Sign-In
Cart
Oceans of Time: The Musical Autobiography of Billy Hart
Paperback
Publisher Price: $21.95
ISBN13: 9781955604246
Publisher: Cymbal Press
Published: Jun 18 2025
Pages: 220
Weight: 0.66
Height: 0.46 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Jazz Journalists Association Book of the Year 2026!
Oceans of Time Charts the Rhythmic Course of Jazz Master Billy Hart
Few drummers have traversed more stylistic terrain or logged more miles behind the world's greatest jazz musicians than Billy Hart. From Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to McCoy Tyner and Wes Montgomery, Hart has been the rhythmic heartbeat behind jazz legends for over five decades.
Now, in Oceans of Time: The Musical Autobiography of Billy Hart, the NEA Jazz Master opens up about his extraordinary life in music, in collaboration with pianist, critic, and longtime bandmate Ethan Iverson.
What makes this memoir unique?
You'll discover rare insight into the inner life of a drummer who has shaped the sound of modern jazz, spanning:
- His early years in D.C.'s fertile postwar jazz scene
- Historic gigs with Shirley Horn, Jimmy Smith, Stan Getz, and Wes Montgomery
- Legendary sessions with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner
- His evolution as a bandleader and educator
Inside, you'll find: Rich storytelling that reveals Hart's reflections on race, rhythm, mentorship, and meaning-alongside deep discussions of the D.C. beat, the elusive quality of swing, and what it means to live a musical life. Oceans of Time offers musicians and aficionados rare insight into the inner life of a drummer who has shaped the sound of modern jazz.
Appendices include tributes from fellow drummers, discographical highlights, and a detailed look at Hart's signature drum setup.
As Iverson writes in the preface, Billy Hart connects the glory years of jazz to the latest contemporary concerns. This book is the ultimate insider's guide to jazz drumming from a master who bridges jazz's past, present, and future.
About the Authors
NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart is a musical legend whose career spans over 600 recordings and five decades of groundbreaking performances. Comfortable in diverse contexts ranging from straight-ahead to avant-garde to pop, Hart bore witness to many major changes in jazz during the transformative '60s and '70s while working in the bands of Shirley Horn, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Pharaoh Sanders, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Stan Getz. He became the drummer of choice for countless jazz luminaries and has released a dozen albums as a leader. Beyond performing, Hart has mentored generations of musicians and continues to teach at prestigious institutions worldwide. In 2022 he was named a NEA Jazz Master, in 2023 he received the Living Legacy Jazz Award from Mid-Atlantic Arts, and in 2025 was part of the first group of musicians awarded the Jazz Legacies Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation and the Jazz Foundation of America.
Pianist and acclaimed jazz critic Ethan Iverson brings a unique perspective to this collaboration, having known Hart for three decades and performed in his quartet since 2003. Iverson was a founding member of the influential trio The Bad Plus; since leaving that group, he has released critically-acclaimed albums on ECM and Blue Note and maintains a long-standing relationship with modern dance choreographer Mark Morris. As a writer, his music criticism has appeared in The New York Times,
The New Yorker, The Nation, and JazzTimes, in addition to his widely-read Substack, Transitional Technology. This rare combination of deep musical partnership and journalistic insight makes Iverson the ideal collaborator to capture Hart's remarkable story.
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
Hart, Billy
Also in
Musicians
Smash!: Green Day, the Offspring, Bad Religion, Nofx, and the '90s Punk Explosion
Winwood, Ian
Hardcover
A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond
Tepedelen, Adem
Thayil, Kim
Hardcover
Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other--And the World
Windolf, Jim
Hardcover
Mahalia Jackson, Moving on Up a Little Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer
Tyson, Timothy B.
Williams, Mary D.
Hardcover
P Fkn R: Bad Bunny Y La Música Como Un Acto de Resistencia / P Fkn R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Díaz, Vanessa
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R.
Paperback
Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days
Beard, Javon
Whitfield, Bill
Hardcover
David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God: A Spiritual Meditation on His Music and Creativity
Ormerod, Peter
Hardcover
What Do You Do When You're Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle
Bernstein, Jonathan
Hardcover
With a Little Help from Their Friends: The Beatles and the People Who Made Them
Maconie, Stuart
Hardcover
A Life in Lyrics: The Official Creative Legacy of Freddie Mercury
Austin, Mary
Mercury, Freddie
Hardcover
The Little Guide to Dolly Parton: It's Hard to Be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World
Hippo! Orange
Hardcover
Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton (Large Print Edition)
Ackmann, Martha
Hardcover
It's No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown's Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy
Christian, Margena A.
Hardcover
Bust a Move: Matt Dike, Delicious Vinyl, and the Hip-Hop Hits That First Conquered Pop
Relic, Peter
Hardcover
Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles
Emerick, Geoff
Massey, Howard
Paperback
Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
Charnas, Dan
Paperback
Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock 'n' Roll)
Hyden, Steven
Hardcover
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
Kaplan, James
Paperback
Little Book of Elvis Presley: Inspirational Quotes from the King of Rock 'n' Roll
Croft, Rod
Hardcover
The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World
Guralnick, Peter
Hardcover
What Happened to Your Hair?: How We Played Loud... Loved Proud... and Never Backed Down... Together
Nelson, Matthew
Nelson, Gunnar
Hardcover
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008
Payne, Chris
Paperback
The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead--The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter
Hunter, Robert
Paperback
Keep It Beautiful: Inside the Funkyverse of Shock G and Digital Underground
Jacobs, Gregory E.
Mbassa, Alexis Wolfe
Hardcover
Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock
Gould, Jonathan
Hardcover
Puccini Without Excuses: A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Berger, William
Paperback
Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah
King, Charles
Paperback
Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll
Presley, Priscilla
Harmon, Sandra
Paperback
Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection
Anderson, Brian
Hardcover
Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life in Lyrics: My Life in Lyrics
Oermann, Robert K.
Parton, Dolly
Hardcover
Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to the Band
Lewis, Stephen T.
Hardcover
Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York's Iconic Music Club, the Bottom Line
Altman, Billy
Pepper, Allan
Hardcover
Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved
Martin, Russell
Paperback