By Je’Don Holloway-Talley | For The Birmingham Times

As Caleb “Twizz” Heath settled behind the drum kit at the Carver Theatre in downtown Birmingham, the world around him seemed to fade. The 18-year-old arrived at the venue and was immediately called by Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame inductee José Carr to sit in on a jam session.

“Everything was happening so fast,” Heath recalled. “I had just gotten there, and the next thing I knew I was on stage. I was feeling hyper, and that kind of pushed my anxiety through the roof — not because I was nervous about playing in front of people but because I get a little jittery before I play because I want to play so bad. But once I start playing, I zone in, and that all goes away.”

Once Heath got in the zone, it was just him, his sticks, and the opening notes of “Billie’s Bounce,” a bebop jazz standard by renowned jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.

That night in late February, the Hewitt-Trussville High School senior sat in with an all-star lineup of jazz musicians during an event presented through a partnership with the Los Angeles, California-based Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and the Birmingham City Council. Heath locked in with the other musicians, and the thrill of improvisation — the split-second decisions, the unspoken dialogue between him and the other performers — took over.

“Another Form of Communication”

“We were all jamming together, communicating through the music,” Heath remembered. “We also played ‘Four’ by Miles Davis.”

“Jazz is another form of communication,” Heath continued. “You don’t even have to rehearse. People can just click while playing live together. There’s so much nuance, so much to learn from different people, and it’s never the same twice. That’s what makes it exciting. But I’ll play any genre and any style, and I’ll enjoy it. I just love playing.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Heath has sat in with seasoned artists.

“I’ve played with [local jazz musicians] before on multiple occasions at the Uptown Jazz Lounge [in downtown Birmingham] and again at True Story Brewing Company [in Birmingham’s Crestwood neighborhood],” he said.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons he was invited to sit in with the greats during the February jam session.

“When José Carr recognized me, it seemed like he was kind of excited to see me. … He pointed at me and told me to come up and sit in,” said Heath, who describes his style as a blend of musical genres and influences that he manipulates to complement who he’s playing with.

Heath is known in Birmingham’s jazz circles by the moniker “Twizz,” which “is short for ‘Twizzler,’” he said.

“I don’t exactly know where the name Twizzler came from. It just kind of happened, and it stuck.”

Asked which drummers he looks up to, Heath listed Larnell Lewis, a Grammy Award-winning Toronto, Canada, native with a worldwide following; Jason Marsalis, the youngest son of the late jazz great Ellis Marsalis Jr., patriarch of the renowned Marsalis family of musicians; Elvin Jones, who played with legends like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins; Aaron Spears, who worked with superstars like Usher, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus; and Birmingham’s own Tim Huffman.

“[Huffman] is a local jazz drummer here in Birmingham,” said Heath. “He normally plays with José Carr, and he gives me important critique about how I play and what I need to do. … [He also] shows me places where I can come and play to get better.”

Young Band, Big Ambitions

Heath is part of a jazz group named the Tri-City Jazz Conglomerate, which formed in November 2024, when friends came together following a jam session. Heath said his ability to be an “adaptive player” was what got him the invitation.

“I had never been to a jazz jam before,” he said. “It was a house thing, a private jam session that Andy [Shang, a Vestavia Hills High School student], had going on. … They needed a drummer, so they called me because they knew I could play and adapt. I went and ended up playing ‘Four’ by Miles Davis, and that was it. … I’ve been playing jazz ever since.”

Not long after that first session, Heath and Shang, along with two other fellow Birmingham metro area musicians — Nico Moreno, from Vestavia Hills, and Brayden Jackson, from Hoover — had an idea.

Heath said, “We were on a Christmas gig in 2024, and we had a thought: ‘What if we could do this all the time? And involve the community and our friends?’ So, we founded the Tri-City Jazz Conglomerate because, at the time, we were from three different cities: Trussville, Vestavia Hills, and Hoover. Then we started bringing in other high school musicians, and that’s how it became a conglomerate.”

The Tri-City Jazz Conglomerate is made up of musicians who play the following instruments: bass guitar, guitar, drums, trombone, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and keyboard. There are nine core members, but they extend invitations to others, mainly high school and collegiate musicians.

The group has grown to include a rotating roster that has played around town, most recently at The Club Birmingham, where they performed in accompaniment with the Birmingham Boys Choir.

“We’re not officially an LLC or anything, but we operate under a name and make things happen,” Heath said.

A Self-Taught Talent

Heath’s first real push into musicianship came during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when he was a 13-year-old eighth grader at a Texas prep school. His early musical inspiration stems from his big brother, Cornelius Heath, a multi-instrumentalist that is 10 years his senior.

“My brother plays piano and drums, and he sings. … I used to mess around on his drum set all the time, and then I asked for one of my own,” Heath said. “Whenever [my brother] was free, he would [mentor me] by helping me fix my timing issues, and he would stay on me about being consistent on the set.”

Cornelius didn’t make the move to Birmingham from Texas with his family, but Caleb said his brother is one of his greatest supporters, even from hundreds of miles away.

“He’s always been supportive of what I wanted to do, and he’s really influenced me to pursue music as a career,” said Heath.

Being a pastor’s kid, commonly called “PK,” meant Heath was in church all the time.

“[I was] always surrounded by music, but I didn’t always have opportunities to play,” he said. “I was in concert band in middle school in Texas, playing the euphonium, [a smaller version of the tuba]. … When COVID hit, I stopped playing it and forgot everything.”

To help pass time during the pandemic lockdown, Heath’s mom bought him a drum set. “I spent every day of the quarantine learning and getting better [thanks to] YouTube University,” Heath said.

By the time the family relocated to Birmingham from Texas in 2022, Heath was a high school sophomore. He tried out for the Hewitt-Trussville High School marching band on tuba, but he struggled with both the instrument and marching techniques.

“I couldn’t get the marching down, and I wasn’t really good at playing the instrument,” said Heath, who instead auditioned for the indoor percussion ensemble and was placed on rack percussion, a station of auxiliary instruments, including cymbals, bells, and chimes.

“They told me if I showed up regularly and proved I was reliable, they’d see what we could do in the future. So, I did.”

By his junior year, Heath was playing lead drum set in the marching and jazz bands, as well as during Jazz One, an elective class. He also participates in the Indoor Percussion program, playing the drum set for Hewitt-Trussville High school under Winter Guard International (WGI), the Georgia Indoor Percussion Association (GIPA), and the Alabama All-State Jazz Band.

Heath practices daily: during school with his elective class Jazz One class, after school for two hours with the school’s jazz band, and for two to three hours in his basement once he gets home. He credits his growth to discipline.

Now, as a senior set to attend Jacksonville State University, in Anniston, Alabama, on a Jazz Performance scholarship, Heath will major in jazz performance and minor in business.

“I want to gig regularly, teach, and hopefully do some touring,” he said. “In five to 10 years, I see myself going after my master’s in jazz studies, performing, and maybe even playing the Super Bowl one day.”

Christ Centered

Even though he is just in high school, Heath’s schedule keeps him on the road constantly. Last month, he and the Hewitt-Trussville High School marching band went on a trip to Walt Disney World Florida, where they marched in the park’s grand parade. Then he was off to the University of Alabama for another stop.

But Heath is used to travelling. Before becoming one of the city’s most promising young drummers, he was a PK who lived a number of cities as result of his father’s pastoral assignments within the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church.

Heath was born in Fairfield, Alabama. When he was 2 years old, his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida. After that, there were moves to Cordova, Tennessee, and Fort Worth, Texas, where he spent his formative years. After his dad became Presiding Bishop of the denomination, the family returned to Alabama.

Caleb’s father, Bishop Clarence Heath, and mother, LaKisha Heath, a registered nurse, made faith and values the foundation of his upbringing.

Having church as the center of his life has been fulfilling, said Heath: “I personally enjoy being a PK. … All the traveling and meeting new people is fun. I started getting used to not being in a specific place all the time, and it’s gotten me used to being in new environments all the time. I am a Christian. I believe in God. … The main values my parents have taught me are to have manners and be respectful, and to be quick to listen and slow to speak.”

He added, “Church gave me a sense of community and a backbone in my relationships across the states I’ve lived in. … I hope I can help others in any ministry that I can through music. Whatever I do in life from here on out is to be, and will always be, rooted in my relationship with God. I always wanna serve and help my local CME church.”

You can follow Caleb Heath on Instagram and YouTube @twizzplaysdrums.