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Albert "Tootie" Heath: Class Personified
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Jazz has moved on, hip-hop has moved on and pop has moved on. It goes on. I'm happy to be here, able to do what I do.
—Albert "Tootie" Heath
Albert "Tootie" Heath is among the drummers who lived—and thrived—during what many call the golden age of jazz, the '40s, '50, early '60s. He's enjoyed the fruits of a varied and historic career, but never stayed put. Just kept working. He admires the musicians of today and the direction of jazz. The Philadelphia native extols hip-hop for its status in today's music world. On the way to age 80 at the end of May, he is still growing and learning.
The youngest of the famed Heather brothers [bassist
Percy Heath
bass, acoustic1923 - 2005
Jimmy Heath
saxophone, tenor1926 - 2020
Heath is a positive person; forthright, jovial and intelligent. He has confidence, but no destructive ego. And, like his brothers, he doesn't lack for stories and has a sparkling knack for telling them. He watched
Charles Mingus
bass, acoustic1922 - 1979
Thelonious Monk
piano1917 - 1982
Listening to his new CD, Philadelphia Beat, and the resourceful intricacy he brings to each of the 12 tunes with bandmates
Ethan Iverson
pianob.1973
Ben Street
bass"I had the opportunity to play with some of the greatest people," says Heath of the period decades ago. "During that time, those people were not really considered great. They were just good players.
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Sonny Rollins
saxophoneb.1930
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto1930 - 2015
Don Cherry
trumpet1936 - 1995
He chuckles before adding, "But he's still around, so maybe it will happen."
Today, he's still playing with vital musicians. Philadelphia Beat is the third recording with Iverson and Street. It was recorded in Philly and consists of a variety of styles and songs from disparate eras. Monk's ""Bye Ya,"
Milt Jackson
vibraphone1923 - 1999
"It brings out a whole other aspect of my growing. Ethan and Ben are guys that have taken me on a little different journey," says Heath from his Santa Fe, New Mexico home where he moved last fall from Los Angeles. "It's getting to be more and more exciting. I'm allowed to explore and do different things. At almost 80 years old, I've got an opportunity to dig deep in myself. Even play a few of my own compositions and things that I don't get chance to do. Since Percy died, Jimmy has become the musical director of the Heath Brothers. He plays his own music. I don't blame him... It's fun. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying I get the chance to do a lot of things Ethan and Ben Street that I don't do with my brother."
The drummer doesn't pick all the music for the recordings. Some stuff is discussed among the group. Suggestions might be made and Heath will have the final say. Then they go to work on them. They don't over work them. The band is tight, and because of that, they feel free to be themselves and to reach for things—something Heath has always admired in musicians.
"The three of us have found each other musically. We are exploring things that we haven't done before," he says. "Ben has a reputation as a guy that's the avant-garde groups' choice. He's kind of known for that. And Ethan is known for the music of the
The Bad Plus
band / ensemble / orchestrab.2000
Andrew Cyrille
drumsb.1939
The group did a tour last rummer and hopes to get a string of concerts going later in the year. [The played the Village Vanguard in early March]. When they hit the stage, "We have a spontaneous performance. It's all about improvisation. We improvise with our music as well as our arrangements and everything. Everything is improvisation," Heath says.
That quality is freshness is something Heath values. When the aforementioned Ornette Coleman burst onto the New York City scene more than 50 years ago, Heath was there. That music, not based on chords or melodies, baffled some and irritated others. Some slowly came around to appreciate it. Heath was right there in the room. His attraction was immediate, an indication of his widespread fondness for many genres.
He recalls, "That music wasn't 'outside' to me. It was fresh. It had a wonderful feeling. I loved Ornette and Don Cherry and
Charlie Haden
bass, acoustic1937 - 2014
Ed Blackwell
drums1929 - 1992
Billy Higgins
drums1936 - 2001
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
At the time of Coleman's famous Five Spot run that introduced the world's jazz capital to the new, audacious style, Health lived nearby the club. "He played there for a year and people were coming. I lived just around the corner so I used to go in there and listen to those guys. And I loved it. I used to see people like Sonny Rollins hiding in the phone booth listening.
Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007
John Lewis
piano1920 - 2001
In his early years, Heath also played a prolong gig at the Five spot, in a trio with
Roland Hanna
piano1932 - 2002
Mingus could be volatile, and it didn't matter if it was public or not.
"Mingus had a fight one night with
Sunny Murray
drums1937 - 2017
Retribution? Heath slyly recalls, "The next night Mingus brought a big butcher's knife. He threw it down on the stage and he said, 'Y'all think I'm going to let that young man come in here and kick my butt, you're crazy.' He threw the knife down in the stage and that's where it stayed all night. But Sunny Murray didn't come back that night."
"Thelonious, there was always something with him," says Heath. "One night he was back in a chair in the dressing room, which was the kitchen. We were the warmup group. He would come in while we were playing and go straight to the bar and order so many drinks, it looked like he had one on each finger. He would go in the kitchen and drink that. One night, he drank them all. I don't know what he had before he got there, but it was a bit much. He was asleep in the chair. Mr. Chan, he was the chef. He never said anything. He wouldn't even speak to us. He would be cooking and busy. This night he turned and looked at us—Thelonious was sitting in the chair, asleep and it was his turn to go on—and Mr. Chan said, 'Hmm. Look at Mr. Monk now.' That was it. We all just laughed. He woke up and went out and played. Everything was OK... There was always some drama. Nica [Pannonica Rothschild, the famed "jazz baroness"] was there in the front row with her cigarette holder and those perfumes she used to wear. It was a great period."
The roots of the musical Heath brothers, however, was in Philadelphia. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was one of the hotbeds of jazz, and outstanding musicians abounded. But "the root was rhythm and blues. Not necessarily jazz. I played around with a lot of rhythm and blues groups. Bull Moose Jackson. Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Lynn Hope. There was a lot of R&B music. I was influenced because of the popularity of the music and not so much jazz. But the jazz took over. My brother Jimmy was the one instrumental in influencing me to play jazz. Percy was not even playing. He was in the military [Tuskegee Airmen] and he was 13 years older than me. So I was like a pain in the ass little brother."
With brother Jimmy as a guide, Albert listened to Dizzy and Miles and the modern musicians. His brother was also beginning to form and lead his own big band that would start playing the arrangements of Gillespie and other noted bands that were making recordings.
"
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Specs Wright
b.1927The drummer would hook up with pianist
Bobby Timmons
piano1935 - 1974
Jimmy Garrison
bass, acoustic1934 - 1976
Lee Morgan
trumpet1938 - 1972
In a group called the Hightones, he with John Coltrane and
Shirley Scott
organ, Hammond B31934 - 2002
Dexter Gordon
saxophone, tenor1923 - 1990
Sonny Stitt
saxophone1924 - 1982
Elvin Jones
drums1927 - 2004
McCoy Tyner
piano1938 - 2020
Carney sang and played some percussion. He was married to Scott at the time and led the band. Says Heath, "Bill used to ask him to get on the bar and honk, like the tenor players used to do in those days. [Called bar-walking tenor, aimed at inciting the crowd]. To get the crowd excited and maybe we could get another weekend in the club. People would come to see this guy get on the bar. And he hated it. But he would get up there and start out with the honking. But then he would go crazy and just start playing. It was so exciting. We did get more opportunities to play in those places over and over again. That group stayed together around Philly for maybe three or four years. "
For a time Heath played in the house rhythm section at the Showboat with guests including
Lester Young
saxophone1909 - 1959
Stan Getz
saxophone, tenor1927 - 1991
Oscar Pettiford
bass1922 - 1960
J.J. Johnson
trombone1924 - 2001
But at first, "it was overwhelming," he says. "Number one, I took Elvin Jones' place with J.J. I couldn't believe he called me up to play. He sent me an album to listen to. Of course, I had heard Elvin with J.J. and I was aware of Elvin's creativity and his style of playing. J.J. was wonderful. Elvin got a chance to really blossom. All of a sudden, he was leaving the group. J.J. called me and asked me if i wanted to join. I couldn't believe it. I said, 'Man, what am I going to play after Elvin Jones played all these wonderful arrangements?' I was going to play these arrangements, but it wasn't Elvin Jones. It was me. I had to come up with something. I couldn't do Elvin. So I had to try to be myself. I kind of developed playing with J.J. With
Clifford Jordan
saxophone, tenor1931 - 1993
Nat Adderley
trumpet1931 - 2000
Freddie Hubbard
trumpet1938 - 2008
Cedar Walton
piano1934 - 2013
Tommy Flanagan
piano1930 - 2001
He played around the vibrant scene with people like
Herbie Hancock
pianob.1940
Barry Harris
piano1929 - 2021
Ron Carter
bassb.1937
Yusef Lateef
woodwinds1920 - 2013
"He was one of my main influences about religion and being a man and just being positive and very serious about music. I learned all these things from Yusef. He used to encourage us to write and bring some music in for us to play as a group.
Kenny Barron
pianob.1943
Bob Cunningham
bass1934 - 2017
Lateef encouraged the drummer to join his arrangement class, where he learned about atonal music and things like tone poems. The saxophonist/flutist/composer's focus impressed the young drummer.
"He was studying for one of his doctorate's at the time, I believe from NYU. We were playing at Slug's on the lower east side. It was a popular place. There were no dressing rooms. It was a bar. It was a joint. On his break, he would be sitting at the piano, working on his dissertation. After the break was over, he would be ready to play the next set. At intermission, we would be fooling around at the bar, talking to people, running around in the club. Yusef would be very serious and very dedicated and focused on doing what he was doing. He wrote his dissertation in Slug's. That was one. Then he got another doctorate at University at Amherst. He went to mecca three or four times and became al-Hajj, which is a high position in Islamic religion. He became al-Hajj Dr. Lateef. This guy was achieving unbelievable things at the age or 60 or 70. He was wonderful."
During this segment, late 1960s and into the 1970s, Heath moved to Sweden. But Lateef kept him in the band, where Heath would join European tours and sometimes travel back to the U.S. to do gigs. "I did that for quite a few years. I lived in Sweden and came back every summer and played with Yusef. That was 11 or 12 years of my life. It was wonderful."
His jump to Sweden was prompted by a trip he made with
George Russell
composer / conductor1923 - 2009
Garnett Jnr Brown
tromboneb.1936
Joe Farrell
saxophone1937 - 1986
Cameron Brown
bassb.1945
"I played Montmartre [Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen] with everybody. Sonny Rollins, Yusef, Dexter Gordon,
Johnny Griffin
saxophone, tenor1928 - 2008
Coleman Hawkins
saxophone, tenor1904 - 1969
Ben Webster
saxophone, tenor1909 - 1973
Don Byas
saxophone, tenor1912 - 1972
Kenny Drew
piano1928 - 1993
He was back in the U.S. in the '70s, and continued to prosper. Among the things he was able to do was play with the Modern Jazz Quartet, a famous group where his brother Percy played bass and pianist John Lewis was a dominant voice. "That was their final year. I traveled with them for one year. We went all over the world. China. Eastern Europe. Brazil. California to New York. That was it. They disbanded after that... Playing with my brothers was amazing. Percy at one time was busy with the MJQ, so we didn't have him all the time. Then when MJQ decided they had enough, Percy was with us totally. We had a great time."
Later Albert, Jimmy and Percy formed the Heath Brothers, a band that had various sidemen in the early years. The Heath Brothers of the late 70s and into the '80s was "the family tree, the experience we had with our family. Our mother and father. We had a lot of stuff in common and we could play together like we knew each other inside and out. It was a great experience." The band would take breaks, but continued regularly as a quartet with
Jeb Patton
pianob.1974
David Wong
bassHeath continues to be a sideman with various artists when he's not playing with brother Jimmy or working with his trio. He also has a DVD project coming out in which he presents the history of the drum. "It's a DVD about some of the people that have gone before me that I respect and have brought along some of the tradition." It will be unveiled in New York City soon, one such event scheduled for the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music.
"It goes beyond jazz," says Heath. "It starts out in Africa and goes to Puerto Rico with an Indian woman playing bata drums. Then I introduce the swing guys. Then go on to my mentors and people who influenced me, like
Kenny Clarke
drums1914 - 1985
Philly Joe Jones
drums1923 - 1985
Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007
Tony Williams
drums1945 - 1997
Many of the young drummers are highly schooled, but the historical presentation would help give them a feel for the roots of their instrument. It's valuable even for non-drummers who need to understand how rhythms have developed over time.
But Heath understands that time moves on. Progress is made. Eras disappear.
"I don't live in New York anymore, but when I go back I hear all these new young people that are wonderful. The music has gone totally somewhere else. It's high tech. It's very academic. I always say it kind of left the heart and went to the head," says Heath. "It's good. There's nothing wrong with that. It has to move. We're sending letters from our wristwatches now. So how can we have music that's not advanced and technical?"
Many drummers don't use older styles in their push for new or genre-bending experiments. That, too, is OK.
"They don't play with people that are old school. So they have to play contemporary. They have to play the music of today. The old school, leave to the old guys... these guys can do more stuff with one hand than I can do with everything. They come and see me and we laugh and talk. They go on and do what they do, and I do what I do. Until I'm dead, and some other guys, the tradition is going to be around. And there's some young people too that want to play in this tradition. But I think music has moved on."
Unlike many his age, Heath believes "hip-hop has played a strong role in helping it move on. Hip-hop is one of the most unbelievable genres. It's worldwide, without any distribution of recordings. It's all over the world. You go to China, you see guys with their pants down on their butts and tattoos on their heads, saying all kinds of crazy stuff and doing hip-hop. I think the music has moved on. Jazz has moved on, hip-hop has moved on and pop has moved on. It goes on. I'm happy to be here, able to do what I do."
Heath observed, and loved, drummers that were younger than him that became highly important, like Tony Williams and
Jack DeJohnette
drumsb.1942
Art Blakey
drums1919 - 1990
Unflappable, amiable and classy, Heath says simply, "I'm happy that I can still perform and do what I'm doing and be influenced by it. Also maintain my roots and the stuff that I came up with. That's something the young people don't really have because they didn't come up with this. They have something different. I'm happy that I'm able to share whatever it is that I do with what's going on today. I'm very pleased with the music of today."
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Albert "Tootie" Heath
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