Freddie Waits

 

Frederick "Freddie" Douglas Waits (April 27, 1943 – November 18, 1989) was a hard bop and post-bop drummer.

Waits was never officially recorded as leader but was a prominent member and composer in Max Roach's M'Boom percussion ensemble. He worked as a sideman with such pianists as McCoy Tyner, Kenny Barron, Andrew Hill, Gene Harris, Billy Taylor and Joe Zawinul. In 1967, Waits recorded with Freddie Hubbard. He was a member of the last Lee Morgan Quintet, an association ended by Morgan's murder in 1972.

In the late 1970s, Waits formed Colloquium III with fellow drummers Horace Arnold and Billy Hart. In the 1980s he became a music faculty member of Rutgers University.

He died of pneumonia and kidney failure in New York in 1989.

His son is the drummer Nasheet Waits.

Discography

As sideman

With M'Boom

Re: Percussion (Strata-East, 1973)

M'Boom (Columbia, 1979)

Collage (Soul Note, 1984)

 

With Roy Ayers

Daddy Bug (Atlantic, 1969)

 

With Kenny Barron

You Had Better Listen (Atlantic, 1967) with Jimmy Owens

Sunset to Dawn (Muse, 1973)

Autumn in New York (Uptown, 1984)

 

With Gary Bartz

Another Earth (Milestone, 1969)

 

With Willie Bobo

A New Dimension (Verve, 1968)

 

With Ray Bryant

Gotta Travel On (Cadet, 1966)

Lonesome Traveler (Cadet, 1966)

Slow Freight (Cadet, 1967)

Sound Ray (Cadet, 1969)

 

With Kenny Burrell

Night Song (Verve, 1969)

 

With Donald Byrd

Mustang! (Blue Note, 1966)

 

With Stanley Cowell

We Three (DIW, 1987)

 

With Richard Davis

Epistrophy & Now's the Time (Muse, 1972)

Dealin' (Muse, 1973)

Harvest (Muse, 1977 [1979])

Persia My Dear (DIW, 1987)

 

With Jack DeJohnette

The Jack DeJohnette Piano Album (Landmark, 1985)

 

With Bill Dixon

Bill Dixon in Italy Volume One (Soul Note, 1980)

Bill Dixon in Italy Volume Two (Soul Note, 1980)

 

With Teddy Edwards

The Inimitable Teddy Edwards (Xanadu, 1974)

 

With Ricky Ford

Looking Ahead (Muse. 1986)

 

With Bunky Green

Places We've Never Been (Vanguard, 1979)

 

With Tiny Grimes

Profoundly Blue (Muse, 1973)

 

With Gene Harris

Gene Harris of the Three Sounds (1972)

 

With Andrew Hill

Grass Roots (Blue Note, 1968)

Mosaic Select 16: Andrew Hill (Mosaic, 1969)

Lift Every Voice (Blue Note, 1969)

Strange Serenade (Soul Note, 1980)

 

With Buck Hill

Capital Hill (Muse, 1990)

 

With Johnny Hodges

Rippin' & Runnin' (Verve, 1968)

With Richard "Groove" Holmes

Soul Mist! (Prestige, 1966 [1970])

 

With Freddie Hubbard

High Blues Pressure (Atlantic, 1967)

With Willis Jackson

West Africa (Muse, 1973)

Headed and Gutted (Muse, 1974)

 

With Clifford Jordan

Hello, Hank Jones (Eastworld, 1978)

With Hubert Laws

Afro-Classic (CTI, 1970)

Carnegie Hall (CTI, 1973)

 

With Junior Mance

I Believe to My Soul (Atlantic, 1968)

 

With Charles McPherson

New Horizons (Xanadu, 1977)

 

With René McLean

Watch Out (SteepleChase, 1975)

 

With Mulgrew Miller and Reggie Workman

Trio Transition (DIW, 1987)

Trio Transition with Special Guest Oliver Lake (DIW, 1988)

 

With James Moody

The Blues and Other Colors (Milestone, 1969)

Feelin' It Together (Muse, 1973)

 

With Lee Morgan

The Last Session (Blue Note, 1971)

 

With Don Patterson

The Return of Don Patterson (Muse, 1972)

 

With Pharoah Sanders

Karma (Impulse!)

With Shirley Scott

Mystical Lady (Cadet, 1971)

 

With Buddy Terry

Electric Soul! (Prestige, 1967)

 

With McCoy Tyner

Time for Tyner (Blue Note, 1968)

Expansions (Blue Note, 1968)

Cosmos (Blue Note, 1977)

 

With Joe Zawinul

The Rise and Fall of the Third Stream (Vortex, 1968)

 

With Curtis Fuller

Fire and Filigree (Bee Hive, 1978)