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Billy Higgins

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer, born in 1936 in Los Angeles. From 1958 he played on the first records of the saxophonist Ornette Coleman. In the late 1950s he went to New York with Coleman, the trumpeter Don Cherry and the bassist Charlie Haden. That quartet without a piano turned the jazz world upside down with free, open music, which later came to be called free jazz. On The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) you can hear how Higgins gave the soloists all the room with a light, mobile rhythm.

Music and breakthrough

He then became one of the most sought-after drummers in jazz. He was one of the regular drummers for Blue Note and played on dozens of records from the 1960s, with Lee Morgan, Dexter Gordon, Herbie Hancock, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean and Sonny Rollins, among others. He also played with Thelonious Monk, Pat Metheny and the pianist Cedar Walton. He felt equally at home in hard bop and free jazz. In total he played on more than seven hundred recordings, including rock and funk.

Influence

Higgins was known for his supple, swinging playing and his broad smile behind the drum kit. In 1989 he founded the cultural centre The World Stage in Los Angeles, to help young jazz musicians. He also taught at the university in Los Angeles. He died in 2001.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Lonely Woman by the Ornette Coleman Quartet. Notice the contrast between the slow, plaintive melody of the horns and the fast, ticking rhythm that Billy Higgins plays on his cymbals.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: Artists