Billy Higgins
drums
Los Angeles drummer whom Barry calls a very special drummer; he names Higgins with Leroy Williams as the two drummers he plays with best.
- mentions
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- recordings
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- Barry speaking
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What Barry says
When Panken notes he has heard Barry with drummers other than Leroy Williams, Higgins among them, Barry says he likes Higgins as well and thinks highly of him, but admits to a certain selfishness where Higgins and Leroy are concerned.
Asked whether he plays off the drummer, Barry says it is all a matter of heartbeats adjusting to each other, and that with Higgins and Leroy they do it better than most.
Describing Detroit’s World Stage, a music society of about 5,000 members with Kenny Burrell as its first president, Barry notes the coincidence that Higgins has a place in Los Angeles also called the World Stage.
In a Jazz at Lincoln Center podcast with Higgins, as transcribed by Brian de Lima, Barry says Detroit dancers would stop if a drummer turned the beat around, and Higgins agrees that no drummer could get away with that in front of dancers.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶807Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶808
In the same conversation Barry says the dancers and the show were part of the music, and Higgins adds that at one time all the arts, dance and singing included, were combined.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶825Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶826
In his own words
I like Billy Higgins, too. Billy Higgins is a very special drummer, too. But between Billy Higgins and Leroy I’m sort of selfish.
I think it’s all a matter of heartbeats. We have to adjust our heartbeat to each other, so I think between Billy Higgins and Leroy we do a better job than most people.
It’s weird, because Billy Higgins has a place out in L.A., and it’s called the World Stage.
Every mention
0 moments in the recordings, 0 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
In the interviews and notes
Barry names Higgins as a drummer he likes and rates very highly, along with Leroy Williams, and admits to being rather selfish about those two.
For Barry, playing with a drummer means adjusting heartbeats, and he thinks he does that better with Higgins and Leroy Williams than most.
Barry remarks that Higgins’s place in Los Angeles shares its name, the World Stage, with the music society Barry knew in Detroit.
Panken suggests that Williams and Higgins are Barry’s two favourite drummers. Williams replies that he and Higgins are about the same age and came up at the same time, Higgins in California and he in Chicago, drawing on the same sources.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶136Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶137
In a Jazz at Lincoln Center podcast, Barry says Detroit dancers stopped when a drummer turned the beat around; Higgins agrees that dancers would not let a drummer get away with it.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶807Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶808
Barry calls dancing and the show part of the music, and Higgins says there was a time when all the arts, dance and singing among them, were combined.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶825Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶826
De Lima counts the podcast conversation between Barry and Higgins, in which both say the arts were once all connected, among his most important findings, and calls it a wake-up call for schools that still teach the arts separately.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶1410Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶1411
Francis Paudras’s account of Bud Powell’s return to Birdland, quoted by a forum member, lists Higgins with Barry among the musicians who lined up to welcome Powell.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶835jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Official Barry Harris Thread (jazzguitar.be forum thread) ¶837
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Barry Harris Sextet 6/4/1968 “Bulls-Eye!” | Billy Higgins, Kenny Dorham, Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers2023, 7 min YouTube
- 04/06/1968 - Pepper Adams & Barry Harris2022, 33 min YouTube
- I’m A Fool To Want You - Dexter Gordon2020, 7 min YouTube
- Perdido / Sonny Stitt [Blues For Duke (1978) 3/6]2019, 5 min YouTube
- Dave Pike - Cheryl (feat. Barry Harris)2018, 5 min YouTube
- Dexter Gordon - Manhã de Carnaval（黒いオルフェ）2016, 8 min YouTube
- Sonny Stitt & Barry Harris - Satin Doll2016, 8 min YouTube
- Sonny Stitt & Barry Harris - I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good2014, 8 min YouTube
- Clubhouse2012, 8 min YouTube
- Hanky Panky2012, 7 min YouTube
- Lady Iris B.2012, 6 min YouTube
- Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder2012, 10 min YouTube
- Lee Morgan - Totem Pole2011, 10 min YouTube