Jazz Articles about Billy Hart

Bennie Maupin: The Jewel in the Lotus

by John Kelman
October 31, 2007

Of the ECM titles that have remained unavailable on CD, woodwind multi-instrumentalist Bennie Maupin's The Jewel in the Lotus (1974) has long been considered a holy grail for collectors in search of a vinyl copy, and a title that's been on many fans' wish lists for release on CD. Well, it's finally happened and it's been worth the wait. Those familiar will recognize it as still classic thirty years on; for those unfamiliar with its magic, it's time to get ...

Billy Hart: Quartet

by John Kelman
September 13, 2006

In a decades-long career that's seen him on hundreds of albums with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Pat Martino, Billy Hart has released only a handful of records as a leader. That may go some way towards explaining why he doesn't have the same cachet with the larger listening public as drummers like Jack DeJohnette. Still, when he does put out a record, it's always worth checking out. Quartet, his first release since Oceans of Time (Arabesque, 1997), may be ...

Billy Hart: Quartet

by Mark F. Turner
August 13, 2006

While Elvin Jones and Tony Williams might be more noted names, Billy Hart is still a drummer for the ages, with over 500 appearances on record and a list of credits that includes Shirley Horn and Wes Montgomery, as well as recent recordings by Mimi Fox (Perpetually Hip) and the Mary Lou Williams Collective (Zodiac Suite: Revisited). Hart's exhausting schedule of gigs and teaching responsibilities have prevented him from recording more, but Quartet, his eighth release as a leader, is ...

Billy Hart: A Hart of a Drummer

by AAJ Staff
April 11, 2006

Billy Hart is one of the unsung giants of jazz drumming. Appearing on classic recordings by Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and Pharoah Sanders, Hart continues to push forward in performances and recordings with Charles Lloyd, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano and Don Byron's Ivey-Divey trio. If he's not in New York playing, he's either touring the globe or teaching at one of five colleges and universities at which he is faculty.

All About Jazz: First of all, I'd like ...

Tim Armacost: Brightly Dark

by Alexander M. Stern
October 7, 2003

The ghost of John Coltrane hovers over Brightly Dark. At times, Tim Armacost sounds startlingly like the late saxophonist, especially when he plays soprano, as he does on 'Afro Pentameter' and on the title track. Armacost is an extremely talented musician and an excellent composer, but he is still somewhat lacking in originality. Not that anyone can blame him for choosing to emulate Coltrane. In a scene from Woody Allen's Manhattan, Allen is told by an angry friend that he ...

Tim Armacost: The Wishing Well

by Joel Roberts
June 1, 2000

A quick look at his bio, and a quick listen to his accomplished new release on Double-Time Records, makes clear that 37-year-old Tim Armacost is no run-of-the-mill tenor saxophonist. A well-travelled, broadly educated New Yorker (via L.A., Washington, Tokyo, Amsterdam and India), Armacost draws heavily on the Coltrane and Rollins legacies, but has enough fresh musical ideas and sheer instrumental muscle to avoid falling into the trap of mere hero worship.

Armacost begins the proceedings here with a lush, leisurely ...

Tim Armacost: The Wishing Well

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 2000

In order to play true jazz, a musician needs to assimilate all that went before him, paying particular attention to those artists who charted the course and defined the vernacular for the specific instrument that he has set out to master. In music, nothing ever gets pulled out of thin air. You carry forth a linage, and hopefully along the way, through intense study and careful examination, you can extend that lineage by putting your own fingerprint on what you ...