The world might never have discovered Ornette Coleman if not for Billy Higgins. That rare drummer who kept crisp time yet adapted smoothly to every spontaneous change, Higgins provided the link to tradition that early Coleman audiences wanted — it was no accident that, due to his alliance with Blue Note Records, he became the most recorded jazz drummer of all time. Higgins’ importance to Los Angeles’ jazz community can’t be overestimated; he forged longtime friendships here with jazz ambassadors such as Charles Lloyd and Don Cherry, and in 1989 founded (with poet Kamau Daáood) Leimert Park’s still functioning World Stage, which has showcased improvisers young and old, and provided a link to African roots via its drum workshops.
https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/billy-higgins
https://www.facebook.com/Billy-Higgins-88903349823
Arrived Los Angeles 1943, died here 1999
Arrived Los Angeles 1940, died 1995
Arrived Los Angeles 1957, died here 2014.
Raised from infancy in Los Angeles, left 1949, died 1979.