Search - Billy Higgins :: Mr Billy Higgins

Smilin' Billy, Bias on Woodwinds; a very beautiful thing

03/29/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A very melodic and bouncing album. Gary Bias plays overdubs on woodwinds and shines on the classic 'John Coltrane'. Sweet music by one of the greatest drummers ever. My father used to play this vinyl when I was younger, and I remembered the gorgeous melodies when I recently found the CD."

Gary Bias, John Coltrane, Gary Bias, YES!!

11/07/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First heard this album on KCRW back in the 1980's on a show hosted by Ahmad Abdul-Jabbar from Midnight to 5am! He played the song "John Coltrane". What a haunting melody! Doesn't anyone else know about this tune? Check it out!"

Excellence... sheer unadorned excellence.....

NDBx | New York, NY United States | 10/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tony Dumas - Bass, William Henderson - Piano, Gary Byas - Woodwinds and the venerable Mr. Higgins on drums - on Evidence Records. A lost treasure!!! A marvelous modern jazz album - Timeless, you can play it today, ten years from now, ten years ago and it holds up. I remember the first time I heard this album in the mid-eighties. I was captivated more by an intangible "it". The players all are fine musicians but the sum total of the parts and the "spirit" of this recording is what gets me. Gary Byas shines on this recording (if the name sounds familiar to some, it is because it is the same Gary Byas who is in the Earth, Wind & Fire horn section). This recording has no affectations at all. When I hear it, I think of purity."