Billy Hart

Billy Hart is an American jazz drummer and teacher, born William Hart in Washington, D.C., on 29 November 1940. He started out in Washington with soul acts such as Otis Redding and Sam and Dave and with Shirley Horn, then worked as a sideman with Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery. In the early 1970s he was the drummer in Herbie Hancock's sextet, later known as Mwandishi. He has taught at the Oberlin Conservatory since the early 1990s and was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2022.