Jimmy Heath

Thu., Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m., free, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Feb 16, 2010

reading/signing

The title of saxophonist/composer Jimmy Heath's new autobiography, I Walked With Giants (Temple University Press), is typically self-effacing, seemingly ranking his achievements somewhere below the jazz legends with whom he's worked. And he's worked with them all, coming of age alongside Coltrane and Benny Golson, playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, and of course the product of the same South Philly household as his famed brothers, Modern Jazz Quartet bassist Percy and drummer Tootie. A gifted craftsman rather than an innovator, Heath's name has been eclipsed, either by more daring compatriots or by his own mistakes (heroin addiction and incarceration just as his career was taking off). But the now-83-year-old diminutive giant has been a witness to a substantial portion of jazz history, and his story engagingly portrays the music's evolution — and its struggle to keep pace.

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