Global saxophone legend Charles Lloyd returns to the Dakota on November 18th, this time with a tribute to the late drum legend Billy Higgins and accompanied by two extraordinary percussionists. Indian tabla player Zakir Hussein was most recently on the Dakota stage as part of George Brooks' Summit, and earlier was in town with John McLaughlin and Shakti. Young lion drummer Eric Harland has appeared locally with several artists, most recently at the Dakota with the McCoy Tyner Quartet. To see these three artists come together on one stage, and to hear live the music composed in tribute to one of the great spirits of modern jazz, is a rare opportunity, particularly for a small Midwest venue.

Billy Higgins was a native of Los Angeles who was best known for his early association with Ornette Coleman. Originally into R&B and rock on the west coast, Higgins hooked up with Don Cherry and James Clay to form the Jazz Messiahs before joining Coleman in the mid-50s. He later was a regular member of the Cedar Walton Trio and appeared on over 700 recordings with everyone from Coltrane, Monk and Rollins to Hancock and Metheny. Higgins first met Charles Lloyd when both were older teenagers working in LA; the two remained friends but did not connect again musically until 1993 when both appeared on the Acoustic Masters recording (Atlantic) with Cedar Walton. Although substance-free in his last decade, early drug problems had caused irreversible damage which ultimately led to the drummer’s death. After a liver transplant in 1996, Higgins returned to work and particularly performed and recorded with Lloyd during his final years, producing some highly acclaimed recordings on ECM, including Voice in the Night (1998), The Water Is Wide (1999), and Hyperion With Higgins (1999). With his health failing in 2000, Higgins accepted an invitation to stay with Lloyd in Big Sur, leading to his final months of reflections on life and music, and the explorations that became Which Way Is East. On this last recording, encouraged by Lloyd, Higgins stepped out from the trap drum kit to show his passion for other instruments, including the guitar and a variety of global folk percussion instruments, including hand drums. He also was persuaded to sing--in Arabic and Portuguese, as well as the blues.

 “Smilin’ Billy,” as many musicians referred to him, is fondly remembered by a long list of collaborators. Said Jack DeJohnnette, “Billy was always laughing, smiling when he played. He had a joy and a drive about his playing that made the players feel good…He was always consistent and musical, no matter what: fast tempos, slow tempos.” Noted Brad Mehldau, who played with Higgins on one of the drummer’s last recordings, “I think the force of Billy Higgins’ rhythm spreads out into other music besides jazz and will continue to do so…When he died, I was aware that one of the real creators was gone now. There would never be a replacement.”

Charles Lloyd grew up in Memphis, moving to Los Angeles in 1956 to study at USC. There he was influenced by Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry, and Ornette Coleman, and first encountered Billy Higgins. In New York, Lloyd was a sideman with the Chico Hamilton and Cannonball Adderley bands, and played with Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus. His legendary status in the 1960s world music movement culminated in his historic appearance at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival with then-undiscovered piano whiz Keith Jarrett and a young drummer named Jack Dejohnnette. The resulting live recording, Forest Flower, became one of the first jazz records to sell a million copies, a big hit with an audience more attuned to rock than jazz. After touring in the wake of his success, Lloyd retreated from public performance for much of the 70s and 80s. “I thought that my music could change the world. When I found out that I was wrong, I embarked upon a long journey of trying to change my character and transform myself." Lloyd’s retreat included meditation in Malibu and studying Eastern religious thought in Big Sur.

Lloyd made a brief return to recording and touring in the early 1980s as mentor to French piano prodigy Michel Petrucciani; once the young star launched his solo career, Lloyd again returned to the solitude of Big Sur. Recovering from a nearly fatal intestinal disorder in the late 1980s, Lloyd was reinvested in his jazz career, and returned to performing and recording, releasing his first ECM album, Fish Out of Water (1990). He then hooked up with old friend Billy Higgins to record Acoustic Masters in 1993; his series of stellar collaborations with Higgins for ECM soon followed. Wrote Stereophile,