Roy Haynes’ Avenue connections

December 08, 2024

Listen to a tribute to the legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes. He passed away last November at the age of 99. Hear classic jazz music from Haynes, featuring his work with the jazz masters of Indiana Avenue. 

Roy Haynes was among the greatest and most influential drummers in the history of jazz music. Though Haynes spent the majority of his life in New York, he performed with many legends of the Indiana Avenue jazz scene, including Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Larry Ridley, Bill Jennings, James Spaulding and more.

Haynes was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925. He began playing drums professionally, as a teenager during the early 1940s. His crisp and distinctive sound on the drums earned him the nickname “Snap Crackle”. By the end of the 1940s, Roy was playing with the greatest stars in jazz, including Lester Young, and Charlie Parker. In the following decades, Roy continued to be a dominating force in jazz, performing with Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Chick Correa, and dozens of other iconic jazz artists.