Toledo Jazz Newsletter Speical Update -- Mike Hollie
Photo: September 2022, Mike Hollie
Toledo Jazz Newsletter Special Update
Mike Hollie: A Blessed Life
Several days ago, Toledo jazzman Mike Hollie passed away at age 86. In 2022, the Toledo Jazz Newsletter published an interview with Mike Hollie, which is reproduced here with some edits. Other tributes will, no doubt, be produced that cover his family, his church life, and his career, but let this one stand as a tribute to his jazz chops. Deepest condolences go out to his Mike’s dedicated, loving wife, Ireatha Hollie, and the entire family.
From the November 2022 TJN article:
One way to measure time in Toledo’s jazz scene, after Art Tatum moved to the “Big Apple” in 1932, is to use the “Hendricks Scale” – i.e., what year was a performer born relative to Jon Hendricks’ age, to place them in history. When Jon Hendricks was 17 years old, around 1938, and on the radio at WSPD, one of Toledo’s premier old-time drummers was born in May of that year. His name is Mike Hollie. Recently, I had the chance to sit down at Michael’s Bar & Grill in downtown Toledo and catch up with Hollie, who has been around Toledo’s jazz and swing scene for a long time. Mike Hollie’s introduction to music was courtesy of his grandmother. She ushered him into playing the piano by arranging lessons with a Mrs. Hawkins and Mrs. Mary Belle Shealy. Yes, that Mary Belle Shealy, the same instructor that taught Stanley Cowell as a youngster.
Growing up in Toledo, Hollie attended Roosevelt Elementary school – later renamed Martin Luther King Elementary – and he graduated from Macomber High School. It was during his teenage years that Hollie made his way to Tate’s Midway Nite Club, which was located at 764 Tecumseh Street. During this era Tate’s billed itself as “Toledo’s true Black & Tan spot.” This term denotes Toledo’s checkered past in accepting black people in clubs, theaters and bars, and it means that Tate’s was a club where people of all races were welcome. Hollie was blown away by the jazz talent on display at Tate’s. He was particularly fascinated by a drummer that night, whose name was Swing Lee. Lee was a well-established drummer in Toledo’s jazz scene by this period and could be heard nightly with his own combo or in other groups at various clubs. Later, he would work closely with Jerry DePrisco in his combo and taught at the family music store for some time. Mike Hollie knew what he wanted; he wanted drum lessons from Swing Lee, who Hollie thought was “the baddest cat in town.” There were two problems with that concept: Hollie’s grandmother wouldn’t allow it, and Swing Lee didn’t want to teach a raw recruit in the jazz idiom.
The grandmother problem was solved when Hollie purchased a set of drums and secreted them into the house. Hollie said, “I was working at car washes [and other jobs] to pay for the drums…My grandmother didn’t know what I was doing.” He practiced on his own and listened to music. Next, he had to convince Swing Lee to teach him. Hollie arranged, as he put it, to “have a rehearsal with him [Lee] to see where I was at.” Hollie indicated of the meeting with Lee, “I befuddled him.” Having a skill set that was more than basic, Lee acquiesced and began teaching Hollie. It’s important to recall that people of this era grew up in jazz, they knew many of the past songs that established the style, and the newer bebop sound was popular and well known, too; it was a common vernacular between aspiring students and established musicians. Hollie would dutifully show up at Lee’s home where the lessons took place. With great communication of ideas and techniques happening, it didn’t take long before Hollie was well versed and ready to strike out on his own. In those days, every joint had a piano or band, and live music was expected at most bars, restaurants, and clubs. Jobs were plentiful.
Mike Hollie’s first gig was at the Savoy, formerly called the Hawley Café, at 1002 Blum Street. Among Hollie’s bandmates that night, two of note were Eddie Abrams (pianist) from Detroit, who would eventually be seen at Rusty’s for many years, and Al Saunders (bassist), who was coached by Clifford Murphy and who, later, had some basic instruction in music from a young Stanley Cowell. The gig was a big hit with the crowd and led to other performances. Not standing on his laurels, Mike Hollie also was taking lessons at the Bach Conservatory of Music in Toledo, as he said, “a lot of jazz cats were there.”
Eventually, the group Mike Hollie and His Soul Merchants began a decade-long gig at the Green Lite Inn, located at 1937 Detroit Avenue. This was one of the early clubs, around for many years, that formed a triumvirate, where jazz was the heart and soul of the establishment and jam session were legendary – the Waiters and Bellman’s Club, the M & L, and the Green Lite Inn. A host of those involved with Toledo’s jazz scene could be heard at the Green Lite Inn, including Clanton ‘Boots’ Ellis (piano), Lawrence ‘Pee Wee’ Glover (saxophone), Eddie Abrams (piano), Clifford Murphy (bassist), Al Saunders (bassist), Ramona Collins (vocalist), Albert Smith (guitar), Claude Black (piano), Vernon Martin (bassist) and many others. Sometime later, Hollie’s group would open for and play along with renowned organist Jimmy Smith at Toledo’s World Theater. The later iteration of his group was called Mike Hollie and His Royal Swanks. Jimmy Smith is famed, along with a few others, for bringing the Hammond B3 to the forefront of jazz musicianship. Mike Hollie spent years performing in Toledo’s jazz scene, appearing at Digby’s, Rusty’s Jazz Café, Murphy’s Place, and other gigs galore. Heart health concerns have sidelined Hollie in recent years.
Hollie was involved in business from an early age, his day job residing in insurance. Hollie worked for three major groups, Merrill Lynch, Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, and the Allstate Insurance Company, spanning a 40-plus-year career in the industry. The day gigs paid well and allowed him the freedom to perform in Toledo’s nighttime club scene. Mike Hollie’s community involvement spans many years and multiple organizations and institutions – he is truly a man of many parts. Hollie has been a Director with the African American Legacy Project for some time, he’s the past chairman of the Neighborhood Improvement Foundation of Toledo Inc., he’s been involved for decades with other businesses, and was President of the Toastmasters, to name a few groups Mike Hollie has been part of.
Hollie has also been involved with the church for many years, attending St. Philip Lutheran Church since he was three years old, and recalls one fateful jazz-related event. He said, “I met Art Tatum, but I never played with him. He was playing at church.” Hollie emphatically said of Tatum, “he knows how to play!” Many jazz performers of the older generation were used to running into Tatum at area venues of all types. Slim is the number of those remaining that can lay claim to hearing Tatum in any setting.
This quote was omitted from the initial 2022 article, but is fitting to add at this time:
“I would like to be remembered that I stood [on] my own, that I loved music, and I loved to play…I had a few jobs outside of Toledo, but I like it here.”
*The information used to write this article was obtained during my interview with Hollie in 2022 and augmented with information from the Toledo Lucas County Library’s Edrene Cole Collection.
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Image courtesy Toledo Lucas County Public Library
Mike Hollie gig at the Savoy Lounge; circa 1960; note misspelling of his name in the ad.