Billy Mintz

Billy Mintz (* 1947 in New York City ) is an American drummer of modern jazz , which is mainly active in the music scene of Los Angeles.

Live and act

Mintz grew up in Queens and played in show bands in resort towns in the Catskill Mountains when he was 15 . His professional career as a jazz musician began with Lee Konitz Nonet (1978); he also played with Perry Robinson / Badal Roy , Eddie Daniels , Gloria Gaynor , Steve Tintweiss and Harold Danko . In 1981 he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked with Stanley Clarke , Kim Richmond , Bobby Shew , Joey Sellers and Vinny Golia ; he also appeared with Mose Allison and Mark Murphy and played briefly in the Merv Griffin Showband. In the 1980s he played with Bill Mays , Bob Magnusson and Peter Sprague , Bill Perkins , Frank Strazzeri and Pete Christlieb ; In 1986 he toured with the Los Angeles Symphonic Jazz Orchestra in Japan and in 1988 with Charles Lloyd in Europe. From 1989 to 1995 he was a member of the trio of pianist Alan Broadbent . In addition, Mintz taught at various universities, such as the Berklee School of Music and the California Institute of the Arts and published the textbook Different Drummers in 1975 . Mintz worked in a wide musical spectrum from disco to modern creative . In the field of jazz, he was involved in 70 recording sessions between 1975 and 2017, including a. with Bruce Fowler , Bobby Bradford , Tony Malaby , Jeff Johnson , Nels Cline , Hal Galper , Russ Lossing , Adam Kolker and Lena Bloch . In 2013 he released the album Mintz Quartet under his own name , on which Putter Smith , Roberta Piket and John Gross contributed.

Steuart Liebig , Vinny Golia, Billy Mintz: No Train ( Cadence Jazz Records , 1997)
Scott Colley / Sylvie Courvoisier / Mark Feldman / Billy Mintz: Birdies for Lulu ( Intakt Records )
John Gross / Billy Mintz: Beautiful You ( Origin , 2004)
Billy Mintz: Ugly Beautiful ( Thirteenth Note Records , 2017)