Louis Hayes

American jazz drummer Louis Hayes was born in Detroit in 1937 and through his parents' love of music - his father played drums and his mother the piano - Hayes grew up listening to big bands and jazz. As one of America's most respected jazz drummers, Hayes is best known for his work with Horace Silver's Quintet, the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and The Oscar Peterson Trio.

As a young teenager he played in the clubs around Detroit working with names such as Yusef Lateef and Curtis Fuller before moving to New York at the age of 19 to drum with Horace Silver's Quintet. After a number of years as a session player in the late 1950s Hayes recorded his first solo album 'Louis Hayes' in 1960 featuring Adderley, Jones and Lateef along with Barry Harris on piano. He went on to record a further 17 albums as a leader or co-leader and appeared on countless recordings as a jazz session player.

During his career Hayes maintained a long term association with double bass player Sam Jones, often collaborating with Peterson, Adderley and Jones on a freelance basis. He made four albums with Jones but the connection came to an end when Jones died in 1981.