Roy Haynes, a drummer who was one of the last remaining musicians of jazz’s swing and bebop eras, has died aged 99. His daughter Leslie Haynes-Gilmore said he had died following a short illness.
Haynes’s energetic style, which also encompassed fusion and avant-garde jazz, earned him the respect of many contemporaries across a career that began in the mid-1940s. He played with artists including Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and dozens more.
Born in 1925 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Haynes developed an early interest in jazz before he began drumming professionally in Boston nightclubs as a teenager. He once recalled: “A teacher in school once sent me to the principal, because I was drumming with my hands on the desk in class.”
Hayes first worked under swing-era bandleaders including Sabby Lewis, Frankie Newton and Felix Barbozza, and a move to New York in 1945 saw him join the big bands of Louis Russell and Louis Armstrong, and play with star saxophonist Lester Young. By the 1950s, Haynes had developed the nickname Snapcrackle, a nod to his quick and versatile style. He toured the world backing jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan for five years in the mid-1950s, then occasionally stood in for Elvin Jones in John Coltrane’s early 60s quartet, alongside his regular work with Stan Getz and Eric Dolphy.
His versatility allowed him to shine as bebop evolved into the freer post-bop style, and he appeared on landmark releases on the Blue Note label by Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean and others. He continued his recording and touring career into the 2010s.
Hayes also released acclaimed albums as a bandleader, such as 1962’s Out of the Afternoon (with Roland Kirk), and formed his own band, the Hip Ensemble, in the late 1960s. The acclaimed drummer lived up to that band name, according to fellow jazz artist Pat Metheny, who toured with Haynes in the late 1980s: “Roy is the human manifestation of whatever it is that the word ‘hip’ was supposed to mean before it just became a word. Always in the moment, always in this time, eternal and classic and at the same time totally nonchalant about it.”
His career endured beyond the retirement of many of his contemporaries. His 2004 album Fountain of Youth and 2007’s Whereas earned him Grammy nominations, the latter when he was in his early 80s, and he received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2012. In 2008, he presented the jazz radio station on the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. Until the Covid-19 pandemic, Haynes celebrated his birthday with an annual performance at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club – most recently at the age of 94.
In an interview with Percussive Arts Society, he once said: “Maybe the secret of staying youthful is playing the drums. I know that performing makes me feel good, and it also makes me sleep well.”
Speaking to mark Haynes’s 96th birthday, Wayne Shorter called him “a champion to me”, Branford Marsalis said he was the greatest jazz drummer ever – “if you’re thinking about the level of versatility he has, the shit’s just astounding” – while jazz singer Terri Lynne Carrington said: “Roy’s way of making the drum set more fluid is unparalleled … His playing makes me see other possibilities for myself.”
Haynes is survived by his sons Craig and Graham, the latter a cornettist recognised for his contributions to nu-jazz, and his grandson, the drummer Marcus Gilmore.
