Billy Lewis Brooks

Billy Lewis Brooks
Birth name	Billie Lee Lewis
Born	25 May 1943 United States
Died	21 August 2023(2023-08-21) (aged 80) Germany
Genres	Jazz
Occupation	Musician
Instrument(s)	Percussion, flute

Billy Lewis Brooks (born Billie Lee Lewis; 25 May 1943 – 21 August 2023)[1] was an American jazz percussionist and flautist.

Biography

Brooks moved to Europe in 1964. From 1972 until his retirement in 2008 he taught percussion at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, Switzerland, which was later part of the Bern Academy of Arts.[2]

In 1966, Brooks played in the quartet of Swedish trombonist Eje Thelin.[1] At the beginning of 1970's, he founded the group El Babaku with the bass player Bert Thompson [de] in Berlin, recording one album, Live At The Jazz Galerie, in 1971 for the MPS label. He appeared on two albums with Fritz Pauer: Live At The Berlin "Jazz Galerie" (with Jimmy Woode; 1970) and Water Plants (1977). Other appearances and collaborations include those with the Slide Hampton/Joe Haider Orchestra, Tete Montoliu and Núria Feliu, Benny Bailey, Miriam Klein, Nathan Davis, Duško Gojković, Philip Catherine and Ximo Tebar.[3]

Brooks died in Germany on 21 August 2023.[1]

Selected discography

With The Lou Bennett Trio

• Live At Club Saint-Germain (Vogue, 1980)

With Nathan Davis

• Happy Girl (SABA, 1965)

With El Babaku

• Live At The Jazz Galerie (MPS, 1971)

With Núria Feliu

• Núria Feliu (Edigsa, 1965) – with Booker Ervin, Tete Montoliu and Eric Peter

With Duško Gojković

• East Of Montenegro (Cosmic Sounds, 2003)

With Eddie Harris

• Cool Sax from Hollywood to Broadway (Columbia, 1964)

With Miriam Klein

• Lady Like (MPS, 1973) – with Roy Eldridge, Dexter Gordon and Slide Hampton

With Tete Montoliu

• A Tot Jazz (Concentric, 1965)
• A Tot Jazz/2 (Concentric, 1965)

With Horace Parlan

• One For Wilton (EGO, 1980)

With Fritz Pauer

• Live At The Berlin "Jazz Galerie" (MPS, 1970)
• Water Plants (EGO, 1977)

With Ximo Tebar

• So What! (WEA, 1997) – with Lonnie Smith

References

1. Leutenegger, Daniel (30 August 2023). "Zum Tod des Jazz-Schlagzeugers und Perkussionisten Billy Brooks, der lange in Bern wirkte". ch-cultura.ch (in German). Retrieved 12 January 2025.
2. Feller, Michael (30 August 2023). "Nachruf auf Billy Brooks: Das Unikum am Schlagzeug". Der Bund (in German). Retrieved 12 January 2025.
3. Hurley, Andrew Wright (2011). The Return of Jazz: Joachim-Ernst Berendt and West German Cultural Change. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. p. 206.