Waits, Freddie

Frederick Douglas Waits (April 27, 1943 – November 18, 1989) was an American hard bop and post-bop drummer. Waits never officially recorded as leader, but was a prominent member and composer in Max Roach's M'Boom percussion ensemble. He worked as 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.