American Drummer and band leader. Born Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts, 1925.
Haynes was soon fascinated by Jo Jones, Sid Catlett and Chick Webb, their feeling, their combination of fire and looseness, their uncanny approach altogether.
By the age of 16, still in high school, and as a self-taught musician he was drumming for several bands, in the Boston area, building up a reputation among jazzmen from that town. There he started his professional carrier in 1944 playing with Frankie Newton, Pete Brown, Sabby Lewis, and other lesser-known local groups. The following year he moved to N.Y., working at Harlem's famous Savoy Ballroom with Luis Russell's Orchestra, of which he was a member until 1947.
Being such a natural and flexibl e player, Haynes soon cooperated with jazz greats of practically all kinds of style. The almost endless list looks like a veritable Who's Who of jazz.
Added at an early stage were such masters as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Young called him "The Royal of Haymes". The Bird referred to Haynes as his favorite drummer. Special emphasis must also be put on Haynes' status as the preferred substitute for Elvin Jones in the historic Coltrane Quartet (1961-65), with which he made some of its most remarkable recordings. Coltrane, too, considered Haynes one of the bestdrummers he ever worked with.
Roy Haynes has been a free-lancer most of his carrier. Usually, you would meet him as a sideman. In addition to a long engagement with Sarah Vaughan, he has during various periods served as the always frisky and solid rhythmic foundaiton for a variety of outstanding artists such as Eric Dolphy, Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny and Michel Petrucciani. From 1960 he started from time to time to manifest himself as the leader of a bop group and later on of the jazz-rock Hip Ensemble, including such players as George Adams and Hannibal Peterson. Still today Haynes is listening quite a bit to and also permanently collaborating with much younger artists like the tenor saxophonists Ralph Moore and Craig Handy - and his own son Graham, a trumpet and cornet player. But he doesn't want to play that often anymore. Thus he refuses most of the gigs he is offered by other band leaders as he, fronting his own quartet, still maintains a rather extensive performing schedule.
In 1987 his, Corea's and Miroslav Vitous' trio music, live in Europe was nominated for a Grammy as "Best instrumental performance - group" The next year he, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders and David Murray did win a Grammy in the same category for Blues for Coltrane. In 1988 in The Museum of American History's Hall on Nations, New York, Haynes was named one of the Living National Treasures of Jazz. In 1991 Berklee College of Music conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Music upon Roy Haynes. And he has been selected as the 1993 inductee into the International Academy of Jazz - Hall of Fame at the University of Pittsburgh.
Today Haynes is celebrated as one of the last innovators from the 40's who is still out there saying something new. When the JAZZPAR nominees 1994 were announced at the Copenhagen gala concert the audience responded with special enthusiasm as the turn came to Haynes.