Billy Hart

ABOUT BILLY HART

A 2022 NEA Jazz Master, the driving pulse of drummer Billy Hart has provided the backbone for the most adventurous modern jazz since the early 1960s, including Herbie Hancock’s explosive Mwandishi band and the loose juggernaut chronicled on Miles Davis’ hugely influential 1972 release On The Corner. A rhythmic whirlwind who began his career driving the groove behind jazz legends Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery in his hometown of Washington D.C., Hart moved to New York after the death of Montgomery in 1968, and found himself in the thick of the electrified, Afro-Centric jazz scene thriving there. In addition to his contribution to definitive statements by Hancock and Davis, work with Pharoah Sanders, Eddie Harris, Joe Zawinul, Eddie Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, and McCoy Tyner followed in rapid order, establishing Hart as a first-call rhythm section player. He made his first venture as a bandleader with 1977’s Enchance, a superb session featuring Dewey Redman and Dave Holland. A procession of solid records followed with varying lineups until 2006’s Billy Hart Quartet – an acclaimed album featuring the empathic band that has been Hart’s primary ensemble ever since, featuring pianist Ethan Iverson, saxophonist Mark Turner, and bassist Ben Street. Hart is also currently a member of the all-star veteran ensemble The Cookers.