multiple occasions. The people love them!" -Gary Kesler Special Events Coordinator, WGVU, Grand Rapids, MI

"As an agency that books entertainment for our clients with some frequency, we were extremely impressed with both the professionalism and quality of the Rick Holland Jazz Quartet. They were easy to work with and sounded great. They made our event stand out." -Dustin Hewit Howell, Liberatore & Wickham, Inc. Elmira, NY

"The broad repertoire his groups encompass and the care with which he deals with musical details are a welcome exception in this age of super specialization and an obsession with quick results at the expense of real quality. - Bill Dobbins, The Eastman School of Music

"You get the feeling from Holland’s recordings, that Holland and his compatriots are not only talented musicians, but fully formed human beings with wit, style and elegance---folks whom you would enjoy sharing a fine dinner and stimulating conversation.Bill Barton, Green Mountain Jazz Messenger

Quotes from Cadence Records, regarding Ricks 4tet recordings:

"Youd Be So Nice To Come Home To"
To characterize Rick Hollands trumpet as mellifluous might be an understatement. On his latest outing he brings along Hendrik Meurkens, arguably one of the 2 finest harmonicisists in Jazz on a warm, mellow - but engaging - program.

Positive Settings

A follow-up to Rick Holland’s first Cadence Jazz record (#1083). This is mainstream Bop but far from formulaic, displaying a soul that is direct and honest in its delivery. Simply a lovely set of music which never panders to the saccharine.

There Will Never Be Another You''

-A beautifully lyrical recording well in the Bop mainstream. Not revolutionary, but it sure is well stated and musically artful.

The Rick Holland Quintet with Lindsey Holland on Vocals.

This new group features the dynamic young talent of Lindsey Holland on Vocals. The Focus of RHQ here is to feature Lindsey singing music form some of Jazz greatest vocalists. Currently, RHQ features Lindsey singing from the Libraries of Nancy Wilson, Jackie Ryan and Lauren Kinhan. This year we plan on adding more music from Tierney Sutton, Kate McGarry and others.

We will be adding both demo and performance pictures in the near future.

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Quotes

From the bride: "The music was wonderful! We could not have asked for a  better band. Our guests were really impressed; the Uptown Society Orchestra really made our reception special."   

From the groom: "What a professional group. Their exceptional musicianship brought a real element of class to the party. There's nothing like the sound of a live band, and this group made our reception better than we could have hoped for."

From the father of the bride:(Dennis Nowicki): "The band was fantastic -- they really exceeded our expectations."  -- Anders Dahlberg and Stacy Nowicki, Wedding at the Chicago Art Museum

Rick Holland’s flugelhorn improvisations flow with a seasoned musician’s imagination and a hard working trumpeter’s ability to play whatever comes to mind. His piquant touches to the top of the staff (or above) from wherever he happens to be in the improvised melodic line are a great example of where daily practice can take you. His sound is attractive, in fact the sonority he gets from the flugelhorn is an essential component of the group’s impact, and his love of Chet Baker’s melodic invention is completely internalized. Holland’s ability to improvise melodically from his imagination, as opposed to fitting memorized patterns of notes into the chord, is worth careful listening. That’s the way it’s done, folks . Lazaro Vega Radio Host Blue Lake Public Radio

Amazing! Rick Holland Productions worked seamlessly with our wedding, where we had three separate "performances" that were adapted to by Ricks use of different members of the Little Big Band. We had a cocktail reception where a trio played, then a brass quartet accompanied our Wedding ceremony. After our guests were transported by horse-drawn carriage to a lake side reception site, the Little Little Big Band got things started and the full Little Big Band played the night away to the extreme pleasure of our entire party. They even let Joe Robinson jam with them in the chill of the autumn, fire-lit eveing! Thank You so much Rick! Sincerely, Matthew Cooper, Branford, Pa. 10/13/10

Rick Holland and his band played our wedding on August 28, 2010. Rick could not have been more accommodating to my husband and my wants and needs for music at the wedding. We communicated through email, over the phone, and met with each other once to go over the details. Rick was very thorough and always set our minds at ease.
During our ceremony, his quartet played us up the aisle with a romantic song and down the aisle with Fireworks which set the mood for the festive evening to begin. The cocktail hour began immediately following the ceremony and Ricks band did not miss a beat....the little big band entertained guests while they mingled and got a bite to eat. When the wedding party was ready to be announced, Rick took the microphone as we were all introduced. After the speeches were out of the way, Rick and the band let loose! With a full band and two singers, a male and a female, we partied for the next four hours! The guests were dancing, singing, and truly having a great time as did we! The band definitely made the night!
The songs were exactly what we requested and the sound quality was superb. I would gladly book Rick and his band for another occasion as well as recommend them.

Thanks again Rick!
Erin and Mike
Victor, New York 09/2010

Rick Holland and his band were tremendous. They gave a unforgettable performance to our evening festivities. This was a fundraiser for our local hospital, Chenango Memorial. The music and the Christmas Themed Silent Auction that we were holding during the evening helped make this one of the most successful events we have held. Thank you so much for coming to Norwich and making this an evening to remember. We will definitely keep Rick Holland Productions at the top of our list. -- Kathleen Coates C, Norwich, NY, 11/21/2009

"Just a short note to thank you ever so much for the great show and dance for us here at the HAG. I have waited until today to write this as we had a meeting on Wednesday and it confirmed everything that I told everyone about the upcoming show and dance. As you and the band said this was the first time you have played in a hanger and I must say, the acoustics were awesome and the sounds were great even where I was sitting. Midway through the dance you asked me for a favorite number. At the time I thought you had more than enough on your plate but how in hell did you save the song "At Last" for the very last number. It was the very song I would have requested and it took me back to my Junior and Senior days in high school. Nuf said about that. Yup, I might have had a small tear in my eye, hearing the music, you absolutely took over the song and I thank you so much for it. It made an old Marine so very happy. Again THANK YOU, Ms. KELLY, AND The Uptown Society Orchestra SO VERY MUCH FOR A TERRIFIC EVENING. ---Bob Sarge Biron, Chairman of the HAG Memories Show, 2009

Thanks Rick!

Rick brought his quintet to our "An Evening of Jazz" and put on a great show! What incredible musicianship and professionalism. Thank you so much Rick to and your guys for providing great entertainment for the people of Kendall.
Rick, it was amazing stuff. You have a great thing going.....keep up the good work. The community is better for it."
I look forward to working with you again.
Joe Pompilli, Band Director, Kendall HS