Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins ( born October 11, 1936 in Los Angeles, California; † 3 May 2001, Inglewood, California ) was an American jazz drummer.
Higgins started as a rhythm and blues musicians Bo Diddley, Amos Milburn and Jimmy Witherspoon. In 1953 he joined the Jazz Messiahs his friend Don Cherry. To 1956, he took with Lucky Thompson and Red Mitchell on, at this time he also learned the still unknown Ornette Coleman know at whose debut LP Something Else! ! The Music of Ornette Coleman he played in 1958. In 1959 he went with Coleman to New York City, where he worked with him until 1961 and, inter alia, A Collective Improvisation participated: to free jazz.
After that, he was mainly active as a studio musician and worked as a sideman for Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan ( Search for the New Land 1964) and Archie Shepp. He was a frequent partner of pianist Cedar Walton and initiated in the early 1970s with Bill Lee and Bill Hardman the Brass Company.
In 1978, he returned to Los Angeles, where he published his first album as a bandleader in the following year. In addition, he has performed with Joe Henderson and Slide Hampton. In 1986, he starred in Bertrand Tavernier's film Round Midnight Dexter Gordon next. In 1987 he undertook a tour with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Charlie Haden, from the studio album was In All Languages .
A year later he founded with the poet Kamau Daaood the World Stage, a cultural center, in which he supported by musicians such as Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Barry Harris and Geri Allen, concerts and workshops for young jazz musicians organized. In addition, Higgins also taught jazz at the University of California.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Go!, With Dexter Gordon, 1962
- The Soldier ( Timeless, 1979) with Cedar Walton, Walter Booker, Roberta Davis, Monty Waters
- Soweto ( Red, 1979) with Bob Berg, Cedar Walton, Tony Dumas
- Mr. Billy Higgins ( Evidence, 1984) with Gary Bias, Tony Dumas, Bill Henderson
- Billy Higgins Quintet (1987 ) with Harold Land, Cedar Walton, Oscar Brashear, David Williams
- Quartet West (1987 ) with Charlie Haden
- 3/4 For Peace (Red) with Harold Land, Bill Henderson, Jeff Littleton
- Which Way is East (2001) with Charles Lloyd