The last old master drummer has died, Roy Haynes, at age 99. He was the last of the “magnificent seven” (coined by Lenny White): Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams. He, Elvin and Tony especially are the real triumvirate of modern guys. He was a very slick, modern player from the beginning— he plays a lot of the same stuff on his early records that you hear later on. Maybe I can attempt to write a full blown analysis of his playing and influence soon.
I used to listen to this record in my headphones constantly when I was at USC, it’s a fitting send off:
I think the late 80s weren’t a real high point for his public profile— this record put him front and center in a lot of people’s consciousness:
Just learned that the drummer Dick Berk has died. He was best known for being Billy Holliday’s last drummer; he is also on recordings by Ted Curson, Nick Brignola, Milt Jackson, George Duke, Cal Tjader, […]
Photo by T. Bruce Wittet From T. Bruce Wittet’s site– which Google has done a good job hiding from me until now- a couple of very personal posts, one on interviewing Motian, and one about […]
A few clips by comedian, satirist, and ad man Stan Freberg, who died yesterday. His heyday was before my time, but we had several of his albums in my dad’s record collection, and I memorized […]