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LOUIS HAYES BIOGRAPHY
Louis Sedell Hayes was born on 31 May 1937, in Detroit
Michigan, USA. Louis began playing
drums at a very early age, by his mid teens he was leading his own band in
Detroit. Shortly afterwards he
teemed up with Yusef Lateef and has never looked back.
Moving to New York while still a teenager, in 1956, he
joined the Horace Silver Quintet, and for the next two years when he wasn’t
touring and recording with Horace, Louis recorded with John Coltrane and numerous
other jazz greats. In 1959 Louis
went on to join Cannonball Adderley’s quintet touring worldwide and recording
with the group until 1965 when he joined the Oscar Peterson Trio with whom he
toured and recorded for the next two years.
From the fifties to date Louis Hayes has recorded with, and
played beside, a veritable who’s who in jazz, to name just a few, Yusef Lateef,
Bobby Timmons, Hank Jones, Sony Rollins, Sam Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny
Barron, Victor Feldman, Percy Heath, Pepper Adams, Woody Shaw, Roland Hannah,
Richard Davies, Tommy Flannagan, Curtis Fuller, Idrees Sulieman, Art Farmer, Cecil Taylor,
Hank Mobley, Charles Tolliver, Dexter Gordon, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton,
Reggie Workman, James Moody, Kirk Lightsey, Vincent Herring, Christian McBride,
Javon Jackson, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, from one generation to another, the
list goes on and on, too many to mention here. Louis is one of the most
recorded drummers in the history of jazz, with hundreds of recordings to his
credit, and one of the few drummers to successfully span all the changes in the
music since the hard bop era.
Following in the footsteps of his first major influences,
Kenny “Klook” Clark, Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, and Papa Jo Jones, who
anchored the Count Basie Orchestra, all were great drummers and band leaders in
their own right. Louis has enjoyed
a steady successful career since his days with Yusef Lateef , he developed his
own style and honed his craft ever evolving and stretching himself musically. Louis is a dynamic driving force, his energy
level, is as fresh today as it was in the sixties he has earned his place as a
drumming legend and a great band leader. Louis Hayes has worked and recorded steadily with his
own groups since 1989, his exceptional talent has always extended itself in his
infallible ability to mobilize some of the tightest most cohesive groups
together under his own name. His
current group is Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Legacy Band featuring Vincent
Herring alto sax, Jeremy Pelt trumpet,
Rick Germanson, Piano, Santi Debriano, bass.
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