Tony Williams (drummer)

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Anthony Tillmon Williams (December 12, 1945 – February 23, 1997)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was an American jazz drummer. Williams first gained fame as a member of Miles Davis' "Second Great Quintet", and later pioneered jazz fusion with Davis' group and his own combo, the Tony Williams Lifetime.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1970, music critic Robert Christgau described him as "probably the best drummer in the world."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Williams was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Life and career

File:Tony Williams1.jpg

Williams in Half Moon Bay, California, 1986.

Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.<ref name=drummerworld>Template:Cite web</ref> He was of African, Portuguese, and Chinese descent.<ref name=drummerworld /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He studied with drummer Alan Dawson at the age of 11, and began playing professionally at the age of 13 with saxophonist Sam Rivers. Saxophonist Jackie McLean hired Williams when he was 16.<ref name=drummerworld /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As a young drummer, he was influenced by Max Roach, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, and Jimmy Cobb.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

At 17, Williams joined Miles Davis in what was later dubbed Davis's Second Great Quintet--with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, and bassist Ron Carter. Davis had been in something of a creative lull, and critics noted the young Tony Williams's playing spurred the others on.<ref name=fordham>Template:Cite news</ref> Williams was a vital element of the group, called by Davis in his autobiography "the center that the group's sound revolved around."<ref>Miles The Autobiography, Picador, 1989, p. 254.</ref> His playing helped redefine the role of the jazz rhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation. Meanwhile, he recorded his first two albums as a leader for the Blue Note label, Life Time (1964) and Spring (1965). He also recorded as a sideman for the label including the classics Out to Lunch! with Eric Dolphy and Point of Departure with Andrew Hill, both in 1964.

In 1969 Williams formed the Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ.<ref name=drummerworld /> Lifetime was a pioneering band of the fusion movement.

Their first album was Emergency!. For the Turn It Over album, the trio were joined by bass guitarist and vocalist Jack Bruce. After several more releases and touring, Lifetime disbanded. In 1975, Williams formed "The New Tony Williams Lifetime", featuring bassist Tony Newton, keyboardist Alan Pasqua and guitarist Allan Holdsworth, who recorded two albums for Columbia Records, Believe It and Million Dollar Legs.

In 1976, Williams reunited with his colleagues from the Miles Davis Quintet.<ref name=drummerworld /> (Davis himself was in the midst of a six-year hiatus and was "replaced" by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.) <ref name=drummerworld /> A record of their concert was later released as V.S.O.P (“Very Special One-time Performance”), the name under which the group toured and recorded for several years. <ref name=drummerworld /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1979, Williams, McLaughlin and bassist Jaco Pastorius united for a performance at the Havana Jazz Festival.<ref name=drummerworld /> This trio came to be known as the Trio of Doom, and a recording of their performance (along with some studio tracks recorded in New York shortly thereafter) was released in 2007. Williams and Pastorius also played together on "Good Question" from the 1978 Herbie Hancock album Sunlight. Williams appears with the group Fuse One on their 1980 album.<ref name=ALLMUSIC>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1985, he returned to Blue Note with the Foreign Intrigue album. Eventually Williams formed his own acoustic quintet with trumpeter Wallace Roney, saxophonist Bill Pierce, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Ira Coleman. The quintet played Williams's compositions almost exclusively, recording and touring extensively from 1986 to 1992, culminating in The Story of Neptune album.

Williams guested with the band Public Image Limited, fronted by John Lydon, on their release Album (1986).

On February 20, 1997, Williams checked into Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California, suffering from stomach pain. Three days later, while recuperating from gall bladder surgery, he died of a heart attack. He was 51 years old.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Williams lived and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> One of his final recordings was The Last Wave by the trio known as Arcana, a release organized by Bill Laswell.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Recording date	Title	Label	Year released	Notes
1964-08	Life Time	Blue Note	1965
1965-08	Spring	Blue Note	1966
1969-05	Emergency!	Verve	1969
1970-07	Turn It Over	Verve	1970
1971-02, 1971-03	Ego	Polydor	1971
1972?	The Old Bum's Rush	Polydor	1972
1975-07	Believe It	Columbia	1975
1976-06	Million Dollar Legs	Columbia	1976
1976-09	Live at The Village Gate	Hi Hat	2017	Live. Bootleg recording.
1978-06	Live Tokyo 1978	Hi Hat	2018	Live. Bootleg recording.
1979	The Joy of Flying	Columbia	1978
1980-06	Play or Die with Tom Grant and Patrick O'Hearn	P.S. Productions	1980 <ref name=Discogs>Template:Cite web</ref>
1985-06	Foreign Intrigue	Blue Note	1985
1986-11	Civilization	Blue Note	1987
1988-04	Angel Street	Blue Note	1988
1989-09	Native Heart	Blue Note	1990
1991-11, 1991-12	The Story of Neptune	Blue Note	1992
1992-03	Tokyo Live	Blue Note	1993	[2CD] Live
1992-09, 1994	A Tribute to Miles with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wallace Roney	Qwest/Reprise/Warner Bros.	1994
1995-12	Wilderness	Ark 21	1996
1996-09	Young at Heart	Columbia	1997