Notes from the bandstand: Louis Hayes
Takeaways from Louis Hayes' masterclass at Seattle Jazz Academy
Growing up in Detroit, MI, Louis Hayes was surrounded by music from a young age. His father and cousin played drums and taught him how to play. For Hayes, it was hearing Charlie Parker that first sparked his interest in jazz.
“I started thinking about, this is what I would like to be. I would like to deal with this way of playing, deal with this art form. And so I've been doing that for the rest of my career,” Hayes said.
Hayes left Detroit at 19 years old and joined Horace Silver’s band. He stayed with the group from 1956 to 1959. Throughout those years he was surrounded by other excellent players including Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd, and Art Farmer, to name a few. Reflecting on his time in the band, Hayes says being surrounded by musicians who were older than him and played at such a high level shaped him as a musician.
“When I joined Horace Silver in 56 I was one person. When I left in 59 I was different,” he said. “My playing ability had changed because Horace gave me the opportunity to grow.”
Hayes went on to play with Cannonball Adderley’s band in 1959 and later joined Oscar Peterson’s trio in 1965. As a young drummer, he was mentored by longtime Count Basie orchestra drummer “Papa” Jo Jones and described learning not only countless musical lessons from Jones, but also life lessons on how to conduct himself and make it in this world.
Learning the drums happened from the audience just as much as it did in the practice room for Hayes. As he came up, he watched other drummers avidly. Hayes' mother took him when he was a child to see Duke Ellington’s orchestra. There, he saw Louie Bellson, who was playing drums with the band at the time. Then as he got older he connected with Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa - who gifted him a cymbal he still has today.
“I was around these musicians, but watching them play, I never asked anyone for a lesson,” Hayes said. “I just watched them play. And some things you pick up from them, and some things…you just pick it up yourself and maybe you don’t do it like they did it but you have your own way of doing what they were doing.”
Of course Hayes still spent countless hours practicing the basics and perfecting his sound. He spent a lot of time practicing on a drum pad his father gave him, learning his rudiments and playing drum exercises that his cousin gave him. Hayes stresses it’s important for drummers to master the basics - the single strokes, double strokes - before moving on to more creative ways of playing.
“You have to practice. Anything you do, it takes time and you have to really want to do it, and work at it and know that these different things are necessary, and do it right,” Hayes said. “Then after you get to a certain point in your life, you can start drifting off and doing what you feel like doing and being creative with these different ways, these directions you want to go in. But at first try to get it together, the basics, and work at it, work at it.”
Few things in a musical group are more important than the rhythm section. Hayes came together with bassist Sam Jones in an exceptional way in Cannonball Adderley's band as well as in Oscar Peterson's trio, becoming known as the "dynamic duo." Amazingly, Hayes says this was not something he and Jones worked on, but rather that the two "just had a feeling together that was the same kind of a feeling."
When all is said and done, nothing can compare to performing for Hayes. Many of his lessons came from playing with other people, watching other drummers, or listening to different compositions.
“Practicing is one thing, but playing on stage with other people that’s number one. You have to do that,” Hayes said.
Learn more about Louis Hayes:
Join our mailing list to receive updates about new podcast episodes, posts, and more.
This was such a fun event!