Roy Owen Haynes was born on March 13, 1925, and passed away on November 12, 2024. He was an American jazz drummer. In the 1950s, he earned the nickname "Snap Crackle" because of his unique snare drum sound and style of playing. He is one of the most recorded drummers in jazz history. Over a career lasting more than eight decades, he performed in various jazz styles, including swing, bebop, jazz fusion, and avant-garde jazz. He is regarded as an early leader in the development of jazz drumming.
Haynes led musical groups, such as the Hip Ensemble. His albums Fountain of Youth and Whereas were considered for a Grammy Award. In 1999, he was honored with induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.
Career
Haynes was born on March 13, 1925, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, to Gustavas and Edna Haynes, who moved to the United States from Barbados. His younger brother, Michael E. Haynes, became an important leader in the African American community in Massachusetts. He worked with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, represented Roxbury in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and served as pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church for forty years. Martin Luther King Jr. was a member of the church while he studied for his doctorate at Boston University.
Haynes began his professional career in 1942 in Boston and started working full-time in 1945. From 1947 to 1949, he worked with saxophonist Lester Young. From 1949 to 1952, he was part of saxophonist Charlie Parker’s group of five musicians. During this time, he also played with pianist Bud Powell and saxophonists Wardell Gray and Stan Getz. From 1953 to 1958, he toured with singer Sarah Vaughan and recorded music with her. In the 1950s, he was called "Snap Crackle." In the 1960s, he was a member of the John Coltrane Quartet and often replaced drummer Elvin Jones. In 1990, he co-led the album Question and Answer with Pat Metheny. Haynes also led bands, including the Hip Ensemble.
A song honoring Haynes was recorded by Jim Keltner and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. He performed on stage with the Allman Brothers Band in 2006 and with Page McConnell of Phish in 2008. In 2008, Haynes voiced a DJ for a fictional jazz radio station, Jazz Nation Radio 108.5, in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. His last album, Roy-Alty, was released in 2011.
Personal life
His son, Graham Haynes, is a cornetist. Another son, Craig Holiday Haynes, and his grandson, Marcus Gilmore, are both drummers.
Haynes often celebrated his birthdays on stage. In later years, he held these celebrations at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. His 95th birthday celebration in 2020 was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On November 12, 2024, Haynes passed away at the age of 99 in Nassau County, New York, on the South Shore of Long Island, after a short illness.
Awards and honors
"A Life in Time – The Roy Haynes Story" was named one of the Best Boxed Sets of 2007 by The New Yorker magazine and was nominated for an award by the Jazz Journalist Association. In 2009, WKCR-FM in New York spent 301 hours discussing Haynes's career from January 11 to 23. In 1960, Esquire magazine named Roy Haynes one of the best-dressed men in America, along with Fred Astaire, Miles Davis, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant.
In 1994, Haynes received the Danish Jazzpar Prize. In 1996, the French government honored him with the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, which is France's highest honor for art and literature. In 1995, the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts recognized Haynes as a NEA Jazz Master. He received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music (1991) and the New England Conservatory of Music (2004). In 2012, he was awarded the Peabody Medal, the highest honor given by the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Haynes was inducted into the DownBeat magazine Hall of Fame in 2004. On October 9, 2010, he received the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's BNY Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In 2001, his album Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker was nominated for the 44th Annual Grammy Awards as Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
On December 22, 2010, Haynes was named a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He received the award at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony & Nominees Reception of the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on February 11, 2012. In 2019, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jazz Foundation of America at the 28th Annual Loft Party.