DownBeat November 2011 [antikvár]

First Take I BY FRANK ALKYER I THE NEW SCHOOL FOR AND CONTEM-; PORARY MUSIC Study, jam, and gig with legends of New York City's jazz and contemporary music scene. Earn your BFA or a combined BA/BFA. P ARE YOU NEW SCHOOL? www,newschool.edu/]azz4 An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution, Photos: Matthew Sussman, 6 DOWNDEAT DECEMBER 2011 Massive Respect for Roy Haynes He's been the consummate musician's musician, delivering the rhythmic drive for everyone from Lester Young to Charlie Parker to John Coltrane to Gary Burton, plus Dizzy, Miles. Sarah. Monk. Chick and many others. Still, it took a long time for folks to properly recognize the eternal hipnessof Roy Haynes. Let's just say the critical community took Haynes for granted for a long stretch of his career, which Pat Metheny correctly notes in our cover story, beginning on page 26. I'll take my share of the blame. We published a short piece about Mr. Haynes in 1990, my first year at DownBeat. It was the year Question Answer (Nonesuch) came out—the amazing trio record where Metheny, Dave Holland and Haynes created a jam session for the ages. After seeing the band at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival that year, 1 met Mr. Haynes at a hotel bar. We struck up a conversation that I'll never forget. "When are you going to write about Roy Haynes?" the drummer asked. I got excited because I had a copy of the November 199 DownBeai in my hands, and I opened it to page 24, where his feature apix-ared. Roy just shook his head. "Poor Roy Haynes," he said. "Only gets a half a page in DownBeat magazine." He was right. I vowed to do better. Three years later, journalist Bill Milkowski and 1 went to The Village Vanguard in New York to check out Haynes. (As a side note, Milkoswski worked with guitarist Pat Martino on his new autobiography. Here and Now!, and we've got a terrific excerpt beginning on page 46.) The show was smokin'. Afterward. Bill and I chatted with Roy, who asked, "So. when are you going to write about Roy Haynes?" A few months later. Milkowski wrote an excellent Haynes retrospective in our October 1993 issue to celebrate the drummer's upcoming honor of receiving the Jazzpar Prize from the Danish Jazz Center. I called Mr. Haynes to see if he liked the article. "It's pretty good, pretty good," he sighed. "But poor Roy Haynes, only gets a feature in DownBeat magazine. Does Roy Haynes have to die to gel on the cover? What does Roy Haynes have to do to get some respect?" Again, he was right, of course. And again, I vowed to do better. Spin ahead to 1996. Haynes had been playing drums professionally for more than 50 years. It was lime for that cover. Writer Howard Mandel got the assignment. Jeff Sedlik took the photos. Their only direction \vas to make sure Roy Haynes looked like the baddest man on the pUuiet. It didn't take much extra work, and both men delivered. That November 1996 cover is still one of my favorites—Roy, standing in front of a wall of cymbals, drumsticks centered in his hands. The headline? One word, all caps: "RESPECT." It should have said. "Overdue Respect," but it wouldn't have had the same impact. RESPECT rang true. (Check out that '96 cover in our Haynes time line on page 30.) In 2004. Ihc critics voted Mr. Haynes into the DownBeai Hall of Fame. And, in 2011. he belongs in the all-universe Hall of Fame, tearing it up with his Fountain of Youth band and releasing ROY-alty (Dreyfus Jazz), his new CD—all of this al the ripe young age of 86. So, this covcr is dedicated as a reminder to all. From the DownBeat family to one of the greatest drummers of all lime, wilh this issue. pay continued, massive respect to the incomparable Roy Haynes.