The Heath Brothers: Jimmy, Percy and Tootie. Photo © Ted Bloom.

Each Heath followed his own path in his own time. Eldest Percy first studied violin, turning to bass and cello after serving in World War Two as one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Influenced by Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown, his emergence in the late 40s coincided with the development of bop, and by 1950 he was in New York playing with Davis, Monk, Gillespie and more. His big break came when he replaced Ray Brown in the Modern Jazz Quartet, holding the bass chair throughout the remainder of the MJQ’s lifespan. Middle brother Jimmy (3 years younger than Percy) was the first to move into jazz professionally, playing gigs while in high school and performing at the first International Jazz Festival in Paris in 1948 with Coleman Hawkins and Errol Garner. One of his first big bands included John Coltrane and Benny Golson. Today, Jimmy is perhaps as well known for his 100+ compositions and dedicated teaching as for his playing and bandleading. Tootie, nine years younger than Jimmy, made his first recording as drummer for John Coltrane in 1957, and went on to work with J.J. Johnson, Cedar Walton and Bobby Timmons before working in Europe with Dexter Gordon and Kenny Drew. He eventually settled in Los Angeles and recorded extensively for Riverside. Both Percy (2002) and Jimmy (2003) have received the NEA Jazz Masters Award.

What was the family context for the development of these three exceptional musicians? Jimmy explains that “my father played clarinet in a marching band in Philly, but he was an auto mechanic for the family and played weekends…mom sang in church.” The idea that their sons would learn a musical instrument was a given. “In those days,” said Jimmy, “everyone was offered an instrument. Families offered their children a cultural experience with music… Our sister played piano, but she didn’t stick with that. She met boys and gave it up! Percy played violin. When I was asked, I said ‘saxophone’ and started playing the alto sax… I had heard it, I liked it. I had listened to all the records my family had-–Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter--and I decided I wanted to be like them. And then along came Charlie Parker and upset the apple cart.  He had a new style and affected everybody in the jazz world, some negatively and some—most—positively…Tootie, he started drums later, he tried trombone first and changed to drums.”   

Although playing together would become a later focus, while growing up there really were few opportunities for a “Heath Brothers” band, largely due to “our different ages,” said Jimmy. “When Percy and I were in school, he wasn’t really thinking about music. He was working with my father as an auto mechanic, and the three-year age difference meant we were never in the same school together.” 

Even as all three Heath brothers ended up on the same path as jazz musicians, their influence on each other was relatively small. Notes Jimmy, “Tootie always says I’m the one that influenced him, but me being the first [to become a professional musician], I wasn’t influenced by them. But by outsiders, we all were influenced, and being on different instruments, we had different influences. Percy would hear Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford and that made him want to be a bass player…… For me, besides Charlie Parker, my big influence was Dizzy Gillespie, more so than Parker. He lived longer and I was closer to him. I played in his band and he showed me things over the years til he passed away… I still play in the [Gillespie] Alumni Band. I was in his big band in 1949-50, along with Paul Gonsalves on tenor. John Coltrane and I played alto.” 

The Heath Brothers in St. Paul. Photo © Howard Gitelson

To Jimmy Heath, there was no question that the Heath Brothers band would continue after Percy’s death in 2005, shortly after filming was completed for Brotherly Jazz. Yet replacing his older brother was a challenge. “Percy played cello and bass, it’s hard to replace him. He was the elder brother. He was the one born in North Carolina—with the blues in his shoes. Me and Tootie were born in Philly, I did not have the North Carolina thing, that very soulful thing. Percy was semi rural. I’m a city boy.” 

But the band plays on. “When you are a musician like myself, music is my life,” says the 80-year-old saxophonist. “I am working as much as ever…. I do other things… I do master classes and go to a lot of colleges and play with their band and do classes. I also have a big band, with a CD out now, Turn Up the Heath--it had #1 airplay in January. Plus the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Band… But we [with Tootie] do as much as we can together, this is our base of operations… We’re going on a cruise as the Heath Brothers in November, and then the following week I am back on a cruise as a Dizzy Gillespie [Alumni] person. My wife loves them [cruise tours].”   

And what about the “bass” of their operations? “When we can get him—Peter Washington has played with us a few times,” says Jimmy. “We’ve used Joe Sanders [a former student of Christian McBride] sometimes…And now we have a young man who is Ron Carter’s student, David Wong, who is also with Roy Haynes. He will be on the gig in Brooklyn and the following gig [at the Village Vanguard].”  Also on the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music bandstand will be pianist Jeb Patton, who “works quite a bit with singers,” and has now worked a number of years with the Heath family band.  And their repertoire? “We always try to get something together that we haven’t done and always rely on some of my compositions that have been called ‘jazz standards.’ ” 

Shortly before Percy’s death, Jimmy noted that “Among us, we’ve got more than 150 years of experience and more than 900 recordings. We’ve played with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, J. J. Johnson, Miles and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That seems to make us the elders of surviving families of jazz.”  Jimmy and Tootie Heath continue that legacy while mentoring a new generation, performing throughout the country and beyond, bringing their soulful hard bop into venues such as the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music where they present two sets, 8 and 9:30 pm, on October 6^th. 

The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music is located at 58 Seventh Avenue at Lincoln Place in Park Slope. (Take Q or B trains to Seventh Avenue or the 2 or 3 trains to Grand Army Plaza.)  Tickets $25/$15 for students and seniors. Call 718-622-3300 or visit www.bqcm.org.  The Heath Brothers will be performing at the Village Vanguard, October 16-21; the Jimmy Heath Big Band will perform on October 26^th at the Jazz Improv Convention in Manhattan at the New Yorker Hotel. For a Jazz Police review of “Brotherly Jazz,” click here!