Drummer Louis Hayes is a superior hard bop stylist best known for supporting soloists rather than taking the spotlight himself. Over a seven-plus-decade career, he has been ranked alongside the illustrious Art Blakey as a superior, swinging hard bop drummer. He has nearly 800 recordings credits, as leader and sideman (some of his early employers included Yusef Lateef, Horace Silver, and Cannonball Adderley). Though his eponymous debut was released by Vee-Jay in 1960, he didn't lead another session before 1974's Breath of Life. 1978's The Real Thing offered a showcase for trumpeter Woody Shaw, while 1979's Variety Is the Spice of Life, highlighted pianist Harold Mabern and saxophonist Frank Strozier. Between 1989 and 1996, he cut seven albums, including The Crawl (1989), Una Max (1990), Nightfall (1991), and Blue Lou (1993). In 2006 he released Maximum Firepower, his Savant tribute to Adderley. In 2017 he issued Serenade for Horace on Blue Note. He returned to Savant for 2021's Crisis, 2023's Exactly Right!, and 2024's Artform Revisited. Hayes was born in Detroit in 1937. His father was an auto worker who played piano and drums, while his mother waited tables and played piano. (She was the sister of jazz pianist John Lewis "Prince" Nelson, Prince's father). Hayes received his first drum kit at age 10; he was mentored by cousin, drummer Clarence Stamps, who taught him technical fundamentals and drum lessons. His earliest influence was the big-band jazz he heard on the radio. His main playing influence was Philly Joe Jones; he was later mentored by jazz drummer Jo Jones. Hayes was leading his own groups before he was 16. He began his association with Yusef Lateef in 1955 and recorded four albums with the great multi-instrumentalist, including the classics Jazz for the Thinker and Before Dawn. Hayes then began his three most notable associations: He played in Horace Silver's Quintet from late 1957 to 1959, the Cannonball Adderley Quintet between 1959 and 1965, and the Oscar Peterson Trio from 1965 to 1967. Hayes often teamed up with bassist Sam Jones, in the bands of Adderley and Peterson, and in freelance settings. In addition to his group memberships and leader dates, the spent the '60s as an in-demand sideman with artists ranging from trombonists Curtis Fuller and J.J. Johnson to saxophonists John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, and Harold Land, among many others. Hayes led a variety of groups during the '70s, including quintets co-led by Junior Cook and Woody Shaw, and appeared with a diverse range of musicians from Cecil Taylor and McCoy Tyner to Freddie Hubbard, Richard Davis, and Dexter Gordon. His best-known recordings from the '70s include 1974's Breath of Life, 1977's Real Thing, and 1979's Ichi-Ban. Other well-received albums followed, including 1983's Colour, 1989's Una Max, 1994's Blue Lou, and 1996's Louis at Large. Hayes kept busy in the 2000s, releasing 2002's Dreamin' of Cannonball, a second Adderley tribute titled Maximum Firepower, as well as 2009's Time Keeper, and 2014's Return of the Jazz Communicators for Smoke Sessions. On his 2017 Blue Note album Serenade for Horace, Hayes paid tribute to his friend and former boss. High Note released a series of live tour volumes with Shaw, and in 2019, Jazzline issued the archival document Louis Hayes & Junior Cook Quintet's At Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall, Hamburg 1976. The drummer began an association with Savant with 2021's Crisis, continued on 2023's Exactly Right! and 2024's Artform Revisited. In 2023, Hayes was earned the distinction of becoming an NEA Jazz Master. ~ Scott Yanow & Thom Jurek, Rovi