Location New York, New York, United States Regions Greater New York Area, East Coast, Northeastern US Gender Male
Website billydrummonddrums.com/ X (Twitter) View on X
Billy Drummond is a jazz drummer, audiophile, educator, and chief cook. He first came to prominence in the late 1980s in the bands of three jazz legends, namely Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, and Sonny Rollins. He has appeared in more than 300 albums and is also an accomplished bandleader with several recordings under his own name, including Dubai,
which The New York Times voted No.1 on Peter Watrous’ Top Ten Best Jazz CDs of 1996. He currently leads his band, Freedom of Ideas, in New York.
Born in Newport News, Virginia, Billy Drummond grew up listening to his father’s extensive jazz record collection. Encouraged by his father, also a drummer and saxophonist, he was given his first drum at the age of four and was playing in local bands by the time he was eight. After moving to New York in 1988, he was immediately recruited to the young band Out of the Blue, recording Spiral Staircase for Blue Note Records, before becoming a member of Horace Silver’s Sextet.
Billy Drummond graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory of Music, where he studied classical percussion for two years before switching to jazz. He is currently the Professor of Jazz Drums at the Juilliard School of Music and NYU in New York and gives private lessons and workshops around the world.
