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
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
InstrumentDrums
Formerly ofOrnette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Cedar Walton, Charles Lloyd, Pat Metheny

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, Higgins played on more than 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]

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

edit

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". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
edit
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Billy Higgins.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Billy_Higgins&oldid=1250606802"