Roy Haynes -

Roy Haynes (March 13, 1925 — November 12, 2024) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader from Roxbury, Mass. He established his national profile through work with Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane, followed by major 1960s sessions with Stan Getz, Eric Dolphy, and Chick Corea.

Haynes maintained a parallel bandleader catalog from Busman’s Holiday and Out of the Afternoon through Hip Ensemble, Senyah, Te Vou!, and Fountain of Youth, while later collaborations with Pat Metheny and younger jazz players extended his recording career across seven decades.

Background

Roy Owen Haynes was born March 13, 1925, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the third of four sons born to Barbadian immigrants Gustavus and Edna Haynes. Gustavus worked for Standard Oil, sang in a church choir, and played organ. Older brother Douglas collected jazz records and kept drumsticks in the family home; he later introduced Roy to Count Basie drummer Jo Jones, whom Haynes already followed on Basie records. Younger brother Michael E. Haynes became pastor of Roxbury’s Twelfth Baptist Church and represented the district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Haynes studied violin and gravitated toward drums as a child. At age eight or nine, he received several snare-drum lessons from neighbor Herbie Wright, a veteran of the 369th Infantry Regiment Band under James Reese Europe. Haynes played in school bands and a drum-and-bugle corps, then left Roxbury Memorial High School in the third year of secondary school. A short stay at Boston Conservatory brought drum lessons with Karl Ludwig.

In 1942, Haynes entered professional work around Boston. Engagements over the next two years included trumpeter Frankie Newton, alto saxophonist Pete Brown, pianist-bandleader Sabby Lewis, and a Savoy date on Massachusetts Avenue with Sidney Bechet. In 1945, Haynes took a summer gig with bandleader Phil Edmond at Martha’s Vineyard. Alto saxophonist Charlie Holmes recommended Haynes to New York bandleader Luis Russell, who sent a one-way train ticket and waited for the Vineyard engagement to close. Haynes reached New York after Labor Day and made his Russell debut at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. The Russell orchestra retained Haynes through 1947, while Louis Armstrong borrowed the drummer for a short Southern tour of tobacco warehouses.

Haynes made his earliest documented studio recordings with tenor saxophonist Lester Young on February 18, 1947, at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles, where the sextet cut six sides for Aladdin. Young hired Haynes in October, and the first week included a Town Hall concert with singer Billie Holiday. Haynes remained with Young into 1949, then moved through dates with trombonist Kai Winding, pianist Bud Powell, saxophonist Wardell Gray, and trumpeter Miles Davis. An August 9 Blue Note session for Powell paired Haynes with trumpeter Fats Navarro, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and bassist Tommy Potter at WOR Studios.

Charlie Parker hired Haynes in 1949 and used him on club engagements and recording dates through the 1953 season. Haynes joined singer Sarah Vaughan that year and entered the working trio that accompanied her on stage and in the studio. Vaughan took the group to Europe in fall 1954, with Sweden among the tour stops. Metronome booked Haynes in Stockholm on October 3 for the first recording session under his own name.

Discography: