Billy Hart

Born in Washington, DC, Billy Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history. From his earliest days as a performer, he has played with soul artists such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, and was a sideman with the Montgomery Brothers, Jimmy Smith, and Wes Montgomery. Following Montgomery’s death in 1968, Hart moved to New York, where he recorded with McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, and played with Eddie Harris, Pharoah Sanders and Marian McPartland. Hart was a member of Herbie Hancock’s sextet, and played with McCoy Tyner, Stan Getz, and Quest, in addition to extensive freelance playing (including recording with Miles Davis on On the Corner in 1972). The Billy Hart Quartet – consisting of Mark Turner (saxophone), Ethan Iverson (piano) and Ben Street (bass) – was formed in 2003 and has played to packed houses each year in New York. All Our Reasons was followed in 2014 by One is the Other, which John Fordham hailed in the Guardian as “superb”, praising the huge breadth of the jazz tradition which the quartet subtly reference.

Label | ECM Records