It was a big deal at 75, 80, and 85, but now that Roy Haynes’s 90th birthday is here, it feels routine. Roy’s tapped skins and cymbals for over 70 years, and the fashion plate from Roxbury has a franchise of his own on fountains of youth. Roy’s snap/crackle has worked wonders behind scores of jazz greats ranging from Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, and John Coltrane to Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Joshua Redman. Over the past fifty years, his own bands, lately known as the Fountain of Youth, have helped bring many younger lions to prominence. He’s at the Blue Note this weekend, with Metheny and Christian McBride sitting in tonight, and Roy Hargrove guesting tomorrow.
Here’s the Roy Haynes Trio with pianist David Kikoski and bassist John Patitucci in a 2009 concert from San Sebastian, Spain. Beautifully played and filmed. Enjoy! And Happy Birthday, Roy!
In his introductory remarks before this excellent performance, Chick Corea says he wanted to work with Miroslav Vitous for musical reasons, but I suspect it was because the Prague-born bassist provided verbal contrast to the pronounced Boston accents of Chick and trio mate Roy!
As Corea notes, he first worked with Roy in Stan Getz’s Quartet in the mid-60s. Here’s Roy with Getz, Steve Swallow, and Gary Burton playing “Jive Hoot,” a Bob Brookmeyer tune that doubled as Roy’s showcase.