Albert Heath

Albert "Tootie" Heath (born May 31, 1935) is an American jazz hard bop drummer, the brother of tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath and double-bassist Percy Heath.^[1]

He first recorded in 1957 with John Coltrane. From 1958 to 1974 he worked with, among others, J. J. Johnson, Wes Montgomery, Art Farmer and Benny Golson's Jazztet, Cedar Walton, Bobby Timmons, Kenny Drew, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Herbie Hancock, Nina Simone, and Yusef Lateef. In 1975, he, Jimmy and Percy formed the Heath Brothers. He remained with the group until 1978, then left to freelance. He has recorded extensively throughout his career.

Among his many workshop and classroom teaching assignments, Tootie Heath is a regular instructor at the Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Tootie Heath is now the producer and leader of The Whole Drum Truth, a jazz drum ensemble featuring Ben Riley, Ed Thigpen, Jackie Williams, Billy Hart, Charlie Persip, Leroy Williams and Louis Hayes.

Discography

As leader

• 1969: Kawaida - with Ed Blackwell, Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams
• 1974: Kwanza (The First) (Muse Records) - with Percy Heath, Jimmy Heath, Kenny Barron, Ted Dunbar, Curtis Fuller
• 1998: The Offering - solo

As sideman

With John Coltrane

• Coltrane (1957)
• Lush Life (1960)

With Bennie Green and Gene Ammons

• The Swingin'est (1958)

With Herbie Hancock

• The Prisoner (Blue Note, 1969)

With Milt Jackson

• Milt Jackson Quintet Live at the Village Gate (Riverside, 1963)
• Much in Common with Ray Brown (Verve, 1964)

With Wes Montgomery

• The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960)

With Blue Mitchell

• A Sure Thing (1962)
• Mapenzi with Harold Land (Concord, 1977)

With George Russell

• George Russell Sextet at Beethoven Hall (1965)

With Nina Simone

• Little Girl Blue (1958)
• Nina Simone and Her Friends (1959)

With Bobby Timmons

• Chun-King (Prestige, 1964)

With Mal Waldron

• Impressions (New Jazz, 1959)

With The Young Lions

• The Young Lions (1960) Vee-Jay Records

With Michel Sardaby

• Night Blossom (Diw Records, 1990)

References

External links

• Brotherly Jazz: The Heath Brothers DVD Documentary
• Tootie Heath's MySpace page
• Music in Review; Heath Brothers, by Ben Ratliff, New York Times, April 4, 2003
• Extensive interview