Roy Haynes and Special Guests to Play Blue Note, 3/21

Legendary drummer Roy Haynes will end his return to the Blue Note for his 85th birthday on March 21.

In a career that has spanned almost seven decades, there isn't much Haynes hasn't achieved, having held the drum chair for the likes of Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, to name a few. Haynes' youthful exuberance, boundless energy, musicality, and instantly recognizable sound are qualities that he has possessed throughout his career and ones that still ring true today. For his 85th birthday celebration, Haynes will be joined be special guests Bill Cosby and Kenny Garrett (3/17), Roy Hargrove and Christian McBride (3/18), Chick Corea (3/19 - 3/20), and a special guest to be announced (3/20).

Haynes has been an active bandleader from the late '50s to the present, featuring artists in performance and on recordings like Phineas Newborn, Booker Ervin, Roland Kirk, George Adams, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, Ralph Moore and Donald Harrison. A perpetual top three drummer in the Downbeat Readers Poll Awards, he won the Best Drummer honors in 1996 (and many years since), and in that year received the prestigious French Chevalier des l'Ordres Artes et des Lettres.

In 2002 Haynes' fourth album, "Birds of a Feather," was nominated for a Grammy.

"I've been playing professionally over 50 years," Haynes says, "and I always surprise myself. The worst surprise is when I can't get it to happen. But it usually comes out. I don't play for a long period, and then I'm like an animal, a lion or tiger locked in its cage, and when I get out I try to restrain myself. I don't want to overplay. I like the guys to trade, and I just keep it moving, and spread the rhythm, as Coltrane said. Keep it moving, keep it crisp."

Dreyfus Jazz has just released Roy's latest masterpiece, "Fountain of Youth," a fiery live record featuring his youthful working band. Inspired by each other's deft musicianship, the album is a testament to awe inspring career of the eternally youthful Roy Haynes.