Markus Holkko (b. 1972) studied saxophone in the Conservatory of Helsinki and Pop/Jazz Conservatory before being accepted to the jazz department of Sibelius Academy in 1993. In 2000 Holkko started organizing jam sessions with saxophonist Timo Lassy in their rehearsal room on Uudenmaankatu where the Uudenmaankadun All Stars -group was born and later also the band, U-Street All Stars. The group included, besides Lassy and Holkko, guitarist Teemu Viinikainen, drummer Jussi Lehtonen and bassist Timo Tuppurainen. U-Street All Stars did their ground work well and the band was quite ready when it started to perform live: it was energetic, tight and unique. In July 2001 the group won both the jury and audience votes in the Getxo Jazzband Contest in Spain and Markus Holkko was also nominated as the Favorite Soloist of the Audience.

In 2002 began the most intensive 3-year period of the U-Street All Stars. In March the band toured around Finland and in June the debut album Helsinki Sessions (Blue Note 2002) was released that got lots of excellent feedback and was a nominee for the Jazz Album of the Year in Emma Awards in 2002. The same year U-Street All Stars was awarded with the Critics' Spurs of The Finnish Critics' Association and the band was also chosen as the Pori Jazz Young Artist of the Year. In 2003 the band performed actively around Finland and Europe and relesed their second album Bowling (Blue Note 2004) in 2004. In 2005 the band however announced that they are having a break that has lasted till today. The members of the band however say that the band isn't finally dead.

Markus Holkko hasn't performed on the Finnish jazzfield as much as many of his collegues but that is mainly because of Holkko's desire to perform as a band, not as a soloartist. When there hasn't been enough soul-mates to commit time for one band, Holkko hasn't performed that much. Keyboardist Pessi Levanto's and drummer Sami Kuoppamäki's Groove Convention, that was formed in 1993 and where Holkko heavily influenced, was however a good example of a committed band, as well as the rock-funk band Eternal Erection that was born approximately same time as Groove Convention. In the beginning of the 21st century Holkko also played in the saxophone quartet Onfonia and to the saxophonesection of Espoo Big Band he has belonged since the late-1990's.

In 2004 Holkko graduated from the jazz department with a Master's degree. In his degree concert he performed with his own quartet, including keyboardist Markus Niittynen, drummer Joonas Riippa and keyboardist Kari Ikonen, who played the basslines with his Moog Synthesizer. This quartet has toured around Finland actively in the recent years and released two albums, Being Here in 2007 and From Circuits, With Love in 2010. The most recent group for Holkko is the Lightboxer-instrumentalband formed with guitarist Aki Haarala.