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Ørsted Pedersen, N. Double bass, p1988. drums)New Grove dict. of jazz: (Higgins, Billy; b. Oct. 11, 1936, Los Angeles; drummer)
New York Times, May 4, 2001: (Billy Higgins, 64, jazz drummer; d. May 3, 2001, Inglewood, Calif.; nickname, Smiling Billy)
African American National Biography, accessed January 30, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database: (Higgins, Billy; William Higgins; Hassan Ahmed Abdul Kareem; jazz musician, teacher, community activist, drummer, percussionist; born 11 October 1936 in Los Angeles, California, United States. He formed the Jazz Messiahs (1953); was a house drummer for Blue Note Records and leader of the Brass Company (1970s); recorded with Cedar Walton Trio and Quartet (1975-2001); awarded the American Jazz Masters Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Phineas Newborn Jr. Award (1997); was a faculty member of the UCLA Jazz Studies Program; in 1977 embraced islam and took the name Hassan Ahmed Abdul Karim; First Annual Billy Higgins Fresno State Jazz Festival was presented in Fresno, California (1999). He died 03 May 2001 in Inglewood, California, United States)