Eddie Higgins

[ValerieB]

sorry to report that Eddie is in need of strong healing thoughts and prayers right now as he is facing some major medical challenges.

[Free For All]

sorry to report that Eddie is in need of strong healing thoughts and prayers right now as he is facing some major medical challenges.

Very sorry to hear that. Thinking good thoughts for him.

[B. Goren.]

I've just been informed my my dear friend Nitzan Kremer that Mr. Higgins passed away. Nitzan was informed by Roberta Gambarini.

RIP Mr. Higgins.

[Dan Gould]

Major bummer of a way to start the day. I'll never forget how gracious Eddie was when he sat for an interview with me (an amateur in every way) and he indulged me with every question I had even as he gave subtle hints that it was time to wrap things up and I'd ask yet another question.

RIP Mr. Higgins.

[Free For All]

Sad news. RIP Eddie. Thanks for some great music.

[king ubu]

I have never caught up on Higgins, except for a few sideman appearances (on the Morgan/Shorter Vee Jay Mosaic, I think), I only have that wonderful ballads/latin album of his, "Amor", which was a favourite late night album a few months back.

r.i.p.

[TedR]

I am very, very sad to hear this.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Sad news, indeed. As fine as he was a musician, he was a better man.

[Peter Friedman]

Sorry to hear this sad news. Eddie Higgins was a fine jazz piano player.

[Jim R]

I got the news this morning from Eddie's discographer and friend, Bill Gallagher. Eddie had a "nice run", as they say, and it's good to know that he's no longer suffering.

Eddie was a very generous, gracious, and funny man. He will be missed.

I've already expressed my feelings about Eddie's music... but today it occurred to me that there's no other pianist in jazz who I enjoy more consistently. There are many greats, and many that I love, but I think Eddie is my favorite of all.

Thanks, Eddie, for bringing so much beautiful music into the world. Rest in peace.

[jlhoots]

Eddie was / is a favorite.

R.I.P.

[Big Al]

I got the news this morning from Eddie's discographer and friend, Bill Gallagher. Eddie had a "nice run", as they say, and it's good to know that he's no longer suffering.

Eddie was a very generous, gracious, and funny man. He will be missed.

I've already expressed my feelings about Eddie's music... but today it occurred to me that there's no other pianist in jazz who I enjoy more consistently. There are many greats, and many that I love, but I think Eddie is my favorite of all.

Thanks, Eddie, for bringing so much beautiful music into the world. Rest in peace.

Very nicely said! :

[Dan Gould]

Howard Reich obit:

When Eddie Higgins sat down at the piano, savvy listeners expected something close to perfection.

The elegance of his tone, the sophistication of his harmonies and the extraordinary range of his repertoire made him one of the most distinctive pianists to come out of Chicago. As the leader of the house trio at the long-gone London House from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, he became something of a Chicago institution, revered by local and visiting musicians for his profound mastery of the instrument.

Mr. Higgins, 77, who moved east after the long London House run but continued to perform here periodically, died of lung and lymphatic cancer Monday, Aug. 31, at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, said his wife, jazz vocalist Meredith d'Ambrosio.

More here.

[Jim R]

Thanks for that, Dan. A well-written piece.

I was just reading a tribute at Doug Ramsay's Rifftides blog, and it was nice to see the following quote...

...His admirer and sometime colleague Ben Riley, the drummer, said, "Eddie Higgins is on the same level of excellence as Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan and the other grand masters of modern jazz piano."

It seems obvious to me, but I think the compliment and the association with names like Flanagan and Jones may help a light to go on for those who haven't gotten to know Eddie's playing. "Grand master"... that has a nice ring to it.

[Jim R]

Just wanted to add that there are some moving comments from Eddie's family and friends posted under the article at Rifftides.

[thomastreichler]

Listening to "Time On My Hands" on Arbors in memory of Eddie Higgins. This is just beautiful solo piano jazz!

[Brad]

I'm late to this thread but I have several of his Cds and they are wonderful music making, full of brilliance, great playing and class. The pity is that most of his music seemed to be only available on Japanese Cds and not more available to the public.

[thomastreichler]

I'm late to this thread but I have several of his Cds and they are wonderful music making, full of brilliance, great playing and class. The pity is that most of his music seemed to be only available on Japanese Cds and not more available to the public.

His Japanese albums on Venus are available, however at comparatively high prices (look at www. cadencebuilding.com), though some of his Venus records are issued on reasonably priced two-fers.

Then there are the following recommended albums which can be obtained at decent prices:

In Chicago (Solo Art)

By Request (Solo Art)

Those Quiet Days (Sunnyside)

Portrait In Black And White (Sunnyside)

Haunted Heart (Sunnyside)

Speaking Of Jobim (Sunnyside)

Time On My Hands (Arbors)

[Brad]

I just read through some of the comments (and added one of my own). If you can touch people the way he has, what more can you ask out of life. Rest In Peace Mr. Higgins.

[Jim R]

On 9/1/2009 at 3:47 PM, Jim R said:

I got the news this morning from Eddie's discographer and friend, Bill Gallagher. Eddie had a "nice run", as they say, and it's good to know that he's no longer suffering.

We were having dinner on our back patio this evening with my wife's parents.  My father-in-law was reading the newspaper before dinner, and a breeze blew one section of the paper off the table.  I went and picked it up for him, folded it back together, and saw that I was looking at the obituary section.  We haven't subscribed to a newspaper in decades, and I rarely (I mean almost never) see the local obituaries.  Something made me scan the page before I handed it back.  There were six people listed (with photos), and one of them was Bill Gallagher.  Bill passed away this past week at age 75 after battling cancer.  I hadn't seen him or talked to him since Eddie's passing, but prior to that I had met with him several times to talk about Eddie (who Bill was pretty close to, considering they lived on opposite coasts), jazz in general, local sports teams, and have a few laughs as we walked along one of the local creeks.  We also helped each other to locate several of Eddie's LP's and CD's.  Bill was the kind of guy who was always trying to give me stuff for free.

Bill was 15 years my senior, and our personalities and interests probably weren't the greatest match for a strong and long-lasting friendship, but I remember him very fondly anyway.  A good guy, a good husband and father, and a big jazz fan who devoted a lot of effort in putting together an excellent discography for a very fine and deserving artist (http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Higgins/HEHSessions.php).  So long, Bill.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mercurynews/obituary.aspx?pid=180817123

[Rabshakeh]

Pretty much a new artist to me. I hadn't really clocked him before. But I like what I am hearing a lot.

I'd be interested to know forum members' recommendations for him.  Ideally, recommendations for specific albums from different periods, rather than e.g. all the Venues.

Edited January 26 by Rabshakeh

[Dan Gould]

On 4/19/2003 at 2:38 PM, Jim R said:

 

 

One thing Eddie mentioned was that back in his Vee Jay days (circa 1960) Art Blakey offered him the piano chair in the Jazz Messengers. Eddie turned down the offer! He didn't elaborate, but hopefully we'll get the full story at some point...

 

 

The answer was forthcoming in my interview with Eddie that ran in Cadence in 2004.  Just last month I got contacted by the owner of Flophouse, a fine jazz website, about using the Cadence interview in a review of a Higgins LP.  That review just came out and as it turns out, the quote he wanted to use was the one where he got into the details of why he turned Blakey down.

 

“First of all I’ve got a great job here in Chicago in the London House and my kids were very little at that point. And the idea to be on the road all the time and not seeing my children grow up is a negative. Number two, this is pretty much an all-junkie band and I’m not only nót a junkie, I don’t even drink or smoke pot or anything at all. I would be out of the loop as far as the social life of the band, plus the fact that I’m the only White guy in the band. And at that time in jazz history there was a very strong Crow Jim feeling that if you’re White, you couldn’t play. And obviously they knew I could play or I wouldn’t be on these record dates or asked to join the band, but still there’d be a… definite racial bridge to cross there working with the Jazz Messengers and playing in probably mostly Black clubs for mostly Black audiences and so forth. And third, I heard by the grapevine that when payday came the first guy that got the money was the connection for the heroin, and not just Blakey but the rest of the band, too. And if there’s any money left over then they pay the hotel bill and if there’s anything left over from that then maybe the guys will get a few bucks. I had a family and rent to pay and insurance payments.”

Blakey replied: ‘You’re kidding’. Because as Higgins says, to get an offer from The Jazz Messengers is like being touched on the shoulder by God. In the end though, it seems a perfectly logical decision.

******

 

http://flophousemagazine.com/2024/01/24/the-eddie-higgins-trio-soulero-atlantic-1965/

1 hour ago, Rabshakeh said:

Pretty much a new artist to me. I hadn't really clocked him before. But I like what I am hearing a lot.

I'd be interested to know forum members' recommendations for him.  Ideally, recommendations for specific albums fro. Different periods, rather than e.g. all the Venues.

If you like Scott Hamilton as a swing-inspired tenor, anything by Higgins on Venus with Scott is easily recommended.

Have you the Vee Jay recordings that he played on like Expoobident?  Those are excellent too.

Trio Eddie - nearly impossible to go wrong.  I would search on discogs to see what is available at what price, he was making solo and trio recordings from well after his first recordings for VeeJay and Atlantic. 

 

Edited January 25 by Dan Gould

[Rabshakeh]

Thanks!

And that Flophouse interview was what led to me listening to him! It's a good piece and a good extract.

Of the Venuses, with which you start?

I notice that they're all streamable, so the old availability issues don't apply.

Edited January 26 by Rabshakeh

[Ken Dryden]

I got to hear Eddie Higgins in person at the one Atlanta Jazz Party that he played. I didn't get a chance to interview him but we had a nice chat between sets.

I've enjoyed his recordings and I am still trying to track down his second Christmas CD for Venus at a reasonable price.

[Dan Gould]

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

 

Of the Venues, with which you start?

I notice that they're all streamable, so the old availability issues don't apply.

Hard to decide which is best; since they played tunes from the Great American Songbook I would probably recommend choosing based on the one with the highest proportion of songs you especially enjoy.