Sunday, November 2, 1997
Haynes Is Happening
Listeners are catching on to a drummer regarded as jazz
royalty by his peers for half a century
By Peter B. King, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Arts & Entertainment
Great jazz musicians have to be great listeners, able to
respond to the improvisations of their colleagues in a
nanosecond.
That talent can carry over to other kinds of communication
as well. At the end of a recent telephone interview, for
example, drummer Roy Haynes asks a reporter if he’s going
to catch his gig Friday at the Manchester Craftsmen’s
Guild. “Uh, yes I am,” the reporter answers, with just the
slightest hesitation.
“Uh, yes,” Haynes repeats drolly, as quickly as he might
insert a rim-shot or a bass-drum bomb into a sudden pause
in the sax player’s solo. “Are you sure you’re gonna be
there?”
The reporter is forced to admit he has an overriding
personal commitment. And he learns what great jazz
musicians from Charlie Parker to John Coltrane to Pat
Metheny have learned: Roy Haynes does not miss a beat.
Speaking from his home on the South Shore of Long Island,
the 71-year-old drummer is informal (he’s eating a
sandwich), at ease with himself and not afraid to challenge
in a good-humored fashion as he reflects on a long and
fabulous career.
Haynes has always worked, and worked with the best. And he
has always been regarded as an innovator by those in the
know. But he’s never been a star in the manner of, say, Art
Blakey. In the past five or six years, though, he’s gotten
more notice.
For his increased visibility, Haynes credits the Jazzpar
Award, sort of like the jazz Nobel — a $30,000 Danish prize
he won in 1994. He also credits Metheny, who employed
Haynes and Dave Holland on his popular “Question and
Answer” CD in 1990. Metheny thanked Haynes in the liner
notes “for his incredible contributions to modern music.”
Going back a little, Haynes mentions Chick Corea’s debut
record as a leader, “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs,” in 1968,
and his frequent gigs with Corea since.
“These things started coming to the forefront, and a lot of
people started realizing Roy Haynes is one of the great
innovators,” he says.
Longevity helps, he adds.
“If you stay out here long enough, only the strong survive,
man. You know, I’ve been kicking ass on the drums all my
career.”
And, yes, Haynes is aware he won’t be remembered for his
humility. “I don’t mean to talk to you so truthful and so
strong,” he explains. “But it’s true.”
Haynes began his career while still a teen-ager in his
native Boston. He moved to New York in 1945 and played for
two years with Luis Russell’s swing big band. In 1947, he
joined saxophonist Lester Young on the Big Apple’s 52nd
Street, the epicenter of the igniting modern jazz movement.
Gigs and recordings followed with Bud Powell, Miles Davis
and Charlie Parker (Haynes is on “Charlie Parker With
Strings.”) The drummer gained a reputation not only for
skill but for onstage energy and style — including his
flashy dress.
From 1953 to 1958, he toured the world backing Sarah
Vaughan. He played with Thelonious Monk and Coltrane on the
momentous 1958 club dates captured on “Live at The Five
Spot.” In the ‘60s, he regularly subbed for Elvin Jones in
Coltrane’s famous quartet, as documented on “Newport ‘63.”
And the gigs kept coming — with Eric Dolphy, in Gary
Burton’s early jazz-rock quartet, with Stan Getz. Plus,
there was his work as a leader in his Hip Ensemble and on
albums like “We Three” and “Out of the Afternoon.” His
“Blues for Coltrane” won a Grammy in 1988, although Haynes
says it wasn’t his best.
In the ‘90s, Haynes’ efforts include a great live CD,
“Homecoming,” and “Te Vou!,” which features Metheny as well
as most of Haynes’ regular band of young tigers, who will
accompany him in Pittsburgh - saxophonist Donald Harrison,
pianist Dave Kikoski and bassist Ed Howard.
Haynes, along with Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell and a few
others, has been credited with bringing a new style to jazz
drumming, marked by layers of contrasting rhythms and
de-emphasizing repeated patterns in favor of a more
flexible, spontaneous approach. Coltrane said of Haynes:
“He spreads the rhythm.”
Asked to elaborate, Haynes is reluctant to get technical.
But he stresses that he began in the swing era, and the
pursuit of swing has always been paramount.
“I played with a big dance band for two years. And then,
when I was playing so-called bebop, I was SWINGING it. You
could dance to it. In fact, I started with Lester Young in
Harlem in a place called the Savoy Ballroom. A lot of
people were standing in front watching and listening, but
they were dancing to it, too.
“I don’t know how to put things into words all the time,”
he says with a laugh. “I’m just a player. I paint a
picture. I try to tell a story when I play.”
Haynes is asked if it’s tough to summon his ferocious
energy behind the kit at the age of 71. How does he stay in
shape?
“I like to breathe fresh air. I don’t smoke cigarettes.
I’ve indulged socially in smoking a little herb — I’ve
never really been into it per se. I don’t work out.
“As soon as you finish this, I’m going out to put the hose
on my Corvette, and I’m gonna drive to Manhattan and meet
with my agent. I’m not rushin’ ya. I’m in short pants now,
I’ve got sneakers on. When I wash the car, it’s bending
down. That’s a knee-bending exercise,” he says with a
laugh.
Haynes does perform less than when he had growing children
and a mortgage, but he’s not so much pacing his body as he
is his soul.
“Since I’ve been doing this tour, this has been keeping me
moving quite a bit. But I’ve been playing over 50 years, ya
know? Playing with all types of people. So I like to space
it. I like it to really mean something. I don’t just like
to go and perform and then just be there for the money. So
I take long periods in between where I’m a daydreamer.
“I enjoy other parts of life besides the music. I’m always
out by the water and the trees. And usually I have dogs,
but I’ve been traveling so much I got rid of them. I had
tropical fish — I got rid of all of them.”
Then there are his children (whom he hasn’t gotten rid of),
including Craig, a drummer like his old man, and Graham, a
cornetist/trumpeter who’s making well-received records for
Verve Antilles.
And don’t forget his cars, including the Corvette and a
1974 Bricklin — the model for the DeLorean — which wins
prizes at vintage auto shows.
You get the distinct feeling that Haynes is a
don’t-look-back, no-regrets kind of guy.
“It’s been great,” he says of his career. “Now it’s
peaking. After you peak, then what is there? If you don’t
stay there, you come down. So maybe this is my last affair.
. . . I wanna enjoy every moment, man. When I get on the
(band)stand, I wanna play like (drummer) Denzil Best used
to tell me years ago: ‘Play like it’s the last time you’re
gonna play, man. Play your heart out.’”
Roy Haynes
Where: Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, North Side.
When: 8 p.m. Friday.
Tickets: $20; 322-0800.
Copyright © 1997, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
