Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.

Biography
Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958. He then freelanced extensively with hard bop and other post-bop players, including Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Joe Henderson, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, David Murray, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Mal Waldron, and Cedar Walton. He was one of the house drummers for Blue Note Records and played on dozens of Blue Note albums of the 1960s.

On a whole, he played on over 700 recordings, including recordings of rock and funk. He appeared as a jazz drummer in the 2001 movie Southlander.

In 1989, Higgins cofounded a cultural center, The World Stage, in Los Angeles to encourage and promote younger jazz musicians. The center provides workshops in performance and writing, as well as concerts and recordings. Higgins also taught in the jazz studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He was divorced from wife Mauricina Altier Higgins and had three sons, William, Joseph, and David, as well as a stepson Jody. His youngest son Benjamin resides in Los Angeles. He also had two daughters, Rickie Wade and Heidi. He died of kidney and liver failure on May 3, 2001 at a hospital in Inglewood, California.

As leader

 * 1979: Soweto (Red Records)
 * 1979: The Soldier (Timeless Records)
 * 1980: Bridgework (Fantasy/Contemporary)
 * 1984: Mr. Billy Higgins (Evidence)
 * 1985: Essence	 (DMP)
 * 1994: 3/4 For Peace (Red)
 * 1995: Once More (Red)
 * 1997: Billy Higgins Quintet (Evidence)
 * 2001: The Best of Summer Nights at Moca (Exodus)

As a sideman
With Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt With Sandy Bull With Jaki Byard With Donald Byrd With Joe Castro With Don Cherry With Sonny Clark With Ornette Coleman With John Coltrane With Bill Cosby With Teddy Edwards With Booker Ervin With Curtis Fuller With Stan Getz With Dexter Gordon With Grant Green With Charlie Haden With Herbie Hancock With Barry Harris With Eddie Harris With Andrew Hill With Richard "Groove" Holmes With Freddie Hubbard With Bobby Hutcherson With Sam Jones With Clifford Jordan With Steve Lacy With Charles Lloyd With Jackie McLean With Charles McPherson With Pat Metheny With Blue Mitchell With Hank Mobley With Thelonious Monk With Lee Morgan With David Murray With Horace Parlan With Art Pepper With Dave Pike With Jimmy Raney With Sonny Red With Joshua Redman With Sonny Rollins With John Scofield With Shirley Scott With Archie Shepp With Sun Ra With Cecil Taylor With Bobby Timmons With Mal Waldron With Cedar Walton With Don Wilkerson With Jack Wilson
 * God Bless Jug and Sonny (Prestige, 1973 [2001])
 * Left Bank Encores (Prestige, 1973 [2001])
 * Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo (Vanguard, 1963)
 * Inventions (Vanguard, 1965)
 * On the Spot! (Prestige, 1967)
 * Royal Flush (Blue Note, 1961)
 * Free Form (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Blackjack (Blue Note, 1967)
 * Slow Drag (Blue Note, 1967)
 * Groove Funk Soul! (1958)
 * Brown Rice (EMI, 1975)
 * Art Deco (A&M, 1988)
 * Leapin' and Lopin' (1961)
 * Something Else!!!! (Contemporary, 1958)
 * The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic, 1959)
 * Change of the Century (Atlantic, 1959)
 * The Art of the Improvisers (Atlantic, 1959)
 * Twins (Atlantic, 1961)
 * Science Fiction (Columbia, 1971)
 * In All Languages (Caravan of Dreams, 1987)
 * Like Sonny (Roulette, 1960)
 * Hello, Friend: To Ennis With Love (Verve, 1997)
 * Teddy's Ready! (Contemporary, 1960)
 * Nothin' But the Truth! (Prestige, 1966)
 * Tex Book Tenor (Blue Note, 1968)
 * Smokin' (Mainstream, 1972)
 * The Cal Tjader-Stan Getz Sextet (1958, Fantasy)
 * Go (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Clubhouse (Blue Note, 1965 - released 1979)
 * Gettin' Around (Blue Note, 1965)
 * The Other Side of Round Midnight (Blue Note, 1985)
 * First Session (Blue Note, 1961)
 * Goin' West (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Feelin' the Spirit (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Quartet West (Verve, 1986)
 * Silence (Soul Note, 1987)
 * First Song (Soul Note, 1990 [1992])
 * Takin' Off (Blue Note, 1962)
 * Round Midnight (soundtrack) (Columbia, 1985)
 * Bull's Eye! (Prestige, 1968)
 * The In Sound (Atlantic, 1965)
 * Mean Greens (Atlantic, 1966)
 * The Tender Storm (Atlantic, 1966)
 * Excursions (Atlantic, 1966-73)
 * How Can You Live Like That? (Atlantic, 1976)
 * Dance with Death (Blue Note, 1968 - not released until 1980)
 * Get Up & Get It! (Prestige, 1967)
 * ''Bolivia (Music Master, 1991)
 * Stick-Up (Blue Note, 1969)
 * Solo / Quartet (Contemporary, 1982)
 * Seven Minds (East Wind Records, 1974)
 * Glass Bead Game (1973, 2 vols.; reissued in 2006 as Glass Bead Games)
 * Evidence (1962) with Don Cherry
 * Acoustic Masters I (Atlantic, 1993)
 * Voice in the Night (ECM, 1999)
 * The Water Is Wide (ECM, 2000)
 * Hyperion with Higgins (ECM, 2001, released posthumously)
 * Which Way Is East (ECM, 2004, released posthumously)
 * A Fickle Sonance (Blue Note, 1961)
 * Action Action Action (Blue Note, 1964)
 * Consequence (Blue Note, 1965 [2005])
 * New and Old Gospel (Blue Note, 1967)
 * The Quintet/Live! (Prestige, 1966)
 * Horizons (Prestige, 1968)
 * Rejoicing (ECM, 1983)
 * Bring It Home to Me (1966)
 * The Turnaround (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Dippin' (Blue Note, 1965)
 * A Caddy for Daddy (Blue Note, 1965)
 * A Slice of the Top (Blue Note, 1966 [1979])
 * Hi Voltage (Blue Note, 1967)
 * Reach Out! (Blue Note, 1968)
 * Breakthrough! (Muse, 1972) with Cedar Walton
 * Straight No Filter (Blue Note, 1964-66 [1980])
 * Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk (Riverside, 1960)
 * The Sidewinder (Blue Note, 1963)
 * Search for the New Land (Blue Note, 1964)
 * The Rumproller (Blue Note, 1965)
 * The Gigolo (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Cornbread (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Infinity (Blue Note, 1965 [1980])
 * Delightfulee (Blue Note, 1966)
 * Charisma (Blue Note, 1966)
 * The Rajah (Blue Note, 1966 [1984])
 * Standards (Blue Note, 1967, [1998])
 * Sonic Boom (Blue Note, 1967 [1979])
 * The Procrastinator (Blue Note, 1967 [1978])
 * Taru (Blue Note, 1968 [1980])
 * Caramba! (Blue Note, 1968)
 * Live at Sweet Basil Volume 1 (Black Saint, 1984)
 * Live at Sweet Basil Volume 2 (Black Saint, 1984)
 * Happy Frame of Mind (Blue Note, 1963)
 * Landscape (Galaxy, 1979)
 * Straight Life (Galaxy, 1979)
 * It's Time for Dave Pike (Riverside, 1961)
 * The Influence (Xanadu, 1975)
 * Sonny Red (Mainstream, 1971)
 * Wish (1993)
 * Our Man in Jazz (RCA Victor, 1965)
 * There Will Never Be Another You (recorded 1965 released 1978)
 * Works for Me (Verve, 2000)
 * One for Me (Strata-East, 1974)
 * Attica Blues (Impulse!, 1972)
 * Somewhere Else (Rounder, 1988–89)
 * Blue Delight (A&M, 1989)
 * Jumpin' Punkins (Candid, 1961)
 * New York City R&B (Candid, 1961)
 * Soul Food (Prestige, 1966)
 * Got to Get It! (Milestone, 1967)
 * Up Popped the Devil (Enja, 1973)
 * One Entrance, Many Exits (Palo Alto, 1982)
 * Cedar! (Prestige, 1967)
 * The Texas Twister (1960)
 * Preach Brother! (1962)
 * Easterly Winds (Blue Note, 1967)