BIOGRAPHY

Roy Haynes, born Roy Owen Haynes on March 13, 1925 in Boston, MS, is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.
A primarily self-taught drummer with a music career spanning more than 70 years, Roy Haynes is one of the most recorded drummers in jazz, playing a wide range of styles including swing, bebop, jazz-fusion and avant-garde jazz.
Haynes began playing the drums locally in 1942 with musicians such as guitarist Tom Brown, bandleader Sabby Lewis, and Kansas City saxophonist Pete Brown. In the summer of 1945 he joined legendary bandleader Luis Russell (known for his musical backing Louis Armstrong from 1929 to 1933) to play for the dancers at New York's legendary Savoy Ballroom. When he wasn't travelling with Russell, the young Haynes spent a great deal of time on 52nd Street (Manhattan) and uptown in Minton's, checking out the growing bebop scene.
Roy Haynes went on to play drums for the likes of Lester Young (1947-49), Bud Powell and Miles Davis (1949), and Charlie Parker (1949-53). He toured the globe with Sarah Vaughan (1954-59), played a plethora of extended gigs with Thelonious Monk (1959-60), recorded eight albums with Eric Dolphy (1960-61), played extensively with Stan Getz (1961-65), as well as playing and recording with the John Coltrane Quartet (1963-65). he worked with Pat Metheny throughout the '90s, and has had ongoing collaborations with Chick Corea since 1968. Besides working as a sideman with other greats such as Gary Burton, Wardell Gray, Dizzy Gillespie, Henry Grimes, Andrew Hill, Christian McBride, Jackie McLean, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins and Horace Tapscott, Haynes has been an active bandleader from the late '50s to the present. A perpetual top three drummer in the Downbeat Readers Poll Awards, he won the Best Drummer honors in 1996, and in that year received the prestigious French Chevalier des l'Ordres Artes et des Lettres.
In 2011, The Recording Academy presented Roy Haynes with the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 53rd Grammy Award ceremony.
Now in his 90s, Haynes continues to perform publicly with his own band.
PHOTOS
DISCOGRAPHY
Roy Haynes as band leader/co-leader:
- 1954: Busman's Holiday
- 1954: Roy Haynes Modern Group
- 1956: Jazz Abroad (Mercury) split album with Quincy Jones
- 1958: We Three (New Jazz) with Paul Chambers & Phineas Newborn
- 1960: Just Us (New Jazz)
- 1962: Out of the Afternoon (Impulse!)
- 1963: Cracklin' (New Jazz) with Booker Ervin
- 1963: Cymbalism (New Jazz) 1964: People
- 1971: Hip Ensemble (Mainstream)
- 1972: Equipoise (Mainstream)
- 1973: Senyah (Mainstream)
- 1975: Togyu (RCA)
- 1976: Jazz a Confronto Vol. 29 (Horo)
- 1976: Sugar Roy 1977: Vistalite
- 1977: Thank You Thank You
- 1979: Live at the Riverbop (Marge Records)
- 1986: True or False (Freelance Records)
- 1992: Homecoming
- 1992: When It's Haynes It Roars
- 1994: My Shining Hour
- 1994: Te Vou! (with Pat Metheny)
- 1998: Praise
- 2000: The Roy Haynes Trio
- 2000: Roy Haynes
- 2001: Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker (with Roy Hargrove, Dave Holland and Kenny Garrett)
- 2003: Love Letters
- 2004: Fountain of Youth
- 2004: Quiet Fire (reissue of Thank You Thank You and Vistalite)
- 2006: Whereas
- 2007: A Life in Time: The Roy Haynes Story (3CD-1DVD Boxed Set, 1949-2006)
- 2011: Roy-Alty