It was a delight to hear the ever witty and candid Jimmy Heath profiled by Tom Vitale on Weekend Edition on Saturday. Click here for the report, and to see a classic photo of Heath, Miles Davis, Kenny Drew, and Art Blakey.
In this excerpt from Heath’s 2011 interview with journalist and WPFW jazz host Larry Appelbaum for the Before & After column in JazzTimes, he’s heard discussing the great tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. That explains why Ben’s image is on the face of the YouTube clip, but what’s inside is, in the words of a new composition by trombonist Michael Dease, “All Heath.”
Here’s Jimmy in 2009 at age 83 with his brother Albert, bassist David Wong, and the late pianist Mulgrew Miller playing the Blue Mitchell original, “Fungii Mama.”