Frederick Douglas Waits (April 27, 1943 – November 18, 1989) was an American
hard bop and
post-bop
Post-bop is a jazz term with several possible definitions and usages.Yudkin, Jeremy (2007), p. 125 It has been variously defined as a musical period, a musical genre, a musical style, and a body of music, sometimes in different chronological perio ...
drummer.
Waits never officially recorded as leader, but was a prominent member and composer in
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...
's
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion group founded by drummer Max Roach in 1970. The original members were Roach, Roy Brooks, Warren Smith (jazz percussionist), Warren Smith, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, and Freddie Waits.
All of M'B ...
percussion ensemble. He worked as sideman with such pianists as
McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...
,
Kenny Barron
Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era.
Early life
...
,
Andrew Hill,
Gene Harris,
Billy Taylor and
Joe Zawinul. In 1967, Waits recorded with
Freddie Hubbard. He was a member of the last
Lee Morgan Quintet, an association ended by Morgan's murder in 1972.
In the late 1970s, Waits formed ''Colloquium III'' with fellow drummers
Horace Arnold and
Billy Hart
Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drumming, jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well as with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest (b ...
. In the 1980s he became a music faculty member of Rutgers University. He died of
pneumonia and
kidney failure in New York in 1989.
His son is the drummer
Nasheet Waits.
Discography
As sideman
With
Roy Ayers
*''
Daddy Bug'' (Atlantic, 1969)
With
Kenny Barron
Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era.
Early life
...
*''
You Had Better Listen'' (Atlantic, 1967) with
Jimmy Owens
*''
Sunset to Dawn'' (Muse, 1973)
*''
Autumn in New York'' (Uptown, 1984)
With
Gary Bartz
*''
Another Earth'' (Milestone, 1969)
With
Willie Bobo
*''
A New Dimension'' (Verve, 1968)
With
Ray Bryant
*''
Gotta Travel On'' (Cadet, 1966)
*''
Lonesome Traveler'' (Cadet, 1966)
*''
Slow Freight'' (Cadet, 1967)
*''
Sound Ray'' (Cadet, 1969)
With
Kenny Burrell
*''
Night Song'' (Verve, 1969)
With
Donald Byrd
*''
Mustang!'' (Blue Note, 1966)
With
Stanley Cowell
*''
We Three'' (DIW, 1987)
With
Richard Davis
*''
Epistrophy & Now's the Time'' (Muse, 1972)
*''
Dealin''' (Muse, 1973)
*''
Harvest
Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...
'' (Muse, 1977
979
*''
Persia My Dear'' (DIW, 1987)
With
Jack DeJohnette
*''
The Jack DeJohnette Piano Album'' (Landmark, 1985)
With
Bill Dixon
*''
Bill Dixon in Italy Volume One'' (Soul Note, 1980)
*''
Bill Dixon in Italy Volume Two'' (Soul Note, 1980)
With
Teddy Edwards
*''
The Inimitable Teddy Edwards'' (Xanadu, 1974)
With
Ricky Ford
*''
Looking Ahead'' (Muse, 1986)
With
Curtis Fuller
*''
Fire and Filigree'' (Bee Hive, 1978)
With
Bunky Green
*''
Places We've Never Been'' (Vanguard, 1979)
With
Tiny Grimes
*''
Profoundly Blue'' (Muse, 1973)
With
Gene Harris
*''
Gene Harris of the Three Sounds'' (1972)
With
Andrew Hill
*''
Grass Roots'' (Blue Note, 1968)
*''
Mosaic Select 16: Andrew Hill'' (Mosaic, 1969)
*''
Lift Every Voice'' (Blue Note, 1969)
*''
Strange Serenade'' (Soul Note, 1980)
With
Buck Hill
*''
Capital Hill'' (Muse, 1990)
With
Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on sop ...
* ''
Rippin' & Runnin''' (Verve, 1968)
With
Richard "Groove" Holmes
*''
Soul Mist!'' (Prestige, 1966
970
With
Freddie Hubbard
*''
High Blues Pressure'' (Atlantic, 1967)
With
Willis Jackson
*''
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
'' (Muse, 1973)
*''
Headed and Gutted'' (Muse, 1974)
With
Clifford Jordan
*''
Hello, Hank Jones'' (Eastworld, 1978)
With
Hubert Laws
*''
Afro-Classic'' (CTI, 1970)
*''
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
'' (CTI, 1973)
With
Junior Mance
*''
I Believe to My Soul'' (Atlantic, 1968)
With
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion group founded by drummer Max Roach in 1970. The original members were Roach, Roy Brooks, Warren Smith (jazz percussionist), Warren Smith, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, and Freddie Waits.
All of M'B ...
*''
Re: Percussion'' (Strata-East, 1973)
*''
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion group founded by drummer Max Roach in 1970. The original members were Roach, Roy Brooks, Warren Smith (jazz percussionist), Warren Smith, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, and Freddie Waits.
All of M'B ...
'' (Columbia, 1979)
*''
Collage
Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
'' (Soul Note, 1984)
With
Charles McPherson
*''
New Horizons
''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...
'' (Xanadu, 1977)
;With
René McLean
*''
Watch Out'' (SteepleChase, 1975)
With
Mulgrew Miller and
Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey, in addition to Alice Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Tri ...
*''
Trio Transition'' (
DIW, 1987)
*''
Trio Transition with Special Guest Oliver Lake'' (DIW, 1988)
With
James Moody
*''
The Blues and Other Colors'' (Milestone, 1969)
*''
Feelin' It Together'' (Muse, 1973)
With
Lee Morgan
*''
The Last Session'' (Blue Note, 1971)
With
Don Patterson
*''
The Return of Don Patterson'' (Muse, 1972)
With
Pharoah Sanders
*''
Karma
Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...
'' (Impulse!)
With
Shirley Scott
*''
Mystical Lady'' (Cadet, 1971)
With
Buddy Terry
*''
Electric Soul!'' (Prestige, 1967)
With
McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...
*''
Time for Tyner'' (Blue Note, 1968)
*''
Expansions'' (Blue Note, 1968)
*''
Cosmos
The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...
'' (Blue Note, 1977)
With
Joe Zawinul
*''
The Rise and Fall of the Third Stream'' (Vortex, 1968)
With
Denny Zeitlin
*''Cathexis'' (Columbia, 1964)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waits, Freddie
1943 births
1989 deaths
Post-bop drummers
Hard bop drummers
American jazz drummers
Deaths from kidney failure in New York (state)
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Musicians from Jackson, Mississippi
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
Jazz musicians from Mississippi
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
M'Boom members
20th-century African-American musicians
Drummers from Mississippi