Sad news from the world of jazz where it has been announced that veteran drummer Roy Haynes has died, aged 99, just four months short of his 100th birthday.
He was one of the last links to the swing and bebop era. Haynes played with some of the genre’s old time greats, including Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and many many more.
His career started off in the mid 1940s when he worked under some of the swing era bandleaders like Sabby Lewis and Frankie Newton. By the '50s he had developed his own brisk, energetic style, earning the nickname ‘Snapcrackle’. Significantly, in the early '50s he turned down a role in Duke Ellington’s band, fearing Ellington’s more traditional style would limit him. Haynes was nothing if not versatile – indeed, his long career is a testament to his adaptability.
Come the 1960s and he was releasing acclaimed albums as a bandleader, such as 1962’s Out Of The Afternoon. He also formed his own outfit, the Hip Ensemble. It was, according to many of his admirers, an appropriate name.
Guitarist Pat Metheny, who toured with him in the late '80s once said: “Roy is the human manifestation of whatever it is that the word ‘hip’ was supposed to mean before it just became a word. Always in the moment, always in this time, eternal and classic and at the same time totally nonchalant about it.”
His career endured well past the point most drummers have hung up their sticks. Both his 2004 album Fountain Of Youth and 2007’s Whereas won Grammy nominations. He even presented a jazz radio show on the video game Grand Theft Auto IV and up until relatively recently Haynes would always celebrate his birthday in March with a gig at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, a tradition he kept up until his 94th birthday.
In an interview with Percussive Arts Society, Haynes once remarked: “Maybe the secret of staying youthful is playing the drums. I know that performing makes me feel good, and it also makes me sleep well.”
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