Billy Mintz

Billy Mintz (born 1947) is an American jazz drummer and educator. Active in the East and West Coast music scene, he has worked on a wide range of projects from disco to avant-garde jazz.

Since 1975, he has been involved in over 70 recordings with several influential modern and contemporary jazz musicians including Vinny Golia, Alan Broadbent, Tony Malaby, Bruce Fowler, Bobby Bradford, Eddie Daniels, Nels Cline, Hal Galper, Russ Lossing, Lena Bloch, Adam Kolker.

Billy Mintz was born in 1947 in Queens, New York. He got his start in music at a young age; by age 15, he had already begun playing in the show bands at the holiday resorts in Catskill Mountain in upstate New York.

His recording career began in the late 1970s while he lived in New York City. In July 1977, he played on clarinetist/saxophonist Eddie Daniels's album Brief Encounter. Alongside him were bassist Rick Laird and keyboardist Andy Laverne. The album was engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and recorded at his Van Gelder Recording Studio, in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The following year, he recorded Kundaliniwith Perry Robinson and Badal Roy. In 1980, he played drums on Amy Sheffer's album Sanctuary Mine with Steve Tintweiss (bass), John Disselt (oboe), Kenny Gill (piano), and Curtis Fields (saxophone). While in New York City, he also played with Lee Konitz Nonet (1978), Gloria Gaynor, and the Harold Danko Quartet.

In 1981, Mintz moved to Los Angeles, California, and played and recorded with several musicians. In March 1984, he recorded Song For Janet Lee at Monterey Sound Studios, Glendale, California, with The Bob Magnusson Quintet Featuring Hubert Laws, Bobby Shew, and Peter Sprague. In 1986, he played drums on Mike Garson's jazz fusion album Serendipity (Reference Recordings) with Brian Bromberg (acoustic bass), Bob Sheppard (alto saxophone), Rick Zunigar (electric guitar), Greg Rorebaugh (piano), and Bob Summer (trumpet).

In 1986, Mintz toured Japan with the Los Angeles Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. Two years later, he toured Europe with saxophonist Charles Lloyd and bassist John Patitucci. In the 1980s, he also performed and recorded with Bill Perkins, Peter Sprague, Frank Strazzeri, Bill Mays, and Pete Christlieb.

From 1989 to 1995, Mintz was a member of the New Zealand jazz pianist Alan Broadbent's trio. One of the recordings was a bop album Trio In Motion (released in 2020) featuring bassist Harvie Swartz. In September 1995, he recorded at S.F.P. Music Productions (Tarzana, California) with The Dave Scott-Tony Malaby Quartet accompanied by bassist Trey Henry. In 1993-1995, he was with the Buster Cooper-Thurman Green Quintet.

In the fall of 1988, Mintz played on The Kim Richmond Ensemble's jazz/post-bop album Looking In Looking Out (USA Music Group) alongside Ken Filiano (bass); Tim Jaquette, Ken Kugler (engineer); Gary Denton (mixer); Tad Weed, Wayne Peet (piano); Kim Richmond, Vinny Golia (producer); John Gross (tenor saxophone, flute); and Mike Fahn (valve trombone).

Over the years, Mintz also performed or recorded with the Joey Sellers' Jazz Aggregation, the Vinny Golia Quartet, Jeff Johnson Trio, Russ Lossing Trio, and Adam Caine Quartet. He performed several times with the bands of Mose Allison and Mark Murphy and did a stint with the Merv Griffin Show band.

Mintz currently lives in New York, where he leads his own ensembles and performs with the Hal Galper Trio, Roberta Piket Trio, Mark Feldman–Sylvie CourvoisierQuartet, and the Russ Lossing Trio. He performs regularly on the East and West coast.

Mintz has regularly taught privately and also at various institutions, including the Berklee School of Music, Boston, Massachusetts; New York University, New York; California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California; North Texas State University, Denton, Texas; Dick Grove School of Music, Los Angeles, California; Musikgymnasium in Innsbruck, Austria; Long Island Drum and Percussion Club in Hicksville, New York; Eagle Rock High School, Los Angeles, California; Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona; and University of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona.

He also taught while touring with various musicians in Sydney, Australia; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Wellington, New Zealand.

In 1975, Mintz published an instructional book titled Different Drummers with Amsco Music Publishing Company. The book covers the styles of several drum and percussion legends including Max Roach, Art Blakey, Bernard Purdie, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, Manny Oquendo, Buddy Miles, Bobby Colomby, Billy Cobham, among others. The book comes with a companion flexi-disc of drum samples.

Another book he wrote is Advanced Sticking and Sight-Reading with BM Publications.

His articles have been published in Not Just Jazz Magazine and Modern Drummer magazine.

• No Train with Steuart Liebig and Vinny Golia (Cadence Jazz Records, 1997)
• Birdies for Lulu, Sylvie Courvoisier + Mark Feldman Quartet With Scott ColleyAnd Billy Mintz (Intact Records)
• Beautiful You, duet with saxophonist John Gross (Origin Records, 2004)
• Ugly Beautiful (Thirteenth Note Records, 2017)
• Turnpike Diaries Vol. 3: with Tony Malaby and William Parker (2021)
• Rose Of Lifta, Lena Bloch & Feathery (Fresh Sound Records, 2021)
• In The Heart of the Temple, with Art Resnick, Paul Sundfor, Chris Connor (Each Hit Music, 2023)

• The Jazz Discography, Tom Lord