Space Jam by Higgins Billy, Signed (1 results)

First and sole edition, one of 8 copies only, the colophon reading, "Copy one, for the 60th birthday of Clark Coolidge, & copy two, for the personal library of Billy Higgins" then inscribed by the great drummer, "plus a six-pack, of which this is #5 - for Larry, love, Billy Higgins". WorldCat locates a single copy, at Stanford. Space Jam is a collection of jazz poetry comprising 17 short free-form pieces, perhaps taking its title from the Bugs Bunny-Michael Jordan buddy vehicle of the same name that took the box office by storm in 1996. Higgins (1936-2001) is associated with some of the greatest figures in jazz, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, and Sonny Rollins among them, but perhaps it is for his appearances on Ornette Coleman's earliest sessions that he is most highly regarded. "The dancing pulse of his cymbals is sufficiently mesmeric to make soloists of whatever persuasion totally relaxed in his company, and any group of which he is a member functions at its optimum level" (Brian Priestley in Jazz: The Rough Guide). Octavo. Portrait of Higgins at the kit on final page. Original cream-coloured printed wrappers, reproduction of Velazquez's portrait of his enslaved assistant Juan de Pareja to front cover, wire-stitched as issued. Very light signs of handling. An excellent copy.