Louis Hayes - Breath of Life (1974/2000)

Louis Hayes (born May 31, 1937) is an American jazz drummer. His father played drums and piano and his mother played the piano. Hayes refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially hearing big bands on the radio. His main influence was Philly Joe Jones and he was mentored by Jo Jones. His three main associations were with Horace Silver's Quintet (1956–59), the Cannonball Adderley Quintet (1959–65), and the Oscar Peterson Trio (1965–67). Hayes often joined Sam Jones, both with Adderley and Peterson, and in freelance settings.

When he was a teenager, he led a band in Detroit clubs before he was 16. He worked with Yusef Lateef and Curtis Fuller from 1955 to 1956. He moved to New York in August 1956 to replace Art Taylor in the Horace Silver Quintet and in 1959 joined the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, with which he remained until mid-1965, when he succeeded Ed Thigpen in the Oscar Peterson Trio. He left Peterson in 1967, and formed a series of groups, which he led alone or with others; among his sidemen were Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Kenny Barron, and James Spaulding. He returned to Peterson in 1971.

The Louis Hayes Sextet, which he formed in 1972, became in 1975 the Louis Hayes-Junior Cook Quintet and the Woody Shaw-Louis Hayes Quintet (Cook remained as a sideman until Rene McLean joined); in its last form the quintet played successful engagements throughout Europe and (without McLean) acted as the host group when, in 1976, Dexter Gordon visited the U.S. for the first time in many years. After Shaw left the group in 1977, Hayes continued to lead it as a hard-bop quintet.

Hayes has appeared on many records throughout the years, and played with John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Timmons, Hank Mobley, Booker Little, Tommy Flanagan, Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Gary Bartz, and Tony Williams. He also led sessions for Vee-Jay (1960), Timeless (1976), Muse (1977), Candid (1989), Steeplechase (1989–94), and TCB (2000–2002).

He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band.



Track List:
01. Brothers and Sisters (Allen) - 9:15
02. Breath of Life (Davis) - 5:10
03. Olea (Davis) - 5:43
04. Purely Unintentional (Allen) - 8:46
05. Bongolo (Hayes) - 3:26
06. Kong's Dance (Allen) - 9:26

Louis Hayes - drums
Tex Allen - trumpet, flugelhorn
Gerald Hayes - alto saxophone
Charles Davis - baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone
Ronnie Mathews - piano
David Williams - bass
Toot Monk - congas, percussion

Recorded at RCA Studios, New York on February 2 and July 26 (#5), 1974.



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