Lee Morgan and Billy Higgins

[Big Al]

I'm just now realizing that these two recorded together many times.

I've always loved Higgins drumming; he always sounds so happy when he's bashing those skins! Especially on tracks like "Yes I Can, No You Can't" or "Our Man Higgins!"

And it's because of Higgins that I prefer Morgan's 60s work to his 50s work (yes, even over that of my favorite drummer, Art Blakey). I mean, Morgan was always great, but Higgins brought out something deeper in Morgan that went beyond the fire-breathing hardest-bop of the 50s. Not that he softened it, mind you; just brought out different shades and nuances of it.

For my money, the trio of albums--Search for the New Land, Cornbread, and Gigolo--are some of Morgan's finest sides, bar none!

And don't even get me started on all those wonderful Mobley albums they invaded a well!

[Cali]

I read somewhere in the liner notes to one of Lee's albums where he said he didn't want to cut a record (as a leader) if he couldn't have Billy on drums. They were also best friends.

I was fortunate enough to know Billy, and he had many great stories to tell about his man, "Howdy Doody". Billy's favorite expression about Lee was, "Howdy Doody was r-r-rough!".

For a magic moment, listen to Lee's solo on Search For The New Land where he and Billy intertwine in a long phrase that only true "soul mates" can achieve.

[catesta]

For my money, the trio of albums--Search for the New Land, Cornbread, and Gigolo--are some of Morgan's finest sides, bar none!

And don't even get me started on all those wonderful Mobley albums they invaded a well!     

YES!

Welcome to the club Al.

I love those three record dates, and I love Higgins. IMO he was truly at his best with Morgan, and Mobley.

Edited August 30, 2003 by catesta

[DrJ]

I was recently reminded of this great tandem in listening to a prior album of the week on this board, A CADDY FOR DADDY. Not my favorite Mobley but a good one, and Higgins is on fire and his interaction with Lee is certainly apparent on that one, too.

[sidewinder]

Some of my favourite work by this incendiary partnership is on 'Delightfullee'. Specifically the quintet tracks with Joe Henderson. These guys were on form that day .. B)

[Dmitry]

Sidewinder

and

Taru

haven't been mentioned.

Two different facets of Lee's playing. Higgins was there.

[pryan]

Right on, Al! I believe I read somewhere that THE SIDEWINDER was Lee's first album where he used Higgins as his drummer, and that started a string of at least six or seven in a row. I still need DELIGHTFULEE and THE GIGOLO but I have most of the sessions where those two masters appeared together.

[Soul Stream]

To me, Higgins always seemed to move things along very nicely but in very subtle, UNUSUAL ways for the most part. He had one of the wierdest, implied BACKBEATS of all time. Straight time was never straight with Billy. He was the anti-Art Blakey in a way.

[Big Al]

Since starting this thread, I've been on something of a Higgins binge lately. A man could quickly go broke scouring up a bunch of his records: the man was EVERYWHERE!!!

One thing I've noticed, not only on Morgan's records but others as well, is just how in-tune Higgins is with each player. Like he's playing an endless game of "cat and mouse" with each soloist, each rimshot complementing the soloists riffs. I'm thinking of his work on BRING IT ON HOME TO ME (Blue Mitchell). Even on less celebrated dates, he always gave it his all and sounded as if he was enjoying every second of it (Don Wilkerson's PREACH BROTHER, f'rinstance.)

And talk about soul-mates: how about all his work with Butch Warren? Man, now THERE was a telepathic pairing if there ever was one!

[Larry Kart]

Check out "Suicide City" from "Caramba." There are times when Higgins sounds like he's playing backwards. Also he talks/sings delightfully on one track.

[Guest ariceffron]

dont u mean Slow drag is the one he sings on.....

[Larry Kart]

Oops, that's right. "Slow Drag."

[Vincent, Paris]

Billy Higgins first recorded with Lee Morgan on "Sidewinder". Blakey was supposed to be the drummer on this one, but could not make it, so Alfred Lion brought in Billy Higgins, and after that date, Higgins was Morgan's drummer on almost every session until Morgan had his own regular band.

[JSngry]

All this talk about Billy's "eccentricies" (in the best possible way, of course), should remind us that he was the drummer that Ornette turned to when Blackwell became unavailable, and the drummer who was with Ornette when Ornette "broke" in New York. After Blacwell became available regularly, he sorta became the "offical" Ornette drummer many people's minds, and his ongoing participation w/players in that circle, as opposed to Billy's ongoing participation outside that circle, seems to have cemented that perception in many minds.

I remember when I first started getting hip to the greater Blue Note catalog, which was a bit after I had gotten fairly heavy into Ornette (entirely a matter of what recrods were available in my area). I'd see all these records with Billy Higgins and think, "What's he doing playing with THESE guys?" No doubt that sounds funny to people who think of him first and foremost as the classic, or one of the classic hard bop drummers, but that's how I came to it, and I think that goes to explain some of these quirks that people are delighting in. Billy was always more than "just" a hardbop drummer.

By the same token, he might also serve as the "portal" that some hard bop buffs can use to get into Ornette, at least earlier Ornette. His work on "Una Muy Bonita" alone can hook all but the most recalcitrant!

[Big Al]

I remember when I first started getting hip to the greater Blue Note catalog, which was a bit after I had gotten fairly heavy into Ornette (entirely a matter of what recrods were available in my area). I'd see all these records with Billy Higgins and think, "What's he doing playing with THESE guys?" No doubt that sounds funny to people who think of him first and foremost as the classic, or one of the classic hard bop drummers, but that's how I came to it,

Hey! Same here!!! I remember thinking the same thing before I finally understood what Ornette's music was all about. Sad to say, there's a lot of records I passed up because I saw Higgins name on it and thought, "Huh, free jazz" and kept on walking. What a fool I was! (Needless to say, I enjoy Ornette's music much more than I did then, and a lot of it has to do with Billy Higgins!)