Patience Higgins is a New York-based
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
saxophonist, flutist, and multi-reed musician. He also plays clarinet, oboe, and English horn. He has performed with
Duke Ellington Orchestra
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was ba ...
,
Barry Harris
Barry Doyle Harris (December 15, 1929 – December 8, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. He was an exponent of the bebop style. Influenced by Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Harris in turn influenc ...
,
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
Biography Early life
Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...
,
Jimmy Scott
James Victor Scott (July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as Little Jimmy Scott or Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs.
After ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
,
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
,
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...
,
Paquito D’Rivera
Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras (born 4 June 1948), known as Paquito D'Rivera, is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He was a member of the Cuban songo band Irakere and, since the 1980s, he has established him ...
,
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Hitching; 28 October 1927) is an English singer and actress known for her scat singing. She is the widow of jazz composer and musician Sir John Dankworth and the mother of bassist Alec D ...
, and The Sugar Hill Jazz Quartet. Higgins has a history as a Broadway musician. He is a music educator and teaches at th
New York Jazz Workshop Music School Higgins has toured with the Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras.
In 1998 he was featured artist playing saxophone and flute for double Grammy Award-winning recording Dee Dee Bridgewater's Dear Ella.
Higgins along with the Sugar Hill Quartet were the house band for the
Lenox Lounge, and regular Monday night sessions at
St. Nick's Pub in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
. His 1998 album 'Live in Harlem' documents Monday night sessions at
St. Nick's Pub.
Career
Higgins has also performed with the
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
Band under the direction of
Mercer Ellington
Mercer Kennedy Ellington (March 11, 1919 – February 8, 1996) was an American musician, composer, and arranger. His father was Duke Ellington, whose band Mercer led for 20 years after his father's death.
Biography Early life and education
Elli ...
, and Paul Ellington. He has been a member of the Duke Ellington Band for over twenty years. He has toured and recorded with
Frank Foster,
Rodney Kendrick
Rodney Kendrick (born April 30, 1958) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and record producer. He has been described as a "hard swinging player and composer with a delightful Monkish wit and drive".
Career
At twenty-one, Kendrick began a prima ...
,
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...
,
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Hitching; 28 October 1927) is an English singer and actress known for her scat singing. She is the widow of jazz composer and musician Sir John Dankworth and the mother of bassist Alec D ...
and The Sugar Hill Jazz Quartet,
Vanessa Rubin
Vanessa Rubin (born March 14, 1957) is an American jazz vocalist.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents from Trinidad and Louisiana, Rubin grew up in a musical household. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Ohio St ...
,
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...
,
The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...
,
Don Byron
Donald Byron (born November 8, 1958) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet but has also played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer.
Biography
His moth ...
, Hamiett Bluiett, The
Boys Choir of Harlem,
Nicolas Payton,
David Murray,
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
,
Savion Glover
Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973) is an American tap dancer, actor and choreographer.
Early life
The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great-grand ...
,
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
,
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...
,
Sam Rivers,
Charles Tolliver
Charles Tolliver (born March 6, 1942) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and co-founder of Strata East Records.
Biography
Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1942 and moved with his family to New York City when he was 10. Durin ...
,
Sam and Dave
Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (1935–2025) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988).
Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", " ...
,
Bobby Watson & Tailor Made,
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
Biography Early life
Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...
,
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter.
A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...
,
Barry Harris
Barry Doyle Harris (December 15, 1929 – December 8, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. He was an exponent of the bebop style. Influenced by Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Harris in turn influenc ...
,
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the Uni ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
,
Paquito D’Rivera
Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras (born 4 June 1948), known as Paquito D'Rivera, is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He was a member of the Cuban songo band Irakere and, since the 1980s, he has established him ...
, James Zollar,
Bobby Short
Robert Waltrip Short (September 15, 1924 – March 21, 2005) was an American cabaret singer and pianist who interpreted songs by popular composers from the first half of the 20th century such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold ...
,
Chip White
Alan White (21 December 1946 – 5 August 2020), known as Chip White, was an American jazz drummer who has performed and/or recorded with a variety of artists, including Carmen McRae, Jaki Byard, the CETA Artists Project (NYC Cultural Council Foun ...
,
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter.
A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...
,
Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco (April 10, 1971August 25, 2022) was an American jazz organist, trumpeter, saxophonist, and occasional singer. He released more than 30 albums under his own name, and recorded extensively as a sideman with such leading jazz perfo ...
,
Kiane Zawadi
Bernard Atwell McKinney, later Kiane Zawadi (November 26, 1932 – May 21, 2024) was an American jazz trombonist and euphonium player, one of the few jazz soloists on the latter instrument.
Biography
McKinney was born into a family of ten childre ...
, Eli Fountain, Leopaldo Fleming.
Discography
Album appearances
Movie Soundtracks
* ''
The Cotton Club''
*''
School Daze
''School Daze'' is a 1988 American musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Lee along with Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. Released on February 12, 19 ...
''
* ''
Awakenings
''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film written by Steven Zaillian, directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Stormare and Max ...
''
*''
Soul to Soul''
* ''
Baby Boy''
Theater Credits
* AVE Q, DREAMGIRLS
* THE WIZ
* AIN’T MISBHEVIN’
* BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR
* BLACK & BLUE
* RUNAWAYS
* HAIR
* SOPHISTICATED LADIES
* JELLY’S LAST JAM
* 5 GUYS NAMED MOE
* CHICAGO
Jazz Festivals
* NORTH SEA
* PORI
* MONTREAUX
* JVC
* NANCY
* WILLASAU
* VIENNE
* BERLIN
* PLAY BOY
* MONTEREY
* NEWPORT
* GLASKOW
* COPENHAGEN
* MONTREAL
* JAZZ HERITAGE in New Orleans.
* CHARLIE PARKER JAZZ FESTIVAL (in New York City)
References
External links
Duke Ellington & his orchestra - Take the 'A' train (live in Berlin 1969)Lenox Lounge, Sugar Hill Quartet, Patience Higgins, Dave Gibson, George Caldwell, Andy Mc Cloud, Marcus Percianni, Harlem N.Y.Patience Higgins Sugar Hill Quartet Live @ Lenox LoungePlaylists featuring Patience HigginsNew York Jazz Workshop Faculty Patience Higgins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Patience
Living people
American jazz educators
African-American saxophonists
African-American jazz musicians
American jazz tenor saxophonists
American male saxophonists
Bebop saxophonists
Musicians from New York City
Swing saxophonists
20th-century American saxophonists
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
21st-century American saxophonists
Educators from New York City
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)
Mapleshade Records artists
20th-century African-American musicians
21st-century African-American musicians