Billy Hart

His first steady gigs of note were with Shirley Horn and Buck Hill. In the 1960’s he toured with Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Eddie Harris, and Pharoah Sanders. In 1970 he joined Herbie Hancock’s Sextet, and after that band broke up in 1973 he joined first McCoy Tyner (two years) and then Stan Getz (four). In the 1980’s Hart was a regular with many bands and leaders: Gerry Mulligan, Billy Harper, Clark Terry, The New York Jazz Quartet, the Jazztet, Mingus Dynasty and most extensively with Quest (with David Liebman, Ritchie Beirach, and Ron McClure). In the 1990’s Hart was a member of the Charles Lloyd, Joe Lovano, and Tom Harrell groups, and in 1999 he began performing with the Three Tenors (Liebman, Lovano, and Michael Brecker). He is on about 500 hundred records as a sideman.

Billy Hart's own records include:

Enchance (1977, A&M Horizon) with Dewey Redman, Marvin “Hannibal” Peterson, Eddie Henderson, Oliver Lake, Don Pullen, Buster Williams, and Dave Holland

Such Great Friends (1983, Strata East) with Billy Harper, Stanley Cowell, and Reggie Workman.

Oshumare (1985, Gramavision) with Steve Coleman, Branford Marsalis, Didier Lockwood, Kenny Kirkland, Bill Frisell, Kevin Eubanks, Mark Grey, and Dave Holland

Great Friends (1986, Evidence) with Sonny Fortune, Billy Harper, Stanley Cowell, and Reggie Workman

Rah (1987, Gramavision) with Dave Liebman, Kenny Kirkland, Eddie Henderson, Ralph Moore, Kevin Eubanks, Bill Frisell, Mark Grey, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams, and Caris Visentin

Amethyst (1993, Arabesque) with John Stubblefield, Mark Feldman, David Fiuczynski, David Kikoski, Marc Copland, and Santi Debriano

Oceans of Time (1996, Arabesque) with John Stubblefield, Chris Potter, Mark Feldman, David Fiuczynski, David Kikoski, and Santi Debriano

Since the early 1990’s Billy Hart has devoted a lot of time to teaching.

He spends considerable time at the Ob erlin Conservatory of Music, but he is also adjunct faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and Western Michigan University.

He also teaches private lessons through The New School and New York University,

and often contributes to the Stokes Forest Music Camp and the Dworp Summer Jazz Clinic in Belgium.

Billy Hart plays Pearl Drums and Zildjian cymbals.

Noah Haidu: Standards III

Read "Standards III" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 14, 2025

Standards III, the ninth album by New York-based pianist Noah Haidu, is essentially a trio date with a guest appearance on one number ("Slipstream") by alto saxophonist Steve Wilson. As was true on Standards (Sunnyside, 2021) and Standards II (Sunnyside, 2024), the inclusion of several unfamiliar themes (including some by Haidu) stretches the meaning of “standard" well beyond what most listeners would consider acceptable. To be fair, there are a liberal number of standards on all three ...

Album Review

Noah Haidu: Standards III

Read "Standards III" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 26, 2025

Noah Haidu's Standards III is a study in jazz fluency--an exploration of melody, form, and interplay that reanimates familiar repertoire with both reverence and daring. Following the strong creative thread laid in the first two installments of the standards theme (Standards, 2023 and Standards II, 2024; both on Sunnyside), Haidu again enlists legendary bassist Buster Williams and veteran drummer Billy Hart, whose intuitive communication with the pianist borders on telepathic. Joining this outing is a younger trio, featuring bassist Gervis ...

Album Review

Dave Liebman / Billy Hart / Adam Rudolph: Beingness

Read "Beingness" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 12, 2025

There is something very other-worldly about Beingness. It runs on some taut meta-rhythms, courtesy of NEA Jazz Master, drummer Billy Hart, who hangs loose and fearless with award-winning, world music percussionist/composer Adam Rudolph. It sounds like free-falling. But not in a monochromatic death plunge. No, this is more a sure glide, like a leaf flirting across Bleecker in a new October, westbound breeze. A master class in hypnotic and collaborative invention, Beingness--Hart, Rudolph, and Hart's fellow NEA Jazz ...

Album Review

Yotam Silberstein: Standards Vol. 2

Read "Standards Vol. 2" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 2, 2025

On Standards Vol. 2 , guitarist Yotam Silberstein revisits the tradition with both reverence and invention, delivering a program of what he calls “lesser gems" -standards that have slipped through the cracks of overexposure yet hold depths still to be mined. With a lineup featuring bassist John Patitucci, drummer Billy Hart, and special guest tenor saxophonist George Coleman on one track, this album offers a thoughtful, rich journey into the overlooked corners of the jazz canon. ...

Album Review

Billy Hart: Just

by Jack Kenny
March 22, 2025

"Just" is an elegant album calculated to please. More than any earlier releases on ECM, it is Billy Hart's album, The quartet has been working together for over twenty years and has rightly morphed from a collective to the one steered by Hart. The drummer has supplied his sinewy rhythmic mastery to albums across the years with Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner and Stan Getz. Here, Hart is both the strongest voice, the innovator and the driver ...

Album Review

Randy Ingram: Aries Dance

Read "Aries Dance" reviewed by John Chacona

by John Chacona
December 27, 2024

No one would suggest that a car stereo in a rush-hour traffic jam is an ideal environment to evaluate a recording--or even to squeeze much enjoyment out of one. Yet even in this setting the graceful, gliding waltz that opens Randy Ingram's Aries Dance immediately dispelled the frustration and tension of the highway like an offshore breeze drives away the midsummer heat. As traffic crept toward Columbus, Ohio at the Polaris Parkway exit, a quick check of the title: it ...

Album Review

Brian Landrus: Plays Ellington & Strayhorn

Read "Plays Ellington & Strayhorn" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
December 5, 2024

In questo nuovo album, Brian Landrus esalta la magniloquenza della sua timbrica grave con l'ampia gamma di strumenti che usa: non solo i prediletti sax baritono e clarinetto basso ma sax basso, flauto basso, flauto contralto, clarinetto contralto, ottavino e vari altri. La scelta del celeberrimo songbook di Duke Ellington e Billy Strayhorn è piuttosto insidiosa, per la difficoltà di trovare una chiave di lettura originale in un repertorio abusato, ma Landrus ha trovato la sua via: «Ascoltando questi ...

Recording

Bill O'Connell New Release 'Live In Montauk' (Savant Records) Featuring Randy Brecker, Billy Hart, Craig Handy And Santi Debriano! Release Date: June 23rd

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
June 15, 2023

Montauk—the easternmost point of Long Island—has enjoyed a reputation as an idyllic land of the lotus and poppy but now is fully woven in to the Hamptons summer scene. The charms and views associated with that coastal existence served as a backdrop for the creation of this recording. Notable for a number of reasons—as the first live band date in a lengthy discography, and a first on-record meeting with drumming icon Billy Hart—this Bill O’Connell session stands out. Recorded live ...
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Performance / Tour

Beginning June 13, Streaming Live At The Village Vanguard

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
June 5, 2020

Streaming Live at the Village Vanguard Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons beginning June 13 On February 22, 2020 the Village Vanguard, the world’s oldest continuously operated jazz club, marked its 85th year in the basement at 178 7th Avenue South in New York City. On March 16th the club closed its doors indefinitely. On Saturday, June 13th at 7 p.m. EDT the club will present its very first livestream with The Billy Hart Quartet featuring Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson and ...
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Event

In Touch Entertainment Announces Its Fall/Winter Jazz Series Lineup at Zinc and Vitello’s

Source: Decibel
September 25, 2018

In Touch Entertainment has announced the Fall/Winter lineup of its highly successful jazz series held in a legendary New York music venue, Zinc. The programs consist of Piano Jazz, Guitar Masters, Trumpet Masters, Percussion Masters, Boss Tenors, Dangerous Rhythms, and Vocal Mania. The latter is also running concurrently on the West Coast, with performances held at Vitello’s Jazz and Supper Club in Studio City, CA. In addition to instrument and voice-centric programs started this spring, In Touch also launched a ...
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Contest

Enter the "Billy Hart - All Our Reasons" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
March 31, 2012

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the ECM Records “Billy Hart - All Our Reasons“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on April 30th. Click here to enter the contest (Following Billy Hart at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at ECM Records About All Our Reasons: First ECM recording of a quartet formed in 2003. Originally billed as the Ethan Iverson-Mark Turner ...
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Performance / Tour

Adam Kolker Quartet Featuring Billy Hart, Bruce Barth & John Hébert, January 3 at Iridium in New York City

Source: Scott Foster
December 31, 2011

The Adam Kolker Quartet Featuring Billy Hart, Bruce Barth & John Hébert will perform January 3 at Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. Adam Kolker, a critically acclaimed jazz composer, tenor saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, bass clarinetist and Sunnyside Records artist, also leads the Adam Kolker Quartet Featuring John Abercombie. Drummer Billy Hart has appeared on more than 150 records, including Miles Davis' “On the Corner" and Herbie Hancock's “Sextant," as well as eleven records as a leader. Pianist Bruce ...
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Music Industry

Capsule Reviews: Billy Hart, Albert Ayler, JD Allen

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
May 26, 2011

Billy Hart—Sixty Eight (Steeplechase, 2011) Drummer Billy Hart leads a fine group consisting of Jason Palmer on trumpet, Logan Richardson on alto saxophone, Michael Pinto on vibraphone, Dan Tepfer on piano and Chris Tordini on bass. They play fine mix of adventurous mid-60's centered hard bop and thoughtful ballads. The focus on ensemble play, with fine group playing, and no heroes trying to dominate the music. There's a great setlist, playing songs from the likes of Eric Dolphy, “Number Eight" ...
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Recording

Jazz Flutist Ilona Kudina Releases "Nothing But Illusion" with drummer Billy Hart, trumpeter Greg Hopkins, pianist Vardan Ovsepian and bassist Akili Jamal Haynes

Source: Sue Auclair Promotions
March 2, 2011

The Ilona Kudina Jazz Quintet Set to Perform at Scullers Jazz Club Tuesday, April 6, 2011, 8 PM Boston, MA—Ilona Kudina, who hails from the tiny Republic of Latvia and who has been living in Boston since 2001, is a fine flutist Informed by rigorous childhood classical training in Europe but equally comfortable in jazz genres. Her impeccable classical performances have been recorded on several CDs and she has been heard in many classical and jazz concerts throughout the Greater ...
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131

Performance / Tour

Assaf Kehati Trio Featuring Legendary Drummer, Billy Hart. June in Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD.

Source: Michael Ricci
June 2, 2010

Assaf Kehati Trio featuring legendary drummer, Billy Hart will perform on June 4th and 5th at Twins Jazz in Washington, DC. Playing at 9pm and 11pm each night. The trio will also perform on June 6th at An Die Musik Live in Baltimore, MD. Playing at 5pm and 7pm.

Tickets ($20 in DC and $15/$10 students in MD) are available at the following links:

Twins Jazz

An Die Musik Live

“Israel- born, Boston resident guitarist Assaf Kehatis group grabs a ...
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168

Performance / Tour

Billy Hart Quartet (Fri-Sun) at the Iridium Jazz Club Sets at 8:30 & 10:30PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
December 21, 2007

125

Performance / Tour

Les Paul (Mon) Mingus Legacy (Tues) Sal Viviano (Wed) Billy Hart QT (Thu-Sun) at the Iridium Jazz Club

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
December 17, 2007

IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 Sets At 8:30 & 10:30PM Les Paul Sets Remain at 8:00 & 10:00PM Effective immediately, minimums are $10/person/set for all shows except Les Paul - $15 mins. EVERY MONDAY LES PAUL AND HIS TRIO JOHN COLIANNI - PIANO - LOU PALLO - GUITAR, NICKI PARROTT - BASS EVERY TUESDAY MINGUS ...
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