Billy Higgins

American jazz drummer
Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins in 1978.
Background information
Born(1936-10-11)October 11, 1936
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedMay 3, 2001(2001-05-03) (aged 64)
Inglewood, California, U.S.
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician, educator
Instrument(s)Drums
Musical artist

Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.[1]

Biography

Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States.[2] Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958.[3] He then freelanced extensively with hard bop and other post-bop players, including Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Don Cherry, Paul Horn, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, David Murray, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Mal Waldron, and Cedar Walton.[3] He was one of the house drummers for Blue Note Records and played on dozens of Blue Note albums of the 1960s.[3] He also collaborated with composer La Monte Young and guitarist Sandy Bull.

In his career, he played on over 700 recordings, including recordings of rock and funk. He appeared as a jazz drummer in the 2001 movie, Southlander.

In 1989, Higgins cofounded a cultural center, The World Stage, in Los Angeles to encourage and promote younger jazz musicians. The center provides workshops in performance and writing, as well as concerts and recordings. Higgins also taught in the jazz studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles.[4]

He was divorced from wife Mauricina Altier Higgins and had three sons, William, Joseph, and David, as well as a stepson Jody. He also had two daughters, Rickie Wade and Heidi.

Billy Higgins died of kidney and liver failure on May 3, 2001, at a hospital in Inglewood, California.[4]

Discography

As leader

As a sideman

With Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt

With Chris Anderson

With Gary Bartz

  • Libra (Milestone, 1968)

With Paul Bley

With Sandy Bull

With Jaki Byard

With Donald Byrd

  • Royal Flush (Blue Note, 1961)
  • Free Form (Blue Note, 1962)
  • Blackjack (Blue Note, 1967)
  • Slow Drag (Blue Note, 1967)

With Joe Castro

With Don Cherry

  • Brown Rice (EMI, 1975)
  • Art Deco (A&M, 1988)

With Sonny Clark

With George Coleman

With Ornette Coleman

With John Coltrane

With Junior Cook

With Bill Cosby

  • Hello, Friend: To Ennis with Love (Verve, 1997)

With Stanley Cowell

  • Regeneration (Strata East, 1976)

With Ray Drummond

  • The Essence (DMP, 1985)

With Teddy Edwards

With Booker Ervin

With Art Farmer

With Curtis Fuller

  • Smokin' (Mainstream, 1972)

With Stan Getz

With Dexter Gordon

With Grant Green

With Dodo Greene

With Charlie Haden

  • Quartet West (Verve, 1986)
  • Silence (Soul Note, 1987)
  • The Private Collection (Naim, 1987-88 [2000])
  • First Song (Soul Note, 1990 [1992])
With Slide Hampton
  • Roots (Criss Cross, 1985)

With Herbie Hancock

  • Takin' Off (Blue Note, 1962)
  • Round Midnight (soundtrack) (Columbia, 1985)

With Barry Harris

  • Bull's Eye! (Prestige, 1968)

With Eddie Harris

With Johnny Hartman

With Jimmy Heath

  • Love and Understanding (Muse, 1973)
  • The Time and the Place (Landmark, 1974 [1994])
  • Picture of Heath (Xanadu, 1975)

With Joe Henderson

  • Mirror Mirror (MPS, 1980)

With Andrew Hill

  • Dance with Death (Blue Note, 1968 – not released until 1980)

With Christopher Hollyday

With Richard "Groove" Holmes

With Paul Horn

  • Something Blue (HiFi Jazz, 1960)

With Toninho Horta

With Freddie Hubbard

  • Bolivia (Music Master, 1991)

With Bobby Hutcherson

With J. J. Johnson

  • Pinnacles (Milestone, 1980)

With Hank Jones and Dave Holland

  • The Oracle (EmArcy, 1990)

With Sam Jones

With Clifford Jordan

With Fred Katz

With Steve Lacy

  • Evidence (New Jazz, 1962) with Don Cherry

With Charles Lloyd

With Pat Martino

  • The Visit! (Cobblestone, 1972) also released as Footprints

With Jackie McLean

With Charles McPherson

  • The Quintet/Live! (Prestige, 1966)
  • Horizons (Prestige, 1968)
  • Today's Man (Mainstream, 1973)

With Pat Metheny

  • Rejoicing (ECM, 1983)
With Blue Mitchell

With Red Mitchell

With Hank Mobley

With Thelonious Monk

With Buddy Montgomery

With Tete Montoliu

With Frank Morgan

With Lee Morgan

  • The Sidewinder (Blue Note, 1963)
  • Search for the New Land (Blue Note, 1964)
  • The Rumproller (Blue Note, 1965)
  • The Gigolo (Blue Note, 1965)
  • Cornbread (Blue Note, 1965)
  • Infinity (Blue Note, 1965 [1980])
  • Delightfulee (Blue Note, 1966)
  • Charisma (Blue Note, 1966)
  • The Rajah (Blue Note, 1966 [1984])
  • Sonic Boom (Blue Note, 1967 [1979])
  • The Sixth Sense (Blue Note, 1967–68)
  • The Procrastinator (Blue Note, 1967 [1978])
  • Taru (Blue Note, 1968 [1980])
  • Caramba! (Blue Note, 1968)

With Bheki Mseleku

  • Star Seeding (Polygram Records, 1995)

With David Murray

With Horace Parlan

With Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen

  • Jaywalkin' (SteepleChase, 1975)
  • Double Bass (SteepleChase, 1976) with Sam Jones

With Art Pepper

  • So in Love (Artists House, 1979)
  • Artworks (Galaxy, 1979 [1984])
  • Landscape (Galaxy, 1979)
  • Besame Mucho (JVC, 1979 [1981])
  • Straight Life (Galaxy, 1979)
  • Art 'n' Zoot (Pablo, 1981 [1995]) with Zoot Sims

With Dave Pike

With Jimmy Raney

  • The Influence (Xanadu, 1975)

With Sonny Red

  • Sonny Red (Mainstream, 1971)

With Freddie Redd

With Joshua Redman

  • Wish (1993)

With Red Rodney

  • The Red Tornado (Muse, 1975)

With Sonny Rollins

  • Our Man in Jazz (RCA Victor, 1965)
  • There Will Never Be Another You (recorded 1965 released 1978)

With Charlie Rouse

With Hilton Ruiz
  • Piano Man (SteepleChase, 1975)

With Pharoah Sanders

  • Rejoice (Theresa, 1981)

With Rob Schneiderman

With John Scofield

  • Works for Me (Verve, 2001)

With Shirley Scott

With Archie Shepp

  • Attica Blues (Impulse!, 1972)

With Sonny Simmons

With James Spaulding

With Robert Stewart

  • Judgement (World Stage, 1994 / Red Records, 1997)
  • The Movement (Exodus, 2002)

With Sonny Stitt

With Idrees Sulieman

  • Now Is the Time (SteepleChase, 1976)

With Ira Sullivan

  • Peace (Galaxy, 1978)
  • Multimedia (Galaxy, 1978 [1982])

With Sun Ra

  • Somewhere Else (Rounder, 1988–89)
  • Blue Delight (A&M, 1989)

With Cecil Taylor

With Lucky Thompson

With the Timeless All Stars

  • It's Timeless (Timeless, 1982)
  • Timeless Heart (Timeless, 1983)
  • Essence (Delos, 1986)
  • Time for the Timeless All Stars (Early Bird, 1990)

With Bobby Timmons

With Charles Tolliver

With Stanley Turrentine

With Mal Waldron

With Cedar Walton

With Don Wilkerson

With David Williams

  • Up Front (Timeless, 1987)

With Jack Wilson

References

  1. ^ "Billy Higgins | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  2. ^ James Nadal (ed.). "Billy Higgins". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
  3. ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
  4. ^ a b Ratliff, Ben (2001-05-04). "Billy Higgins, 64, Jazz Drummer With Melodic and Subtle Swing". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-16.

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