Billy Higgins


Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.

Biography

Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958. 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. He was one of the house drummers for Blue Note Records and played on dozens of Blue Note albums of the 1960s. 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 1986 movie Round Midnight and 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.
Billy Higgins died of kidney and liver failure on May 3, 2001, at a hospital in Inglewood, California.

Discography

As leader

  • 1979: Soweto
  • 1979: The Soldier
  • 1980: Once More
  • 1984: Mr. Billy Higgins
  • 1980-86: Bridgework
  • 1994: ¾ for Peace
  • 1997: Billy Higgins Quintet
  • 2001: ''The Best of Summer Nights at Moca''

    As a sideman

With Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt

  • God Bless Jug and Sonny
  • ''Left Bank Encores''

    With Chris Anderson

  • ''Blues One''

    With Gary Bartz

  • ''Libra''

    With Paul Bley

  • Live at the Hilcrest Club 1958
  • ''Coleman Classics Volume 1''

    With Sandy Bull

  • Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo
  • ''Inventions''

    With Jaki Byard

  • ''On the Spot!''

    With Donald Byrd

  • Royal Flush
  • Free Form
  • Blackjack
  • ''Slow Drag''

    With Joe Castro

  • ''Groove Funk Soul''

    With Don Cherry

  • Brown Rice
  • ''Art Deco''

    With Sonny Clark

  • ''Leapin' and Lopin'''

    With George Coleman

  • ''Amsterdam After Dark''

    With Ornette Coleman

  • Something Else!!!!
  • The Shape of Jazz to Come
  • Change of the Century
  • The Art of the Improvisers
  • To Whom Who Keeps a Record
  • Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation
  • Twins
  • Science Fiction
  • Broken Shadows
  • The Complete Science Fiction Sessions
  • ''In All Languages''

    With John Coltrane

  • ''Like Sonny''

    With Junior Cook

  • ''Somethin's Cookin'''

    With Bill Cosby

  • ''Hello, Friend: To Ennis with Love''

    With Stanley Cowell

  • ''Regeneration''

    With Ray Drummond

  • ''The Essence''

    With Teddy Edwards

  • Teddy Edwards at Falcon's Lair
  • Sunset Eyes
  • Teddy's Ready!
  • Nothin' But the Truth!
  • Young at Heart with Howard McGhee
  • Wise in Time with Howard McGhee
  • Mississippi Lad
  • ''Tango in Harlem''

    With Booker Ervin

  • ''Tex Book Tenor''

    With Art Farmer

  • Homecoming
  • Yesterday's Thoughts
  • To Duke with Love
  • The Summer Knows
  • ''Art Farmer Quintet at Boomers''

    With Curtis Fuller

  • ''Smokin'''

    With Stan Getz

  • Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet with Cal Tjader

    With Dexter Gordon

  • Go
  • A Swingin' Affair
  • Clubhouse
  • Gettin' Around
  • Tangerine
  • Generation
  • Something Different
  • Bouncin' with Dex
  • ''The Other Side of Round Midnight''

    With Grant Green

  • First Session
  • Goin' West
  • ''Feelin' the Spirit''

    With Dodo Greene

  • ''My Hour of Need''

    With Charlie Haden

  • Quartet West
  • Silence
  • The Private Collection
  • ''First Song''

    With Slide Hampton

  • ''Roots''

    With Herbie Hancock

  • Takin' Off
  • ''Round Midnight ''

    With [Roy Hargrove]

  • ''Public Eye''

    With Barry Harris

  • ''Bull's Eye!''

    With [Eddie Harris]

  • The In Sound
  • Mean Greens
  • The Tender Storm
  • Excursions
  • ''How Can You Live Like That?''

    With Johnny Hartman

  • ''Today''

    With Jimmy Heath

  • Love and Understanding
  • The Time and the Place
  • ''Picture of Heath''

    With Joe Henderson

  • ''Mirror Mirror''

    With Andrew Hill

  • ''Dance with Death''

    With Christopher Hollyday

  • ''Christopher Hollyday''

    With Richard "Groove" Holmes

  • ''Get Up & Get It!''

    With Paul Horn

  • ''Something Blue''

    With Toninho Horta

  • ''Once I Loved''

    With Freddie Hubbard

  • ''Bolivia''

    With Bobby Hutcherson

  • Stick-Up
  • Solo / Quartet
  • Farewell Keystone
  • ''Color Schemes''

    With J. J. Johnson

  • ''Pinnacles''

    With Hank Jones and Dave Holland

  • ''The Oracle''

    With Sam Jones

  • Seven Minds
  • Cello Again
  • ''Something in Common''

    With Clifford Jordan

  • Soul Fountain
  • Glass Bead Games
  • Night of the Mark VII
  • On Stage Vol. 1
  • On Stage Vol. 2
  • On Stage Vol. 3
  • Firm Roots
  • ''The Highest Mountain''

    With Fred Katz

  • ''Fred Katz and his Jammers''

    With Steve Lacy

  • Evidence with Don Cherry

    With Charles Lloyd

  • Acoustic Masters I
  • Voice in the Night
  • The Water Is Wide
  • Hyperion with Higgins
  • ''Which Way Is East''

    With Pat Martino

  • The Visit! also released as ''Footprints''

    With Jackie McLean

  • A Fickle Sonance
  • Let Freedom Ring Blue Note, 1962)
  • Vertigo
  • Action Action Action
  • Consequence
  • ''New and Old Gospel''

    With Charles McPherson

  • The Quintet/Live!
  • Horizons
  • ''Today's Man''

    With Pat Metheny

  • ''Rejoicing''

    With Blue Mitchell

  • ''Bring It Home to Me''

    With Red Mitchell

  • ''Presenting Red Mitchell''

    With Hank Mobley

  • The Turnaround
  • Dippin'
  • A Caddy for Daddy
  • A Slice of the Top
  • Hi Voltage
  • Third Season
  • Far Away Lands
  • Reach Out!
  • Breakthrough! with Cedar Walton
  • ''Straight No Filter''

    With Thelonious Monk

  • ''Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk''

    With Buddy Montgomery

  • Ties of Love
;With Tete Montoliu
  • Secret Love
  • ''Live at the Keystone Corner''

    With Frank Morgan

  • Easy Living
  • Lament
  • Bebop Lives!
  • ''Love, Lost & Found''

    With Lee Morgan

  • The Sidewinder
  • Search for the New Land
  • The Rumproller
  • The Gigolo
  • Cornbread
  • Infinity
  • Delightfulee
  • Charisma
  • The Rajah
  • Sonic Boom
  • The Sixth Sense
  • The Procrastinator
  • Taru
  • ''Caramba!''

    With Bheki Mseleku

  • ''Star Seeding''

    With David Murray

  • Live at Sweet Basil Volume 1
  • ''Live at Sweet Basil Volume 2''

    With Horace Parlan

  • ''Happy Frame of Mind''

    With Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen

  • Jaywalkin'
  • Double Bass with Sam Jones

    With Art Pepper

  • So in Love
  • Artworks
  • Landscape
  • Besame Mucho
  • Straight Life
  • Art 'n' Zoot with Zoot Sims

    With Dave Pike

  • It's Time for Dave Pike
  • Pike's Groove with Cedar Walton

    With Jimmy Raney

  • ''The Influence''

    With Sonny Red

  • ''Sonny Red''

    With Freddie Redd

  • ''Live at the Studio Grill''

    With Joshua Redman

  • ''Wish''

    With Red Rodney

  • ''The Red Tornado''

    With Sonny Rollins

  • Our Man in Jazz
  • ''There Will Never Be Another You''

    With Charlie Rouse

  • ''Bossa Nova Bacchanal''

    With Hilton Ruiz

  • ''Piano Man''

    With Pharoah Sanders

  • ''Rejoice''

    With Rob Schneiderman

  • ''Smooth Sailing''

    With John Scofield

  • ''Works for Me''

    With Shirley Scott

  • ''One for Me''

    With Archie Shepp

  • ''Attica Blues''

    With Sonny Simmons

  • ''Rumasuma''

    With James Spaulding

  • ''James Spaulding Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington''

    With Robert Stewart

  • Judgement
  • ''The Movement''

    With Sonny Stitt

  • ''Blues for Duke''

    With Idrees Sulieman

  • ''Now Is the Time''

    With Ira Sullivan

  • Peace
  • ''Multimedia''

    With Sun Ra

  • Somewhere Else
  • ''Blue Delight''

    With Cecil Taylor

  • Jumpin' Punkins
  • ''New York City R&B''

    With Lucky Thompson

  • ''Goodbye Yesterday''

    With the Timeless All Stars

  • It's Timeless
  • Timeless Heart
  • Essence
  • ''Time for the Timeless All Stars''

    With Bobby Timmons

  • Soul Food
  • ''Got to Get It!''

    With Charles Tolliver

  • ''The New Wave in Jazz''

    With Stanley Turrentine

  • ''More Than a Mood''