Home » Jazz Articles » Louis Hayes
Jazz Articles about Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes
by David A. Orthmann
Best known for extended stays in the bands of Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, and Oscar Peterson during the 50s and 60s, Louis Hayes’ recent recordings serve as a reminder that he’s still one of the hardest swinging drummers in modern jazz. Throughout compact discs released between 1996 and 2002 for the Sharp Nine, TCB, Criss Cross, and Venus labels, Hayes displays an impressive range of expression inside the exacting requirements of the bop and hard bop idioms. Although he often ...
Continue ReadingLouis Hayes Quintet: The Candy Man
by David A. Orthmann
Because the fundamental elements of jazz performance are now routinely altered (sometimes beyond recognition) or abandoned altogether, its tough to direct criticism at musicians who play in conventional styles but don’t always toe the line. In the case of drummer Louis Hayes, it may not be fair to point out his occasional rushing of the beat, sporadic inclination to overpower the rest of the band, and infrequent extended solos that are long on technique and short on musical sense. After ...
Continue ReadingLouis Hayes Quintet: Quintessential Lou
by Glenn Astarita
Drummer Louis Hayes might not have received an over abundance of press over the years yet most jazz aficionados should be cognizant of his past accomplishments which commenced in the 50’s while supporting saxophonist Yuseff Lateef. A true stylist and dynamic leader within the hard-bop scheme of things, Hayes has also performed with Horace Silver, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Gary Bartz and other jazz luminaries as the list goes on and on. However, Hayes is often cited for his ferocious, ...
Continue ReadingLouis Hayes: The Real Thing
by Douglas Payne
Hard bop drummer Louis Hayes has often been heard in memorable encounters with Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner (among many others). But he has an exceptional knack for assembling some of the tightest, most cohesive straight-ahead units under his own name.Among Hayes's best group was this hard-bop unit he co-led with trumpeter Woody Shaw in 1976-77. For this edition, Jackie McLean's son, Rene, replaced the departed Junior Cook (another co-leader) with a rhythm section ...
Continue Reading
