Billy Hart and Me… — Vinyl Magic

Buck Hill is my mentor, my teacher. He was my major inspiration. He's the one that played me my first records. I discovered Charlie Parker through Buck Hill.
Billy Hart

Wes said to me, “ Billy, what’s that you’re doing with your cymbal?”
And I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wes.’
“You know what I’m talking about.”
‘Wes, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.’
“OK Billy, let me put it this way: the shit ain’t laying.”
Now, how am I supposed to know what that means? Well, of course I did know what it meant… ‘It’s not perfectly in sync,’ or ‘It’s not causing the kind of euphoria that we refer to as swinging or grooving.”
Well, anyway, the way he put it was, “The shit ain’t laying.”
life lessons from Wes Montgomery

Enchance (1977) signed by Billy, Oliver Lake, Buster Williams, Eddie Henderson

how smooth is smooth?
workin', playin' wit Billy
let me c how smooth smooth was/is
rehearsals flow
sessions flow
music flows
E-go go go gone!
workin', playin wit Jabali
he say "if somebody bring u a gift,
don't throw it away -- USE IT!"
so, everybody gave to the effort.
how smooth is smooth?
now I know
musician/poet Oliver Lake 1977

Mwandishi (1970) signed by Jabali, Eddie Henderson, Buster Williams

Billy Hart is the most sensitive and creative drummer I know. He's never afraid to take chances and, by doing so, he sets himself free to play something fresh and new. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with him for three years in the Herbie Hancock Sextet. The main thing I dig about Billy's playing is that he always is listening and supporting whatever happens. He's a real pro.
trumpeter Eddie Henderson, Enchance liner notes 1977

There was one other thing that happened in Washington, DC that was pertinent. A guy named Charlie Byrd and he had a bass player named Keter Betts. They went to Brazil and they get credit for discovering the Bossa Nova. A lot of those guys would come to Washington and play at Charlie Byrd's club, and I got to play with some of those guys. So my world was bigger. Before I left Washington DC, I had already done tours of Europe and Japan. I began to have as many friends in New York as I had originally in Washington, DC. I had broadened my horizons.
Billy Hart

Black Unity (1971) signed by Billy, Pharoah Sanders, Stanley Clarke

Arranger, composer, drummer extraordinaire, educator and NEA Jazz Master, Billy Hart has appeared on more than six-hundred recordings as a leader and sideman in his storied career. As versatile as he is talented, Billy has performed and recorded with Miles Davis, guitarist Wes Montogomery, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, organ master Jimmy Smith, and pianist McCoy Tyner among many others. When he joined Herbie Hancock's influential Sextet (1969-1973), Billy was bestowed the name Jabali, "strong as a rock" in Swahili, a most appropriate and deserving moniker for his steadfast rhythm and musicianship.

Sextant (1973) signed by Jabali, Eddie Henderson, Buster Williams

Born in Washington DC in 1940, Billy is an integral part of the DC jazz tradition, a lineage which extends from the incomparable Duke Ellington to drummers Jimmy Cobb and Ben Dixon, saxophonist Buck Hill, singer/pianist Shirley Horn, and pianist/educator Dr. Billy Taylor. Billy grew up in a very musical family: his grandmother played piano for the renowned opera and spiritual singer Marian Anderson, and his father, whom Billy described as "an intellectual cat who demanded respect and knew a lot about a lot," was an expert on all things Ellingtonia. His grandmother bought him a "good drum set for a gig with a good bebop band," and Billy was off and jamming. The Hart family also lived five blocks from the Spotlite Club, a hive of bebop activity where an underage Billy got his first exposure to Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, and Lee Morgan. Listening to these titans from a window outside the club, Billy was hooked.

This Is Buck Hill (1978) signed by Billy, Buster Williams

While attending McKinley Tech in Washington DC, Billy met three important musicians, "I went to high school just as they were being integrated...There were three guys that were upperclassmen, one guy's name was (guitarist) Quentin Warren. The day after he graduated he joined up with Jimmy Smith, the great organist. Butch Warren, the bass player, the day after he graduated, he left and went to New York to join Kenny Dorham. And then there was a pianist here for years named Reuben Brown. He left to join Lou Donaldson. Butch came back and then left again and recorded a bunch of classic albums for Blue Note Records. Quentin played a lot with Jimmy Smith and eventually got me a job with Jimmy Smith."

Rah (1987) signed by Jabali, Eddie Henderson

Later, Billy expanded his versatility and honed his chops as the house drummer at the venerable Howard Theater, as he remembered, "Fate put me in some very funny situations... In 1958, I was sixteen or seventeen years old, so when you think about where the music industry was at that time. whether you want to call it rock and roll or rhythm and blues, whatever you want to call it, it was just happening. And it wasn't really being accepted because we were still basically in a segregated society. It was still out, so Motown, Stax or whatever, there were certain places you just couldn't play. You weren't playing Radio City Music Hall, Las Vegas, Miami Beach. So for a lot of those people, there was a circuit of theaters that was about five or six theaters and other than that, there were no places for these groundbreaking acts that we take for granted now. It was the Regal in Chicago, the Uptown in Philadelphia, the Royal in Baltimore, the Howard Theater in DC and the Apollo in New York. So I was the house band drummer at the Howard Theater for a while and who came through? Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Joe Tex, Sam & Dave, The Impressions, The Isley Brothers... There's a history and vocabulary and a language of that music that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. A lot of people can't say that, I was right in the middle of that."

Karma (1969) signed by Billy, Pharoah Sanders, Reggie Workman

After going out on the road with Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery, Billy moved to New York City in 1968 where he was in high demand as a session player. Eddie Harris, Marion McPartland, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul are a few with whom Billy recorded. The 1970s was a very productive decade as Billy recorded On The Corner in 1972 with Miles Davis, was a member of Herbie Hancock's acclaimed Sextet, and toured and played with Stan Getz for four years. Indeed, it was as fruitful as were the following decades. Billy also gave back to the community by his commitment to teaching students at Western Michigan University as an adjunct professor, and affiliations with the Oberlin Conservatory Of Music and the prestigious New England Conservatory Of Music.

Pure Getz (1988) signed by Billy

Erin and I were fortunate to see Billy many times over the years, primarily as a sideman in New York City clubs - the Blue Note, the Iridium, Sweet Basil - and on his home turf in Washington, DC - Blues Alley and One Step Down. He was always the engine of any band, a propulsive locomotive at times, and tender with exquisite brush work at others. Most recently, we saw Billy at the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, New York with pianist David Janeway who was showcasing his new CD, Distant Voices, featuring Cameron Brown on bass and Billy on drums. The show opened with a swinging version of the 1931 jazz standard, "Sweet And Lovely," followed by a suitably knotty and disjointed "Bemsha Swing" from the brilliant pen of Thelonious Monk. Other highlights included "One For Cedar," a Janeway composition and tribute to the great pianist Cedar Walton, "Minor Contention," a Hank Jones tune which featured the florid technique of Janeway bolstered by Billy's stout and resolute drums, and a lament to the unfortunate recent passing of Chick Corea, "Steps - Which Was," from Chick's trio masterpiece Now He Sings, Now He Sobs. It was a beautiful night of music rendered by these jazz masters.

Scope (1979) signed by Billy, Buck Hill, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams

After the show, I visited with Billy who was gracious while he signed his vinyl. I handed him his first album as a leader, Enchance released in 1977, "Oh man, you got my first album and you got (Oliver) Lake on here. Where did you see him?" he asked, pointing to Lake's signature. 'I saw him a couple weeks ago at Dizzy's with Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. It was one of their last gigs as TRIO 3,' I replied. "Wow, I didn't know they were playing. Lake is a genius, man, he is something, he really is a genius," Billy affirmed unequivocally. When he saw the Buck Hill album, he grew quiet, "You know, I owe everything to Buck. he was such a great man and player. I met him when I was a kid, he lived down the hall from my grandmother. That's how we met, we were really close." I mentioned that I used to see Buck at One Step Down in Washington DC, a small club which featured a great house band with Steve Novosel on bass and Reuben Brown on piano, "Oh Reuben is one of my favorites, we went to high school together. Man, I miss him." Though Reuben had a stroke more than twenty five years ago which curtailed his playing and passed away in 2018, his absence still stung and hung heavy.

Exit (1981) signed by Billy, “Be Encouraged”

As he signed the Pat Martino album Exit, he grew pensive, "Wow, Pat was so beautiful, what a terrible loss, this brings back a lot of memories." When I handed him a couple of Stan Getz albums, he brightened, "I love Stan. He was such a big influence.I played with him for four years and I learned the most from him, probably more than anybody else. He was a genius." When he saw The Best Of Two Worlds, he smiled, "Joao (Gilberto) was an old friend. I used to see him at The Showboat, a great club in DC. Charlie Byrd used to play there all the time, you know, Charlie brought this Brazilian music back with him from a State Department trip down there and I was lucky to hear it in the early 60s. Later, Joao became a great friend and I used to play with him." I thanked Billy for his time and especially his music.

As Billy once said about his vocation, "The rhythmic reason for this is to make people feel good. On the highest level, you actually heal people, both physically and psychologically. It makes people happy and it makes them move. That's the purpose of drumming in the first place. The dance, that's the point of anyone playing the drums."

A genius in his own right, a faultless timekeeper and a healer, Billy Hart's shit always lays!