Billy Hart

This article is about drummer Billy Hart. For other people, see Bill Hart and William Hart .

Billy Hart 2010 (Photo: Brian McMillen)

William "Billy" Hart (born November 29, 1940 in Washington, DC ) is an American jazz drummer.

Live and act

Hart first appeared in Washington with Otis Redding and Sam and Dave , and in the late 1950s with Buck Hill and Shirley Horn . In 1961 he worked with the Montgomery Brothers ( Buddy , Monk and Wes Montgomery ), from 1964 to 1966 with Jimmy Smith , then until 1968 with Wes Montgomery. After his death, he moved to New York City , where he recorded with McCoy Tyner , Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul and with Eddie Harris , Pharoah Sanders andMarian McPartland played. From 1969 to 1973 he was a member of Herbie Hancock's sextet and worked with Hancock on Bennie Maupin's ECM album The Jewel in the Lotus (1974). He then played in the groups of McCoy Tyner (1973/74) and Stan Getz (then until 1977), also with Miles Davis , with Karlheinz Miklin , with Joanne Brackeen , with Charles Lloyd , with Kenny Werner and with Johannes Enders . Mark Turner , Ethan Iverson and Ben Street currently played in his quartet . Since 2007 he has also been working with the all-star formation The Cookers .

In addition to his recordings as a band leader, Hart can be heard as a sideman on more than six hundred albums. In the field of jazz, he was involved in 639 recording sessions between 1961 and 2018, according to Tom Lord . He is considered one of the most accomplished and versatile jazz drummers of our time. Since the early 1990s he has taught at both the Oberlin Conservatory and the New England Conservatory of Music and Western Michigan University .

Billy Hart (right) with Ron Mc Clure (left) and Johnny Alegre (center), 2011

Discography

• Enchance with Thabo Michael Carvin , Eddie Henderson , Dave Holland , Oliver Lake , Hannibal Marvin Peterson , Don Pullen , Dewey Redman , Buster Williams , 1977
• The Trio with Walter Bishop, Jr. , George Mraz , 1978
• Oshumare with Manolo Badrena , Steve Coleman , Kevin Eubanks , Bill Frisell , Mark Gray, Dave Holland, Kenny Kirkland , Didier Lockwood , Branford Marsalis , 1985
• Rah with Kevin Eubanks, Bill Frisell, Eddie Gómez , Mark Gray, Eddie Henderson , Kenny Kirkland, Dave Liebman , Ralph Moore , Caris Visentin , 1987
• Take It Easy with Klaus Ignatzek , Ron McClure , 1989
• Firebird with Tom Knific , Trent Kynaston , Steve Zegree , 1992
• Amethyst with Marc Copland , Santi Debriano , Mark Feldman , David Fiuczynski , Dave Kikoski , John Stubblefield , 1993
• Oceans of Time with Santi Debriano, Mark Feldman, David Fiuczynski, Dave Kikoski, Chris Potter , John Stubblefield, 1997
• Quartet with Ethan Iverson , Ben Street , 2006
• Route F , 2006
• Live at the Cafe Damberd ( Enja ), with Johannes Enders , Martin Zenker , 2008
• Sixty-Eight ( SteepleChase Records ), with Jason Palmer , Logan Richardson , Michael Pinto , Dan Tepfer , Chris Tordini
• La Place Demon with Tied & Tickled Trio , 2011
• All Our Reasons (ECM, 2012), with Mark Turner , Ethan Iverson , Ben Street
• One Is the Other (ECM), with Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street
• The Broader Picture (Enja / Yellowbird, 2016), with the WDR Big Band , led by Christophe Schweizer

Web links

Commons : Billy Hart  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Web presence
• Entry in Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians
• Portrait ( JazzTimes )
• Billy Hart at Allmusic (English)
• Billy Hart at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ During the sessions for the album On the Corner , a track was named after him (his African name), Jabali .
2. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 1, 2019)