Lonnie Hillyer
trumpet
Lonnie Hillyer was a Detroit trumpeter, Charles McPherson’s boyhood friend, who studied with Barry as a teenager and later played with him in New York.
- mentions
- 13
- recordings
- 5
- Barry speaking
- 3
What Barry says
When John Coltrane came to Barry’s house to hear what he was teaching, Barry let him hear two young players, Charles McPherson and Lonnie Hillyer, who both could play.
The last train to Monk: an interview8:58
Barry names Lonnie among the young Detroit players he ‘made play good’, with McPherson, Harry Whitaker and Donald Walden, and among the young ones who got to play alongside older musicians in Detroit.
In the oral history Barry lists Lonnie Hillyer with Charles McPherson among the young players who came through him, and names the pianist Harry Whitaker as another of his who grew up with the two.
Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶129Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶141Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶233
In New York Barry worked with Charles and Lonnie at the new Five Spot on St. Marks Place.
In a Detroit TV programme, a speaker who is almost certainly Barry (his account of the music society, its 5,000 members and Kenny Burrell as first president, matches his WKCR telling) says its weekly concerts gave young players such as Charles McPherson and Lonnie the chance to play every week.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future37:2938:02Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶67
In his own words
I worked with Charles and Lonnie at the new Five Spot at St. Marks Place and the Bowery.
I’d let him hear two little young cats Charles McPherson and Lonnie [Hillyer] ... and they both could play
I had some young cats and I made them play good. Charles McPherson, Lonnie [Hillyer] ... Harry Whitaker, Donald Walden
Then came Charles and Lonnie and oh, I can’t think of the boy’s name.
Harry Whitaker grew up with Lonnie and Charles, so that’s another one of my piano players.
Every mention
13 moments in the recordings, 3 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 8:58
Barry let Coltrane hear two young students, McPherson and ‘Lonnie Elliott’, who both could play.
Interview: Detroit and after
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 38:02
Speaker unclear
Probably Barry: young players like McPherson and ‘Lonnie here’ played weekly at the music society.
Ep. 20 | Charles McPherson: Meeting Charlie Parker, Studying with Barry Harris, and the Art of Bebop
- 9:36
A student
McPherson: Lonnie was his age, lived nearby, and both went to Barry’s house in the afternoons.
- 10:09
A student
McPherson: he and Lonnie, the little trumpet player, sat in at the Bluebird, where Barry heard them.
- 10:44
A student
McPherson: Barry offered to show them things, and both he and Lonnie started coming to his house.
- 1:03:27
A student
McPherson names Lonnie, the little guy he grew up with, as a musician who greatly impressed him.
- 1:04:02
A student
McPherson praises Lonnie’s creative harmonic concept and his melodically and harmonically connected phrases.
- 9:02
Interviewer
The host asks whether Lonnie Hillyer, with McPherson at Barry’s, was a good friend.
- 0:00
Interviewer
A podcast host’s introduction lists Lonnie Hillyer among Detroit musicians McPherson grew up with.
Barry Harris, Red Rodney, Charles McPherson, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley - 1992-08-29, Riverside Park
In the interviews and notes
Right after telling how he made McPherson do his homework, Barry names Lonnie Hillyer with him, then a pianist who grew up with the two, whom he also counts as part of himself but whose name escapes him.
Barry says the pianist Harry Whitaker grew up with Lonnie and Charles, and counts him as another of his piano players.
Among his early New York jobs, Barry worked with Charles and Lonnie at the new Five Spot.
Panken counts Hillyer, with Joe Henderson, Paul Chambers, Roy Brooks and Charles McPherson, among the eager young players who kept turning up at Barry’s Detroit home.
Asked who else was going to Barry’s house, McPherson names first Lonnie Hillyer, a trumpeter who eventually played with Mingus.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶204
In the mid to late 1960s McPherson and Barry worked together again in a group with George Coleman, Lonnie Hillyer and Peck Morrison.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶214
Flanagan says that of Barry’s young prospects, McPherson and Lonnie Hillyer were the two most outstanding.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶22
Panken notes that when Barry made Bebop Revisited with McPherson, he was working with Charles and Lonnie; Don Schlitten agrees.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶148Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶149Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶150
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Barry Harris Quintet Live at Jazzclub Ostertor, Bremen, Germany - 1976 (audio only)2026, 39 min YouTube
- Barry Harris - “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was”2025, 4 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Quintet with Charles McPherson - Epistrophy2023, 14 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Quintet with Charles McPherson - I Didn’t Know What Time It Was2023, 13 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Quintet with Charles McPherson - Oscar For Treadwell2023, 12 min YouTube
- “Bird Feathers” - Charles McPherson2016, 5 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Quintet - Nighingale2016, 5 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Quintet - Mucho Dinero2016, 4 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Quintet - Easy to Love2014, 5 min YouTube
- Barry Harris - “Newer Than New” - I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (Hart, Rodgers).wmv2012, 4 min YouTube
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.