Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
A flexible drummer who has been a sideman in many different settings, Billy Hart is a creative player most at home playing advanced jazz. He worked early on in Washington, D.C. with Buck Hill and Shirley Horn, and was with the Montgomery Brothers (1961), Jimmy Smith (1964-1966), and Wes Montgomery (1966-1968). Hart was a member of Herbie Hancock's challenging sextet (1969-1973), and played regularly with McCoy Tyner (1973-1974) and Stan Getz (1974-1977), in addition to extensive freelancing (including recording with Miles Davis on 1972's On the Corner). His own opportunities to lead sessions have been comparatively rare, but Billy Hart has led interesting dates including such albums as 1977's Enchance, 1987's Rah, 1993's Amethyst, and 2006's Quartet. In 2011, Hart delivered La Place Demon and Sixty-Eight.
Wikipedia:
William "Billy" Hart (born November 29, 1940 in Washington, D.C.) is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.
Biography
Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C. with soul artists such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, and then later with Buck Hill and Shirley Horn, and was a sideman with the Montgomery Brothers (1961), Jimmy Smith (1964–1966), and Wes Montgomery (1966–1968). Following Montgomery’s death in 1968, Hart moved to New York, where he recorded with McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul, and played with Eddie Harris, Pharoah Sanders, and Marian McPartland.
Hart was a member of Herbie Hancock's sextet (1969–1973), and played with McCoy Tyner (1973–1974), Stan Getz (1974–1977), and Quest (1980s), in addition to extensive freelance playing (including recording with Miles Davis on 1972's On the Corner).
At age 70, Billy Hart works steadily and teaches widely. Since the early 1990s Hart spends considerable time at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and is adjunct faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and Western Michigan University. He also conducts private lessons through The New School and New York University. Hart often contributes to the Stokes Forest Music Camp and the Dworp Summer Jazz Clinic in Belgium.
He leads a group with Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson, and Ben Street. He also is featured in a trio led by pianist Jean-Michel Pilc and one led by guitarist Assaf Kehati.
Hart resides in Montclair, New Jersey.
