A Special Celebration for Higgins’ 61st

Billy Higgins’ 61st birthday is a real cause for celebration--both for the veteran drummer personally and for jazz in general. Back in action after undergoing a liver transplant last year, Higgins has once again returned to his active role in the Los Angeles jazz community.

On Saturday night, his anniversary will be celebrated with a “swinging party and jam session” at Marla’s Memory Lane. And Higgins, who is believed to be the most recorded drummer in jazz history, will probably be unable to resist sitting in with a lineup of participants that includes saxophonists Teddy Edwards and Harold Land, pianist Horace Tapscott and singers Sandra Booker and Carmen Lundy.

Higgins also has announced the continuation of his World Stage Summer Jazz Institute, which brought guest instructors such as saxophonists Herman Riley, Charles Owens and Land and pianist Barry Harris to the World Stage for low-cost seminars for young people. According to Higgins, the institute will now continue throughout the school year, with the autumn session scheduled for 10 Saturday afternoons from Oct. 18 through Dec. 20 at the World Stage, 4344 Degnan Blvd.

“We started out thinking we’d have mostly high school musicians,” says Higgins, who is also a faculty member at UCLA’s Jazz Studies Program. “But we wound up with quite a few college students and older players, which made for an interesting mix.” Applications and information on the institute programs: (213) 957-5113.

* “Happy Birthday, Billy!” at Marla’s Memory Lane, 2323 Martin Luther King Blvd., Saturday at 9 p.m. $10 donation. (213) 294-8430.