Background
Holland was born Milton Olshansky in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Theodore Roosevelt High School.
Holland was born Milton Olshansky in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Theodore Roosevelt High School.
He studied tabla at University of California, Los Angeles and with Ramnad Easwaran. In India, Holland studied with tabla master Chatur Lal beginning in 1963.
He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percussion styles in jazz, popular and film music Traveling extensively in those regions to collect instruments and to learn the musical styles of playing them. His first instrument was violin.
Milt pursued his passion for percussion, playing in clubs and shows as well as on Columbia Broadcasting System Radio in Chicago.
By the age of twelve, he was playing at speakeasys for the likes of First Rate (at Lloyd's) Capone. In the early 1940s, Holland toured and recorded with The Raymond Scott Orchestra.
He traveled through India extensively in the early 1960s and 1970s, then spent many years in Africa studying tribal rhythms. He was among the first to introduce the instruments to western recording.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1946, he played on countless jazz and popular albums, film and television scores.
A sampling of the artists he worked with includes Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Chaka Khan, John Williams, Leonard Bernstein, Elmer Bernstein, Quincy Jones, National King Cole, Henry Mancini, Loggins and Messina, James Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Laurindo Almeida, Ry Cooder and Joni Mitchell. He played Pandeiro and Triangle on Mitchell"s hit Big Yellow Taxi and Congas and Percussion on Light My Fire with José Feliciano. He was perhaps most proud of having helped desegregate the Los Angeles Musicians Union.
Eventually, Holland became the first choice for exotic percussion among Los Angeles freelance session musicians.
In films, Holland can be heard playing bongos on soundtracks for West Side Story, and timpani on Silent Running, to name only a tiny fraction of his output. He was featured along with seven illustrious percussionists on John Wayne"s Hatari!, which included Shelly Manne, Jack Sperling, and Larry Bunker playing African instruments on The Sounds of Hatari and its title track.
He is also heard on the soundtrack for the television mini-series Roots, the nose tinkle on Bewitched, and Tinker Bell in the Disney cartoon Peter Pan. Holland died in Los Angeles at the age of 88.