Wikipedia

Billy Higgins

For other people named Billy Higgins, see Billy Higgins (disambiguation).

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

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

Biography edit

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 edit

As leader edit

As a sideman edit

With Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt edit

With Chris Anderson edit

With Gary Bartz edit

With Paul Bley edit

With Sandy Bull edit

With Jaki Byard edit

With Donald Byrd edit

With Joe Castro edit

With Don Cherry edit

With Sonny Clark edit

With George Coleman edit

With Ornette Coleman edit

With John Coltrane edit

With Junior Cook edit

With Bill Cosby edit

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

With Stanley Cowell edit

With Ray Drummond edit

  • The Essence (DMP, 1985)

With Teddy Edwards edit

With Booker Ervin edit

With Art Farmer edit

With Curtis Fuller edit

With Stan Getz edit

With Dexter Gordon edit

With Grant Green edit

With Dodo Greene edit

With Charlie Haden edit

With Slide Hampton edit
  • Roots (Criss Cross, 1985)

With Herbie Hancock edit

With Barry Harris edit

With Eddie Harris edit

With Johnny Hartman edit

With Jimmy Heath edit

With Joe Henderson edit

With Andrew Hill edit

With Christopher Hollyday edit

With Richard "Groove" Holmes edit

With Paul Horn edit

With Toninho Horta edit

With Freddie Hubbard edit

With Bobby Hutcherson edit

With J. J. Johnson edit

With Hank Jones and Dave Holland edit

With Sam Jones edit

With Clifford Jordan edit

With Fred Katz edit

With Steve Lacy edit

With Charles Lloyd edit

With Pat Martino edit

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

With Jackie McLean edit

With Charles McPherson edit

With Pat Metheny edit

With Blue Mitchell edit

With Red Mitchell edit

With Hank Mobley edit

With Thelonious Monk edit

With Buddy Montgomery edit

With Tete Montoliu

With Frank Morgan edit

With Lee Morgan edit

With Bheki Mseleku edit

  • Star Seeding (Polygram Records, 1995)

With David Murray edit

With Horace Parlan edit

With Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen edit

With Art Pepper edit

With Dave Pike edit

With Jimmy Raney edit

With Sonny Red edit

With Freddie Redd edit

With Joshua Redman edit

With Red Rodney edit

With Sonny Rollins edit

With Charlie Rouse edit

With Hilton Ruiz

With Pharoah Sanders edit

With Rob Schneiderman edit

With John Scofield edit

With Shirley Scott edit

With Archie Shepp edit

With Sonny Simmons edit

With James Spaulding edit

With Robert Stewart edit

With Sonny Stitt edit

With Idrees Sulieman edit

With Ira Sullivan edit

With Sun Ra edit

With Cecil Taylor edit

With Lucky Thompson edit

With the Timeless All Stars edit

With Bobby Timmons edit

With Charles Tolliver edit

With Stanley Turrentine edit

With Mal Waldron edit

With Cedar Walton edit

With Don Wilkerson edit

With David Williams edit

With Jack Wilson edit

References edit

  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.

External links edit

 
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