Louis Hayes

Louis Hayes – Exactly Right! (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:52 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Savant

Louis Hayes’ music is full of life and humanity, it is sometimes refreshingly simple and sometimes intricately complex, sometimes light, sometimes dark, but it is always interesting and consistently engaging.

Through it all, Louis Hayes has always remained indefatigably optimistic and his latest Savant release is all those things. Throughout the album Hayes, a 2023 NEA Jazz Master, coaxes concise, well-conceived tracks from his players where everybody swings with loads of feeling, and no self-indulgence.

From the first note to the last Hayes creates performances that take veteran jazz listeners into deep jazz waters while at the same time allowing recent converts to safely wade into the invigorating flow of ideas.

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Louis Hayes – Serenade for Horace (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:00 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Legendary drummer Louis Hayes makes his Blue Note debut with this loving tribute to his mentor and friend, the great pianist, composer and bandleader Horace Silver. Hayes was 19 years old when he moved to New York City in 1956 and joined Silver’s quintet, putting his stamp on several timeless Blue Note recordings. Co-produced by Don Was and bassist Dezron Douglas with the eminent Maxine Gordon acting as executive producer, Serenade for Horace presents Hayes leading an ensemble that revisits 10 Silver classics in addition to the Hayes original Hastings Street, a dedication to his hometown of Detroit. The album’s first single Song for My Father features Grammy-winning vocalist Gregory Porter.

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Louis Hayes – Crisis (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:57 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Savant

The amazing versatile drummer Hayes has been drumming behind some of jazz’s biggest names for well over 60 years and still still going strong and as innovative as always. Louis chose some battle tested sidemen to accompany him for this fine collection of standards, jazz covers and 1 original composition. David Hazeltine is the pianist, Steve Nelson-vibes Dezron Douglas-bass, Abraham Burton-tenor sax and Camille Thurman is the special guest on vocals for 2 tracks.. All killer-diller tracks, no filler!

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Louis Hayes – At Onkel Pö’s Carnegie Hall, Hamburg 1976 (Live) (1976/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:55:03 minutes | 1,41 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazzline

In 1976, when At Onkel Po’s Carnegie Hall was recorded, hard bop was viewed as nostalgia-based heritage music by the young lions of American jazz. But for drummer Louis Hayes, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist Ronnie Matthews, and bassist Stafford James—whose paths had crossed and recrossed in bands led by Horace Silver, Art Blakey, and Cannonball Adderley—hard bop was still the staff of life.

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Louis Hayes – Return of the Jazz Communicators (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:15:26 minutes | 924 MB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: ProStudioMasters | @ Smoke Sessions Records
Recorded live at Smoke Jazz Club, New York City, November 16, 2013

DRUMMER LOUIS HAYES, one of the chief architects of modern jazz drumming, was the rhythmic drive for historic recordings by Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, and McCoy Tyner. His playing has a rhythmic intensity that is as subtle as it is complex creating a musical feel and vibe on every track that is unmistakably Louis Hayes. When he reformed this band that he co-founded in the late ’60s with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson—which Freddie dubbed the Jazz Communicators—Louis purposefully deviated from a conventional quintet lineup by featuring a vibraphone / tenor saxophone out front. It’s the esteemed pair of Steve Nelson and Abraham Burton, respectively, and their chemistry with Louis, pianist David Bryant and bassist Dezron Douglas makes The Return of the Jazz Communicators an inspired and rewarding set of music. The selections include a nice balance of standards and originals such as a ballad-feature for Nelson, Lush Life, and one for Burton, A Portrait of Jennie as well as the deep, loose groove of Mulgrew Miller’s Soul-Leo, which opens the record. Return of the Jazz Communicators captures this important jazz quintet in front of an enthusiastic and appreciative live audience. In the words of Louis Hayes, “I try to do what I do best and what makes me feel good…I guess I might as well keep on swinging. And, that’s basically what I’m going to do.” Return of the Jazz Communicators is available for purchase as a 8-panel CD-Deluxe Album complete with liner notes, interview and additional photos or as a high resolution download mastered for iTunes.

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