Jazz drummer
Nasheet Waits got his start with
Max Roach and went on to play as a sideman for a multitude of other artists and to record albums as a leader.
Waits was born in New York City in 1971. The son of famous percussionist
Freddie Waits, he was brought up in the thriving Westbeth artists' community in Lower Manhattan. Beginning to play the drums at a young age, he was encouraged by his father and, through him, met many great players who contributed to his musical education. Majoring in psychology and history at Morehouse College in Atlanta, he decided to pursue music as a career after his father's death in 1989. He moved back to New York and into the circle of his father's fellow players.
Max Roach gave him a start in his
M'Boom percussion ensemble, in which his father had also played.
Nasheet went on to play with a dizzying galaxy of stars including pianist
Fred Hersch, bassist
Eddie Gomez, and saxophonist
David Murray. Sought-after for his fluid, soulful playing, he recorded in the ensembles of
Antonio Hart,
Jason Moran (for Blue Note), and
Ralph Alessi (for
ECM), and in the group
Tarbaby, and recorded two albums as a leader, 2008's Equality (on Fresh Sound) and 2016's Between Nothingness and Infinity (on Laborie). In 2018 he appeared alongside
Alessi on German jazz pianist
Florian Weber's
ECM date
Lucent Waters. ~ John D. Buchanan