Tony Williams

     We went to a Tony Williams tribute night at SF Jazz loaded with musicians. I found the most invigorating joyful piece to be the very first with Zakir Hussain, Eric Harland and Joshua Redman. Here the interplay between the musicians was constantly changing, rapid, fun, with sustained bursts of ideas, call and response, stumbles, recovery, tension, release, a journey we all were invited to.

young Tony with Max Roach, who gave Tony a cymbal that he used on his early recordings with Miles

     As a young drummer, Tony Williams served as a mentor to Cindy Blackman and she led the second act of music played with some of the SF Jazz Collective, later playing with an electric jazz rock group after the full performance of  Williams' suite, Rituals, with the Kronos Quartet.  Nearly 30 years ago we saw Kronos perform this with Tony and Herbie Hancock; a beautiful piece but never recorded.  Tonight we learned that in some of the rehearsals then teenager Cindy Blackman played the drum parts while Williams conducted or listened to make adjustments. Very cool that Blackman would perform this now.

SF Jazz bandstand for the tribute night

     Who was Tony Williams? Tony Williams was my favorite living musician from my mid 20's-until he died twenty years this month from complications from what was supposed to be minor surgery. The story has it that he suffered a heart attack after relatively minor surgery. He had been working on long forms of writing, already having building a book of strong work.  As a teenager Williams was a drumming phenom, already a brilliant musician (runs in the family) in Boston playing early with Jackie McLean's group, and then at sixteen/17 with Miles Davis' band of musical warriors that also included Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. They penciled a mustache on Williams so that he could sneak into the clubs to play. According to Miles, Williams was the most responsible member of the band, and would wake everyone up in the morning besides duties driving the music on the bandstand, at night.

     His playing style was influenced by those before him and he quickly learned and built on the playing of Max Roach, Art Blakey, Philly Jo Jones, Kenny Clarke. He mastered his craft. He found his voice. To me, his solos never felt showy or as traditional drum solos. His work always connected to the composition or was a complete composition in itself. His use of pace, sense of swing, incredible dynamics from a whisper to thunder, several rhythms played out on one or different drums and using the ride cymbal more extensively perhaps than anyone else before him. His shimmering cascades of sound, always crisp and full.

      No other musician contributed to the joy Maria and I found in being together and enjoying the Tony Williams Quintet, the band he formed in the mid-80's, in his return to playing in a more traditional jazz setting, with musicians that had moved through Art Blakey's school of Jazz Messengers. We often would run out to Oakland or SF, or wherever they were playing to catch a set or two of this great band. He was the only one who could keep Maria up late!  The arrangements of this band were always interesting, not following any of the usual patterns of solo, solo, solo.  Sometimes the leader would share smiles with his band enjoying the playing of the other musicians. They were always very good and very inspiring to us. One particular evening we remember distinctly; watching Pharoah Sanders at Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill then driving out to the old Yoshi's in Oakland, where we embraced the sound and joy of this fine band.

I grabbed a copy of this photo from a club after the last set. Favorite thing I ever stole.

     At the tribute concert there were to my mind, too many Miles Davis compositions  due to the lack of time the musicians had to prepare. While Tony's contributions to the Davis band of the 60's were crucial, his own writing (he spent years in the 80's studying composition) are more than worthwhile and excellent.  Besides Rituals, SF Jazz did play two or three other Williams works. Originally Williams asked Terance Blanchard (tp) to join the quintet but he couldn't (Wallace Roney, Bill Pierce, Mulgrew Miller and finally Ira Coleman, bass) but he played tonight, and sharing the stage with Joe Lovano (ts) it was nice to hear their playing and their spin on the music although the ensemble pieces were not nearly as tight as the Williams Quintet.

later used as the cover for Diane Ackermans History Of The Senses

    Williams/Hancock/Shorter/Carter/Davis pushed jazz into a different place; with harder rhythms, playing without convention, using space and silence or roaring sounds, each individual equal contributors to the music. After leaving Miles, Williams led some of the first Jazz-Rock groups, Tony Williams Lifetime! and played with many musicians from Sonny Rollins to Bill Laswell, Artists United Against Apartheid, John Lyndon, and Carlos Santana.  At the time of his death he was about to work with Max Roach.  I left work early for his memorial service at the chapel at USF and I remember Max providing a memorable eulogy, as well as Hancock, Wallace Roney, Wayne Shorter and others in attendance.

     I wanted to believe in karma when I was working at Double Rainbow on the night Williams came in with a friend for ice cream sundaes.  I couldn't believe my fortune! Are you kidding me??? I knew that he lived in the Bay Area but this was still too incredible.  He was in a great mood that night, and I was happy to make them sundaes and engage in short discussions about Duke Ellington, and inquire why Bill Pierce didn't play in the Jazz In The City (now SF Jazz)Tony Williams concert at the Herbst Theater. He let me know that Pierce ( an underrated player that Williams wrote well for) had just gone skiing for the first time and broke both his legs. I made a ridiculous joke about how they should have considered having Pierce play in a wheelchair and just moving him around on stage. Fortunately Williams was amused and played along with the idea. All was good in my world. The Original Bad Hombre, Donald Trump could never be President of this country (well okay, Reagan was President at the time). When I made a comment on how I was impressed with the record art, Williams called his friend over Michelle Clement and we talked about her art design.(There's a piece he wrote for her called, "My Michelle").  Then, with my discreet phone call, Maria came charging down the hill but fortunately we didn't lose our cool. How often do you get to serve your favorite musician an ice cream sundae?

   
         What we all need to be now: Warrior, Tony Williams Quintet
          A standard for his sister        Sister Cheryl, Tony Williams with Bobby Hutcherson
           A sweet melody                  Geo Rose, Tony Williams
           and we can play hard           Birdlike, Tony Williams Quintet (Freddie Hubbard)
           tribute to Miles                    Elegy, (Williams), Hancock, Shorter, Carter, Williams, Roney
           or cover a pop tune             Blackbird, Tony Williams Quintet (Beatles)
            An article from Jazz Times : max-roach-remembers-tony-williams/jazztimes

         Tony Williams at 51. Lara at 41. Gone far too soon. So much we all will miss.

    Oddly I found on YouTube a tune (sung!) by Williams called, "Lawra", (and an instrumental version)                  which is funny to me as I always was concerned about saying Lara's name incorrectly.

                                         (Nearly are the photos are from the internet)

Two drummers that I enjoy when they come around are Brian Blade (The Fellowship Band, and plays with many others) and Stanton Moore (Galactic+side projects).