Joe Posted November 2, 2013 Report Posted November 2, 2013 More of Billy's guitar work, IIRC, can be heard on this date... Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted November 3, 2013 Report Posted November 3, 2013 (edited) just got the sidewinder 45 rpm set cut by steve hoffman/kevin gray, if i had to pick the #1 best thing about it, its definetly billy higgins cymbal work on 'totem pole'. the clairity is astonishing Edited November 3, 2013 by chewy Quote
Leeway Posted November 4, 2013 Report Posted November 4, 2013 I picked up this album very recently, "MR. BILLY HIGGINS," on Riza Records. With Tony Dumas (b), William Henderson (p), Gary Bias (woodwinds). First time I'd seen this album. Good not great has been my initial take. Quote
Mike Schwartz Posted November 5, 2013 Report Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) Edited November 5, 2013 by Mike Schwartz Quote
Larry Kart Posted November 5, 2013 Report Posted November 5, 2013 Check out Higgins on "Suicide City" from Lee Morgan's "Caramba." As I think I wrote when reviewing it for Down Beat way back when, at times on that track it sounds like Higgins is playing BACKWARDS. Quote
Joe Posted November 5, 2013 Report Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) More of my favorite Higgins... Love that album. And whatever happened to bassist Carl Brown? Oops. I meant to reply to Joe's post, not to delete the passage I did in adding my comment. Please post again, Joe -- sorry. Edited November 5, 2013 by Larry Kart Quote
Larry Kart Posted November 5, 2013 Report Posted November 5, 2013 FWIW, excerpt from that Down Beat review that mentions Higgins' playing on "Suicide City": [1969] When Lee Morgan’s first records appeared, he was hailed as a logical successor to Clifford Brown. There were points of similarity--a full, brass-proud tone, and a great rhythmic ease--but Morgan soon demonstrated that his musical personality was quite different from Brown’s glowing good spirits. Few musicians project a personality through their instruments as directly as Morgan does (Roy Eldridge is one, and perhaps that’s a clue to Morgan’s virtues). I have never met Lee Morgan, but I would be surprised if he were not a witty, sarcastic, playful man. To describe the way Morgan projects this personality, I thought of mentioning separately his tonal flexibility, unpredictable choice of notes, and slyly relaxed time feeling, but, listening again, I realized that Morgan makes an inseparable emotional unity out of these devices. Since Morgan’s “The Sidewinder” became a hit, it seems as if every one of his albums, and many other Blue Note sessions as well, have a track which attempts to duplicate its mood--a repeated rhythmic pattern with a triplet feel, over which the horns play at length in an attempt to find a good, downhome groove. Lord knows the results can be depressing if the groove isn’t found, but the title track of “Caramba” is certainly a success. Although the rhythmic stew has some Latin American spice this time, Morgan and Maupin make it all blues eventually. Morgan’s playing can be rather episodic, but I wouldn’t trade any number of well-constructed solos for one of the dancing figures he plays here as Maupin riffs behind him. Maupin, who seems to be exploring Coltrane’s material with Rollins’s methods, also solos strongly on this track, and there are several passages where a Rollins-like cadence is brought off in grand style. Maupin has a hard but rich tone, and I think he would increase the emotional range of his music if he could let it become as flexible and expressive as Morgan’s. Cedar Walton’s solo is at first austere in its adherence to the Latin pattern. As the horns join him he moves into some delightfully relaxed and genuinely soulful blues piano. The other excellent track, “Suicide City,” reminds me that Morgan and Wayne Shorter were once close associates. The tune has that Shorter aura in which harmony tends to become sonic color rather than musical rhetoric. The rhythmic pattern is complex (at one point Billy Higgins sounds like he’s playing backwards), and Morgan takes full advantage of it. Very few trumpeters (Dizzy Gillespie, perhaps) could flow through this tingling rhythmic maze with as much ease. (Listen to the way Morgan uses split tones to expand the possibilities of note placement.) Etc..... Quote
Joe Posted November 5, 2013 Report Posted November 5, 2013 More of my favorite Higgins... Love that album. And whatever happened to bassist Carl Brown? Oops. I meant to reply to Joe's post, not to delete the passage I did in adding my comment. Please post again, Joe -- sorry. Hi Larry -- no harm, no foul. I wish I knew more about Carl Brown as well. IIRC, he is not the bassist on the lost Atlantic date by the Cherry - Lacy quartet... or is he? I also mentioned John Rapson's Water and Blood on Nine Winds, a fine (if, IMO, somewhat flawed) release that does show off some of Higgins' most "free" later work. http://www.onefinalnote.com/reviews/r/rapson-john/water-and-blood.asp http://www.bagatellen.com/?p=277 Quote
Milestones Posted November 7, 2013 Report Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) I could go all day on Higgins recommendations. He is not only a great drummer, but he appeared everywhere and with everyone--more so than Elvin or Tony, on a par (and perhaps above) Haynes and DeJohnette. Just a few of the many: Many records with Ornette Several records with Charles Lloyd Interface--Hank Jones Nature Boy--Jackie McLean Rejoicing--Pat Metheny Earth Birth--Randy Weston Quartet West (1st album) Feelin' the Spirit--Grant Green I Could Write a Book--George Coleman Straight Life--Art Pepper Works For Me--John Scofield He was probably the most-recorded drummer on Blue Note in the 1960s. Edited November 7, 2013 by Milestones Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 Preach Brother by Don Wilkerson, just possibly the greasiest record ever made with piano (Sonny Clark) instead of B3 Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 Check out Higgins on "Suicide City" from Lee Morgan's "Caramba." As I think I wrote when reviewing it for Down Beat way back when, at times on that track it sounds like Higgins is playing BACKWARDS. "backwards".....love it! did you give the lp 5 stars? gotta find that review! Quote
Larry Kart Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 Check out Higgins on "Suicide City" from Lee Morgan's "Caramba." As I think I wrote when reviewing it for Down Beat way back when, at times on that track it sounds like Higgins is playing BACKWARDS. "backwards".....love it! did you give the lp 5 stars? gotta find that review! Four stars, I think. It's not all up to the level of the title track and "Suicide City" IIRC. Quote
robertoart Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 Preach Brother by Don Wilkerson, just possibly the greasiest record ever made with piano (Sonny Clark) instead of B3 "at that old camp meetin' at the Y" Quote
Joe Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS8Cr0V0E28 Quote
paul secor Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 Just recalled a good memory of seeing Billy Higgins in the audience at a Jane Ira Bloom gig in the mid-80s. Billy Hart was on drums and Billy Higgins was smiling and seemed to be digging it. Quote
paul secor Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 More of my favorite Higgins... Love that album. And whatever happened to bassist Carl Brown? Oops. I meant to reply to Joe's post, not to delete the passage I did in adding my comment. Please post again, Joe -- sorry. Hi Larry -- no harm, no foul. I wish I knew more about Carl Brown as well. IIRC, he is not the bassist on the lost Atlantic date by the Cherry - Lacy quartet... or is he? Earlier thread on Carl Brown: Quote
Simon8 Posted November 8, 2013 Report Posted November 8, 2013 Where Higgins' spirit lights up the composer's "darker" sides. Quote
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