Tag Archives: Jimmy Heath

Advocacy, Blog, Cultural Heritage

Jimmy Heath (1926-2020)

Jimmy Heath joined the ancestors on January 19, 2020. Short in stature, Heath walked with giants including his brothers, Tootie and Percy, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Benny Golson, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

My brother and I met the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2016 at a tribute concert for Benny Carter. During the break, I showed Heath a photo of his former South Philly home on my phone. He reminisced about the jam sessions held in his parents’ basement.

Steve Anderson - Jimmy Heath - Faye Anderson

The life and work of the legendary saxophonist, composer and bandleader will be celebrated on Thursday, March 12, 2020, 7:00pm in the Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The celebration is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis in the Fall. The Memorial has been postponed amid coronavirus concerns.

Advocacy, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Lee Morgan

2016 NEA Jazz Master Archie Shepp

The 2016 NEA Jazz Masters were honored at a tribute concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

This year’s class includes Archie Shepp who grew up in West Philadelphia. During an NEA interview, Shepp talked about jazz and Philadelphia:

The music that we call jazz has always been important in the African American community, especially in the poorer neighborhoods.

There was a lot of racism and prejudice, but a lot of music, a lot of blues and some good times. Music was all over Philadelphia. You could go down to North Philadelphia and hear young John Coltrane or Johnny Coles, Jimmy Oliver, Jimmy Heath. I suppose that’s what jazz is all about, suffering and good times, and somehow making the best of all of that.

At the tribute concert for Benny Carter, I got a chance to spend some time with Shepp during the break. He reminisced about the jam sessions at the Heath Brothers’ Family Home. He shared that he learned how to play chords from Coltrane and Lee Morgan.

Truth be told, Philadelphia’s contribution to jazz is mostly an untold story. We must capture stories about Philly’s jazz scene while those who know the history are still here.

Jazz Landmarks, Main Channel

Uptown Theater

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Opened on Feb. 16, 1929, the Uptown began life as a movie house. In the 1950s, it became a music venue. The jazz and blues greats who graced the Uptown stage included Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Gloria Lynne, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Ramsey Lewis, Oscar Brown, Jr., Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and Jimmy Smith.

John Coltrane and Miles Davis played here one Christmas Day, but after the first show, they left for New York City because the promoter didn’t pay them.

In 1958, legendary disc jockey Georgie Woods began producing rhythm & blues shows at the Uptown. The 2,040-seat theater became a stop on the “chitlin’ circuit.” The Uptown was where jazz met R&B. Saxophonist Sam Reed was the house bandleader. The Sam Reed Orchestra included Bootsie Barnes, Jimmy Heath and Odean Pope.

The Uptown’s heyday was the 1960s and ‘70s. Since the final curtain in 1978, the interior of the Uptown has deteriorated almost beyond recognition. With the exception of the seats, none of the original artifacts remain.

Uptown Theater

For information on how you can help restore this Art Deco palace to its former glory and preserve an iconic piece of Black music, visit the Uptown Entertainment & Development Corporation.

Jazz Venues

Jazz in the Underground

In his autobiography, Jimmy Heath recalled that erstwhile jazz drummer Bill Cosby was a bartender at Jazz in the Underground:

I still kept going back to Philly for gigs, and between 1960 and 1964, in addition to the Sahara, the Showboat, the Uptown, and Pep’s, another club I worked in Philly was the Underground, located at Broad and Pine streets. The Underground had a number of rooms and a few different bars. In one room were women dancers, and in another was a comedy act. I was playing in the Underground with Sam Dockery, Mickey Roker, and Buster Williams when I first met Bill Cosby, a Philly native, who was bartending at the Underground and telling jokes at the same time. When we talk about those days, I tell him, “I was big-time and you were behind the bar.”

By the way, Cosby wrote the foreword to Heath’s biography “I Walked With Giants” (Temple University Press, 2010).

Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Jazz Landmarks, Main Channel

Heath Brothers’ Family Home

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In his autobiography, “I Walked with Giants,” Jimmy Heath lovingly recalled the jam sessions in his parents’ basement that attracted the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

Heath Family Home - Feature

Benny Golson recounted:

Enough cannot be said about Mr. and Mrs. Heath, his mother and father, who continuously put up with all of us who used to come to their home in South Philadelphia, remove all of the furniture in the living and dining room, then begin our rehearsal. No matter what we did, how much noise (music) we made or how late we did it, they were always our champions. It was their support that, in part, enabled us to grow. And grow we did.

And grow they did. Both Heath and Golson are NEA Jazz Masters.