Billy Hart
Billy Hart, who was born in 1940 in Washington, DC, is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.
Early on Hart performed in Washington, DC with soul artists such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, and was a sideman with the Montgomery Brothers (1961), Jimmy Smith (1964–6), and Wes Montgomery (1966–8). Following Montgomery’s death in 1968, Hart moved to New York, where he recorded with McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, and played with Eddie Harris, Pharoah Sanders and Marian McPartland. Hart was a member of Herbie Hancock’s sextet (1969–73), and played with McCoy Tyner (1973–4), Stan Getz (1974–7), and Quest (1980s), in addition to extensive freelance playing (including recording with Miles Davis on On the Corner in 1972).
Though Hart’s debut as leader on ECM, All Our Reasons, dates from 2011, he first recorded for the label back in 1974; his swinging beat and delicate cymbal tracery were heard with Bennie Maupin on the classic Jewel In The Lotus, and for ten years he was a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet, playing on such influential albums as The Call, All My Relations, Canto and Lift Every Voice.
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