Higgins Leads the Way on Once More
A drummer's album where the bandleader sets the pace and everyone else locks in.
By 1980, Billy Higgins had spent two decades behind the kit for some of jazz's finest musicians. Once More (1980) is one of his rare outings as a leader, and it matters because you hear the drummer's taste and timing shape everything that happens. Higgins wasn't a loud guy or an attention-seeker. He played soft when the music called for it, pushed hard when it needed pushing, and never played a fill just to remind you he was there. On this record, that restraint becomes the whole point. The band breathes around him instead of competing with him.
The recording was released on the Italian Red label, which meant it had a smaller reach than a major American release would have had. That probably kept it from reaching a wide audience at the time, though the album has its admirers among people who dig deeper into Higgins' catalog. This isn't a landmark record that changed what came after it. It's a solid session where an experienced bandleader knew exactly what he wanted and got the musicians around him to deliver it. The compositions and arrangements sit comfortably in post-bop territory—nothing that will shock you, but nothing wasted either.
If you already know Higgins' work with other leaders and want to hear him call the shots, this is worth tracking down. If you're new to him, you might start elsewhere first—his sideman work tends to be sharper and more memorable. But for completists and players who care about how a great drummer structures time and space in a session, Once More (1980) shows Higgins doing exactly what he'd spent decades learning to do.
Who's playing
Where next?
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
