Born in Queens, New York, Billy Mintz is a musician and singer. He was already playing in show bands at Catskill Mountain resorts when he was 15. This helped him to develop his musicianship. He recorded and played with the Lee Konitz Nevert (1978), Kundalini, Perry Robinson, Badal Roy, the Eddie Daniels Quartet and Gloria Gaynor. In 1981, Mr. Mintz moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the Mike Garson Trio featuring Stanley Clarke; the Kim Richmond Sextet, the Bobby Shew Quartet, the Joey Sellers’ Jazz Aggregation and the Vinny Golia Quartet. He performed with Mark Murphy and the Mose Allison Trio, as well as a few times with the Merv Griffin Show. He was the LA drummer for the Bill Mays Quartet and Road Work Ahead with Peter Sprague, Bob Magnusson, and Mr. Mays. 1986 saw Mr. Mintz tour Japan with the Los Angeles Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. He toured Europe in 1988 with Charles Lloyd, saxophonist, and John Pattitucci, bassist. He recorded and performed with Frank Strazzeri and Bill Perkins throughout the 1980’s. He was part of the pianist Alan Broadbent’s Trio from 1989 to 1995. He has been a private teacher and clinic leader throughout his entire life, including at the Berklee School of Music in NY, California Institute of the Arts in North Texas, Dick Grove School of Music, Musikgymnasium Innsbruck (Austria), Long Island Drum and Percussion Clubs, Eagle Rock H.S. at Arizona State University at Tempe and University of Arizona at Phoenix. While on tour, he also taught extensively in Sydney, Australia and Tel Aviv, Israel, as well as Wellington, New Zealand. Two books have been written by Mr. Mintz: Different Drummers (Amsco Music Publishing, Try Publishing) and Advanced Sticking and Sight-Reading(BM Publications). His articles were published in Not Just Jazz Magazine and Modern Drummer magazine. Mr. Mintz currently resides in New York and performs with several other groups, including the Hal Galper Trio (with Roberta Piket Trio), the Russ Lossing Trio and the Mark Feldman–Sylvie Courvoisier quartet. Recently, Mr. Mintz took on new roles as a composer and bandleader. He has been the leader of the Two Bass Band for the past 10 years, a ten-piece group that features his arrangements and compositions. He recently orchestrated and arranged many of his compositions for the Hutchins Consort String Chamber Orchestra, San Diego. He also performs solo on the drum set. He has been a soloist on both the US and international coasts. His latest project is his quartet, which features John Gross, Putter Smith as bassist and Roberta Piket as pianist/organist. Mintz Quartet is his debut CD as a leader. It’s available at www.billymintz.com as of September 2013.
