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Terence Higgins

New Orleans Monster Drummer Terence Higgins

About Me

Terence Higgins, internationally known as drummer for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band , is as well versed in the churning New Orleans funk style as any man can be. Born and raised in NOLA, Higgins has performed with everyone from Widespread Panic to Dr. John to Norah Jones, and has even gained his own set of peers in other drummers such as Brian Blade, Russell Batiste Jr., and Stanton Moore . Higgins appears on dozens of albums, but with his first €œsolo€? CD his own ideas have become a force to be reckoned with.In The Bywater is named after the neighborhood in which the cd was recorded, one of the most historic in New Orleans. Just down the Mississippi River from the French Quarter, Bywater's colorful, diverse history seeps through into the sounds contained on the disc. But with that history comes a marked modern slant full of synthetic sounds and forward-thinking musical interplay. Higgins is joined by many of his NOLA compatriots here, including sibling keyboard and sax players (Andy and Scott) with the impossibly Cajun surname of Bourgeois. Also featured on the album are DDBB guitar craftsman Jamie McLean, trombonist Sammy Williams, bassist Calvin Turner ( Jason Crosby , Marc Broussard), and noted funk guitarist Renard Poche. Together they display the stuff that makes New Orleans music not only irresistible, but a worldwide curiosity and essential cultural edifice.€œTerrestrial Landing€? gets the disc hopping, with a blast-off of funk and synthesizers that give way to the neck-breaking funk of €œGotta Get Swamp Jiggy€?. Poche's vocoder provides digital vocals to get the track going while Higgins' seems to have at least four arms, finding a beat at every nook of the song's loose groove. Williams dazzles with a gliding, creative trombone solo, and Bourgeois serves up a dirty clavinet solo. This song just floors you with hard-hitting breaks and distorted, teeth-clenching melodies interspersed with tricky jazz passages.The title track shuffles off via a neo-traditional rhythm from Higgins and caterwauling slide guitar from McLean. This is an electrified brass parade through the JazzFest crowd on a 100-degree day at the Fairgrounds, sweaty and sauntering. There's no groove that the soloists on this album can't handle, as they lace Higgins' second-line-influenced beats with all kinds of musical chatter. Turner achieves the elusive goal of having the bass be just that€the €œbase€?. Only when the listener truly needs a reference point does the bass bubble up through the foundation, and Turner manages to provide the perfect layer every time. €œBarber Shop€? is a concrete old-school funk jam that is spiced with joyful melodica. If Higgins was trying to provoke images of Afros being neatly trimmed in a downtown barbershop during the 1970's, he succeeded! Wah-wah and a strolling, steady beat make this a highly visual instrumental. This is The Meters on a perfect Saturday afternoon in the city. Then it picks up steam and careens into a dance-jazz tune with a sprightly sax solo before disintegrating into a big, noisy rock ending.The carefully constructed €œ100mg.€? Is one of the more moderately paced tunes on the disc, and each band member has an equal voice here. Somehow each instrument manages to pop into the spaces left by the others, creating a roiling circus of funk. €œCatharsis€? is a smooth ride with synth-flutes and resounding organ backdrops. The band's propensity for tight jazz/funk breaks and melodies is on high volume here, as this song skips between cocktail jazz and roughneck funk.The disc ends with the improvised madness of €œPast Neptune€?, which starts as a free-association jam but eventually gains a makeshift theme. It is at this point of the listen that you realize how enjoyable of a ride this album is. The whole smorgasbord of virtuostic playing comes back to the listener during this moment of relaxation. The patience, dedication, and skill displayed by Swampgrease are what sets In The Bywater apart from the multitudes of other fusion/funk outfits.
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Member Since: 12/19/2005
Band Website: swampgrease.com
Band Members: Terence Higgins Drums, Calvin Turner Bass, AndyBourgeois B3/Keys, Jamie Mclean Guitar, Renard Poche Guitar/Talkbox, Scott Bourgeois Alto Sax, Sammie Williams Trombone,
Influences: Billy Cobham, HeadHunters, Lenny white, The meters, James brown, Allan Holdsworth, soulive, karl denson, gosple, jazz, rock,funk,fusion.
Sounds Like: new age new orleans funk, fusion and jam.CDBABY LINK for TERENCE HIGGINS & SWAMPGREASE: In The Bywater --
Record Label: gris gris bag
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

check out this interview with Gadd...I was blown away!!!!!

Hey My friends I found this interview with steve Gadd on the internet and I was blown away.... the moral of the story is you never know who's listening so always bring your A game.here is the link htt...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:32:00 PST

seeking graphic design for Swampgrease Logo

Hello to all graphic artist.....I am seeking a new logo design for  Swampgrease ........Please fill free to be creative as you can possibly be like your life depended on it,  i am  taking  Swampgrease...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:15:00 PST

Terence Higgins- "swampgrease Funk Blowout" 12/22-tips

..>..> ..>   Terence Higgins' Swampgrease Funk Blowout - Tipitina's - Sat., 12/22 Category: Music Tipitina's & Shy-Anne Social Club proudly PRESENT...      ...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:17:00 PST

DDBB on regis and Kelly live from new orleans

Dirty Dozen Brass Band to appear on Live With Regis and Kelly May 24May 2007, Rosebud NewsThe Dirty Dozen Brass Band have just been confirmed to perform on Live with Regis and Kelly on Thursday, May 2...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Tue, 22 May 2007 12:09:00 PST

Time to get back to work

What up my Peepsjust giving everybody heads up...it's been a while since my first solo Joint was release and I want to think everyone who took the time out to grab a copy, I think it was a great proje...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Sat, 12 May 2007 07:00:00 PST

report from 2007 drum daze

Well, once again Columbus Percussion has put on a tremendous day long drum clinic. This year's lineup featured Terrence Higgins of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Chris Pennie of Dilinger Escape Plan, JoJ...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:34:00 PST

2007 Drum Daze drum festival

Drum Daze 2007 - Sunday, April 15Every year, we bring some of the best professional drummers on the planet to Columbus for a day-long clinic. We are happy to announce the line-up of Drum Daze 2007 art...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:15:00 PST

The James Brown Story (the Day I met The Godfather)

I remember the day i met the Godfather of soul, it was at a suwanee festival in florida, it was a huge line up and JB was closing the show his set was at about midnight and the dirty dozen was to hit ...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:47:00 PST

HBO comic relief house band w/bonerama

Bonerama Live at HBO's Comic ReliefBy On Saturday, November 18th, at 9 pm ET, Bonerama will be performing live from the world famous Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas as the house band for HBO's Comic Reli...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Thu, 09 Nov 2006 11:49:00 PST

A little footage

it's all about the groove......Yeah bruh, aint to much footage floating around on me, so I just wanted to give yall a sneek peek, found this footage on one of my hard drives, this was shot  ...
Posted by Terence Higgins on Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:53:00 PST