Richard "Groove" Holmes

• Genre: Organ Jazz
• Hometown: Camden

About

Richard "Groove" Holmes, along with such soul-infused boppers as Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff, helped maintain a jazz presence in dance halls and jukeboxes during the '60s and '70s. Whether working in a Big Band or small group setting, Holmes knew that jazz could still be good-time music and not just intellectual fodder for theorists. Holmes' accessible, swinging sound contained more than a touch of his homegrown Philly Soul, spinning out delicate ballads and even scoring a 1965 hit with his version of "Misty." Unfortunately, he died in 1991 just as the British Acid Jazz-sters were embracing him with open arms and shaking hips.

- Nick Dedina