Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his contributions with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well as with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among many others.
Biography Hart was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in a musical family. His paternal grandmother was a pianist who accompanied Marian Anderson. His maternal grandmother purchased his first drum kit. Hart grew up in close proximity of the Spotlite Club, where he first heard the music of Lee Morgan, Ahmad Jamal, and Miles Davis, among others.
Early on in his career he performed with Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, then with Buck Hill. Although he studied mechanical engineering at Howard University, he left school early to tour with Shirley Horn, whom Hart credits with accelerating his musical development. Local saxophonist Buck Hill also served as a mentor and first introduced him to records by Charlie Parker. Hart was a sideman with the Montgomery Brothers (1961), Jimmy Smith (1964–1966), and Wes Montgomery (1966–68). Following Montgomery's death in 1968, Hart moved to New York City, where he recorded with McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, and Pharoah Sanders (playing on his famed recording Karma in 1969), in addition to playing with Eddie Harris, Joanne Brackeen, and Marian McPartland.
Hart was a member of Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" sextet from 1969 to 1973, recording three albums with Hancock (Mwandishi, Crossings, and Sextant) in this period. He subsequently went on to perform with Tyner (1973–74), Stan Getz (1974–77), and Quest (1980s), in addition to extensive freelance playing (including recording with Miles Davis on 1972's On the Corner). He recorded his debut album Enchance in 1977, supported by musicians such as Don Pullen, Dave Holland, and Dewey Redman. Holland returned to play on Hart’s third release Oshumare in 1984, which also featured Branford Marsalis and Bill Frisell, among others.
Since the early 1990s, Hart has been associated with Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He also teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music, as well as holding an adjunct faculty position at Western Michigan University. He also conducts private lessons through the New School and New York University. The drummer often contributes to the Stokes Forest Music Camp and the Dworp Summer Jazz Clinic in Belgium.
Hart first formed his current Quartet (composed of Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson, and Ben Street) in 2003; they have gone on to record three albums as a group, most recently for ECM Records. He also performs with guitarist Assaf Kehati, and is a member of the band known as the Cookers, typically consisting of Eddie Henderson, David Weiss, Craig Handy (or Billy Harper), George Cables, and Cecil McBee. The band has toured extensively and has recorded six albums together.
In 2021, Hart was announced as a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master, along Stanley Clarke, Cassandra Wilson, and Donald Harrison, Jr.
Hart resides in Montclair, New Jersey, where he has a music studio described by JazzTimes as his "inner sanctum"."The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats", The Star-Ledger, September 28, 2003, backed up by the Internet Archive as of September 27, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2017. "Billy Hart -- A versatile, inventive drummer, Hart lives in Montclair."Seidel, Mitchell. "Billy Hart", JazzTimes, April 25, 2019. Accessed January 11, 2021. "The inner sanctum of Billy Hart’s Montclair, N.J. home is a basement music studio that serves as a combination listening room, recreation room and classroom for visiting music students.... Billy Hart’s home looks like most others off Montclair’s main street of Bloomfield Avenue, a multistory, circa-1920s wood-frame structure with a small front yard and a narrow driveway on the side, except for the exterior color scheme of lavender and purple, which seems to scream 'alternative lifestyle' and makes the house leap out from the rest of the block."
Discography
As leader or co-leader Enchance (Horizon, 1977) The Trio with Walter Bishop Jr. & George Mraz (Progressive, 1982) Oshumare (Gramavision, 1984) Rah (Gramavision, 1988) Amethyst (Arabesque, 1993) Oceans of Time (Arabesque, 1997) Billy Hart Quartet (HighNote, 2006) Route F (Enja, 2006) Live at the Cafe Damberd (Enja, 2009) Sixty-Eight (SteepleChase, 2011) All Our Reasons (ECM, 2012) Tribal Ghost (NoBusiness, 2013) with John Tchicai, Charlie Kohlhase, Garrison Fewell, and Cecil McBee One Is the Other (ECM, 2014) Multidirectional (Smoke Sessions, 2023) Just (ECM, 2025)
As sideman Dates indicate the year of the album's release. If the recording was issued more than a year later, the recording date is followed by the release date in brackets. "With" marks collaborative recordings as band and with the musicians equal credit for the album. Otherwise the Leader/line-up column is sorted by the musician's first name. Musicians and labels are only linked on first appearance.