Bobby Timmons

In the early and mid-1960s he led a series of piano trios that toured and recorded extensively. Timmons was strongly associated with the soul jazz style that he helped initiate. This link to apparently simple writing and playing, coupled with drug and alcohol addiction, led to a decline in his career. Timmons died, aged 38, from cirrhosis. Several critics have commented that his contribution to jazz remains undervalued.

• Name — Bobby Timmons • Birth Name — Robert Henry Timmons • Birthplace — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Born — 19 December 1935 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Died — 1 March 1974 • Instrument — * Piano • vibraphone • Genre — Jazz • Occupation — * Musician • composer • Years Active — 1950s–1970s • Label — * Riverside • Prestige • Milestone • Past Member Of — The Jazz Messengers

Timmons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of a minister. He had a sister, Eleanor. Both of his parents, and several aunts and uncles, played the piano. From an early age Timmons studied music with an uncle, Robert Habershaw, who also taught McCoy Tyner. Timmons first played at the church where his grandfather was minister; this influenced his later jazz playing. He grew up in the same area as other future musicians, including the Heath brothers (Jimmy, Percy, and Tootie) and Lee Morgan. Timmons' first professional performances were in his local area, often as a trio that included Tootie Heath on drums. After graduating from high school Timmons was awarded a scholarship to study at the Philadelphia Musical Academy.

Timmons moved to New York in 1954. He played with Kenny Dorham in 1956, making his recording debut with the trumpeter in a live set in May of that year. He went on to play and record with Chet Baker in 1956–57 (bassist Scott LaFaro was part of this band for a time), Sonny Stitt in 1957, and Maynard Ferguson in 1957–58. He also recorded as a sideman with hornmen Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, and Morgan. all for Blue Note Records in 1957. Timmons became best known as a member of Art Blakey's band the Jazz Messengers, which he was first part of from July 1958 to September 1959, including for a tour of Europe. He was recruited for the Messengers by saxophonist Benny Golson, who said that "He was inventive, [...] He could play bebop and he could play funky – he could play a lot of things, and I thought it was the element that Art needed. He hadn't had anybody quite like Bobby, who could go here or go there, rather than walking in a single corridor." By late 1958 Timmons was sharing bandmate Morgan's East Sixth Street apartment and the pair had bought a piano, allowing Timmons to practice and Morgan to work on composing. From around the time he joined Blakey, Timmons, along with some of his fellow band members, was a heroin user. After leaving Blakey, Timmons joined Cannonball Adderley's band, in October 1959. Timmons was also known as a composer during this period: The Encyclopedia of Jazz states that his compositions "Moanin'" (from the 1958 album of the same title), "This Here", and "Dat Dere" "helped generate the gospel-tinged 'soul jazz' style of [the] late '50s and early '60s." The first was written when Timmons was first with Blakey; the others were composed when he was with Adderley. "This Here" (sometimes "Dis Here") was a surprise commercial success for Adderley: recorded in concert in 1959, it was released as part of The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco album while the band was still on tour, and they discovered its popularity only when they arrived back in New York and found crowds outside the Village Gate, where they were due to play. Timmons was reported to be dissatisfied with the money he had received from "This Here", and was enticed in February 1960 into leaving Adderley and returning to Blakey's band by the offer of more pay. Timmons then appeared on further well-known albums with the drummer, including A Night in Tunisia, The Freedom Rider and The Witch Doctor. His own recording debut as sole leader was This Here Is Bobby Timmons in 1960, which contained his first versions of his best-known compositions. In the same year, he played on recordings led by Nat Adderley, Arnett Cobb, and Johnny Griffin, among others; on the first of these, Work Song, Timmons did not appear on all of the tracks, because he had been drinking heavily.

Timmons left Blakey for the second time in June 1961, encouraged by the success of his compositions, including jukebox plays of "Dat Dere", which Oscar Brown had recorded after adding lyrics. Timmons then formed his own bands, initially with Ron Carter on bass and Tootie Heath on drums. They toured around the US, including the West Coast, but played most in and around New York. In the initial stages of this trio, Timmons liked the group sounds of the trios led by Red Garland and Ahmad Jamal. According to Tootie Heath, Timmons was at the peak of his fame at that point, but was addicted to heroin, and used a lot of the money that the band was paid maintaining his habit. In 1963, Timmons' playing, with Lewis Powers on bass and Roy McCurdy on drums, was described by a Washington Post reviewer as "flexible and adventuresome [...] Glossing over everything is an undeniable sheen of church music and spirituals." In 1965, the same reviewer commented that Timmons was employing musicians who were of much lower ability: "Timmons lacks a certain passion but I wonder if this is not the fault of his sidemen." Timmons started playing vibes in the mid-1960s. He occasionally played organ, but recorded only one track on that instrument – a 1964 version of "Moanin on From the Bottom. Recordings as a leader continued, usually as part of a trio or quartet, but, after joining Milestone Records around 1967, Timmons' album Got to Get It! featured him as part of a nonet, playing arrangements by Tom McIntosh. Timmons' career declined quickly in the 1960s, in part because of drug abuse and alcoholism, and partly as a result of being typecast as a composer and player of seemingly simple pieces of music. In 1968 he made his second - and final - recording for Milestone, Do You Know the Way? In the following year, he played in a quartet led by Sonny Red, with Dexter Gordon on one of the saxophonist's temporary returns to the US from Europe, and in a trio backing vocalist Etta Jones. Timmons continued to play in the early 1970s, mostly in small groups or in combination with other pianists, and mainly in the New York area. According to saxophonist Jimmy Heath, Timmons joined Clark Terry's big band for a tour of Europe in 1974. He was unwell and drank on the plane to Sweden, and fell while drinking at the bar before the band's first concert, in Malmö. Susceptible to blood clotting, he was flown back to the US. On March 1, 1974, he died from cirrhosis, at the age of 38, at St Vincent's Hospital in New York. He had been in hospital for a month. He was buried in Philadelphia, and was survived by his wife, Estelle, and son, also Bobby.

Tootie Heath reported that, when they were on tour and Timmons was addicted to heroin, Timmons would routinely lie and sometimes pull out a knife to threaten people. On the other hand, Ron Carter, the bassist from that tour, asserted that Timmons offered his bandmates a lot of encouragement to experiment and improve from performance to performance, and that he "was a really multi-talented person and he was just a real sweetheart, a sweetheart of a man". In Golson's words, Timmons "had no ego about him, [...] He was always upbeat, never downbeat, and he never maligned anybody unless it was in a humorous way".

• Year recorded — Title — Label — Notes • 1957 — Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons — New Jazz — Quintet, with John Jenkins (alto sax), Clifford Jordan (tenor sax), Wilbur Ware (bass), Dannie Richmond (drums) • 1960 — This Here Is Bobby Timmons — Riverside — Trio, with Sam Jones (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums) • 1960 — Soul Time — Riverside — Quartet, with Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Sam Jones (bass), Art Blakey (drums) • 1961 — Easy Does It — Riverside — Trio, with Sam Jones (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums) • 1961 — In Person — Riverside — Trio, with Ron Carter (bass), Albert Heath (drums); in concert at the Village Vanguard, New York City • 1962 — Sweet and Soulful Sounds — Riverside — Trio, with Sam Jones (bass), Roy McCurdy (drums) • 1963 — Born to Be Blue! — Riverside — Trio, with Ron Carter and Sam Jones (bass; separately), Connie Kay (drums) • 1964 — Live at the Connecticut Jazz Party — Chiaroscuro — Quartet, with Sonny Red (alto sax), Sam Jones (bass), Mickey Roker (drums); in concert • 1964 — From the Bottom — Riverside — Timmons plays vibes on two tracks, organ on one. Trio, with Sam Jones (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums); released 1970 • 1964 — Little Barefoot Soul — Prestige — Trio, with Sam Jones (bass), Ray Lucas (drums) • 1964 — Holiday Soul — Prestige — Trio, with Butch Warren (bass), Walter Perkins (drums) • 1964 — Chun-King — Prestige — Trio, with Keter Betts (bass), Albert Heath (drums) • 1964 — Workin' Out! — Prestige — Quartet, with Johnny Lytle (vibes), Keter Betts (bass), William Hinnant (drums); one track is trio, with Sam Jones (bass), Ray Lucas (drums) • 1965 — Chicken & Dumplin's — Prestige — Timmons plays vibes on two tracks. Trio, with Mickey Bass (bass), Billy Saunders (drums) • 1966 — The Soul Man! — Prestige — Quartet, with Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums) • 1966 — Soul Food — Prestige — Trio, with Mickey Bass (bass), Billy Higgins (drums) • 1967 — Got to Get It! — Milestone — Nonet, with Joe Farrell and James Moody (flute, tenor sax), Hubert Laws (flute), George Barrow (baritone sax), Jimmy Owens (trumpet, flugelhorn), Eric Gale and Howard Collins (guitar; separately), Ron Carter (bass), Billy Higgins and Jimmy Cobb (drums; separately); four tracks are quartet, with Joe Beck (guitar), Carter, Cobb • 1968 — Do You Know the Way? — Milestone — Quartet, with Joe Beck (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (electric bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums); 3 tracks are trio, without Beck

• Year recorded — Leader — Title — Label • 1958 — Pepper — 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot — Riverside • 1959 — Cannonball — The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco — Riverside • 1960 — Cannonball — Them Dirty Blues — Riverside • 1960 — Nat — Work Song — Riverside • 1960 — Joe — Blue Jubilee — Jazzland • 1956 — Chet — Chet Baker Quintette — Crown • 1956 — Chet — Chet Baker & Crew — Pacific • 1956 — Chet — Chet Baker Big Band — Pacific • 1958 — Art — Moanin — Blue Note • 1958 — Art — Drums Around the Corner — Blue Note • 1958 — Art — 1958 – Paris Olympia — Fontana • 1958 — Art — Des femmes disparaissent (Soundtrack) — Fontana • 1958 — Art — Au Club St. Germain, Vol. 1 — RCA • 1958 — Art — Au Club St. Germain, Vol. 2 — RCA • 1958 — Art — Au Club St. Germain, Vol. 3 — RCA • 1959 — Art — At the Jazz Corner of the World, Vol. 1 — Blue Note • 1959 — Art — At the Jazz Corner of the World, Vol. 2 — Blue Note • 1959 — Art — Just Coolin — Blue Note • 1959 — Art — Les liaisons dangereuses 1960 (Soundtrack) — Fontana • 1960 — Art — The Big Beat — Blue Note • 1960 — Art — Like Someone in Love — Blue Note • 1960 — Art — A Night in Tunisia — Blue Note • 1960 — Art — Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Vol. 1 — Blue Note • 1960 — Art — Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Vol. 2 — Blue Note • 1961 — Art — Tokyo 1961 — Somethin' Else • 1961 — Art — Pisces — Blue Note • 1961 — Art — The Witch Doctor — Blue Note • 1961 — Art — The Freedom Rider — Blue Note • 1961 — Art — Roots & Herbs — Blue Note • 1961 — Art — Art Blakey!!!!! Jazz Messengers!!!!! — Impulse! • 1958 — Kenny — Blue Lights, Vol. 1 — Blue Note • 1958 — Kenny — Blue Lights, Vol. 2 — Blue Note • 1959 — Kenny — On View at the Five Spot Cafe — Blue Note • 1960 — Arnett — More Party Time — Prestige • 1960 — Arnett — Movin' Right Along — Prestige • 1956 — Kenny — Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia — Blue Note • 1956 — Kenny — Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 — Blue Note • 1956 — Kenny — Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 3 — Blue Note • 1962 — Kenny — Matador — United Artists • 1959 — Art — Brass Shout — United Artists • 1957 — Maynard — Boy with Lots of Brass — EmArcy • 1957 — Curtis — The Opener — Blue Note • 1958 — Benny — Benny Golson and the Philadelphians — Blue Note • 1969 — Dexter — L.T.D.: Live at the Left Bank — Prestige • 1969 — Dexter — XXL — Prestige • 1960 — Johnny — The Big Soul-Band — Riverside • 1960 — Sam — The Soul Society — Riverside • 1960s — Gloria — Live at Leo's Casino — Collectables • 1962 — Johnny — Nice and Easy — Jazzland • 1957 — Hank — Hank — Blue Note • 1955 — Frank — Frank Morgan (On unissued tracks available on 1991 edition CD) — Gene Norman Presents • 1957 — Lee — The Cooker — Blue Note • 1960 — Lee — Lee-Way — Blue Note • 1958-59 — Anthony — Jazz for Young Moderns (And Old Buzzards Too) (reissued as Earth Dance) — Bethlehem (Fresh Sound) • 1960 — Dizzy — Comin' On! — Blue Note • 1961 — The — A Jazz Version of Kean — Riverside • 1957 — Sonny — Personal Appearance — Verve • 1960 — The — The Young Lions — Vee-Jay Sources:

Bobby Timmons is recorded as composer, pianist, jazz musician and songwriter.