Tony Williams (drummer)

Life and career

Williams was born in Chicago and grew up in Boston. He was of African, Portuguese, and Chinese descent. He studied with drummer Alan Dawson at an early age, and began playing professionally at the age of 13 with saxophonist Sam Rivers. Saxophonist Jackie McLean hired Williams when he was 16.

At 17 Williams found considerable fame with Miles Davis, joining a group that was later dubbed Davis's Second Great Quintet. Williams was a vital element of the group, called by Davis in his autobiography "the center that the group's sound revolved around." His inventive playing helped redefine the role of the jazz rhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation, moving between mathematically related tempos and/or time signatures.

Williams was an integral participant in the early- to mid-1960s avant-garde movement, playing on such classics as Jackie McLean's One Step Beyond, Grachan Moncur III's Evolution and Some Other Stuff, Sam Rivers's Fuchsia Swing Song, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, and Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch. His first album as a leader, 1964's Life Time, was also in the avant-garde vein.

In 1969, he formed a trio, the Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ. Lifetime was a pioneering band of the fusion movement, a combination of rock, R&B, and jazz. Their first album was Emergency!. After McLaughlin and Bruce's departure, and several more albums, Lifetime disbanded. In 1975, Williams put together a band he called "The New Tony Williams Lifetime", featuring bassist Tony Newton, pianist Alan Pasqua, and English guitarist Allan Holdsworth, which recorded two albums for Columbia Records, Believe It and Million Dollar Legs.

In mid-1976, Williams was a part of a reunion with his colleagues from the Miles Davis band: keyboardist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Davis was in the midst of a six-year hiatus and was "replaced" by Freddie Hubbard. The record was later released as V.S.O.P and was highly influential in increasing the popularity of acoustic jazz. The group went on to tour and record for several years, releasing a series of live albums under the name "V.S.O.P." or "V.S.O.P.: The Quintet".

In 1979, Williams, McLaughlin and bassist Jaco Pastorius united for a one-time performance at the Havana Jazz Festival. 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. It opens with a powerful drum improvisation by Williams, followed by McLaughlin's "Dark Prince" and Pastorius' "Continuum", Williams' original composition "Para Oriente" and McLaughlin's "Are You the One?" Williams and Pastorius had also played together on the Herbie Hancock track "Good Question" from his 1978 album Sunlight.

With the group Fuse One, Williams released two albums in 1980 and 1982. In 1985, he recorded an album for Blue Note Records entitled Foreign Intrigue, which featured the playing of pianist Mulgrew Miller and trumpeter Wallace Roney.

Later that year he formed a quintet with Miller, Roney, saxophonist Bill Pierce, and bassist Charnett Moffett (later Ira Coleman). This band played Williams' compositions almost exclusively (the Lennon–McCartney song "Blackbird", the standard "Poinciana", and the Freddie Hubbard blues "Birdlike" being the exceptions) and toured and recorded throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. This rhythm section also recorded as a trio.

Williams also played drums for the band Public Image Limited, fronted by former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon, on their 1986 release Album/Cassette/Compact Disc (the album title varied depending on the format). He played on the songs "FFF", "Rise" (a modest hit), and "Home". Bass guitarist Bill Laswell co-wrote those three songs with Lydon. The other drummer on that album was Ginger Baker.

Personal life

Williams lived and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death from a heart attack following routine gall bladder surgery. One of his final recordings was The Last Wave by the trio known as Arcana, a release organized by Laswell.

As leader

1964: Life Time (Blue Note)

1965: Spring (Blue Note)

1969: Emergency! (Verve)

1970: Turn It Over (Verve)

1971: Ego (Polydor)

1972: The Old Bum's Rush (Polydor)

1975: Believe It (Columbia)

1976: Million Dollar Legs (Columbia)

1975, 1976 The Collection (Columbia) - Believe It and Million Dollar Legs issued as one CD (1992)

1979: The Joy of Flying (Columbia)

1980: Play or Die (P.S. Productions) – with Tom Grant and Patrick O'Hearn

1985: Foreign Intrigue (Blue Note)

1986: Civilization (Blue Note)

1988: Angel Street (Blue Note)

1989: Native Heart (Blue Note)

1991: The Story of Neptune (Blue Note)

1992: Tokyo Live (Blue Note)

1996: Wilderness (Ark 21)

1996: Young at Heart (Columbia)

As sideman

With Geri Allen

Twenty One (Blue Note, 1994)

With Arcana

The Last Wave (1995)

Arc of the Testimony (1997)

With Chet Baker

You Can't Go Home Again (Horizon, 1977)

The Best Thing for You (A&M, 1977 [1989])

Chet Baker / Wolfgang Lackerschmid (Sandra Music Productions, 1979) with Wolfgang Lackerschmid

With George Cables

Phantom of the City (Contemporary, 1985)

With Ron Carter

Third Plane (1978)

Etudes (1982)

With Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke (1974)

With Miles Davis

Seven Steps to Heaven (1963)

Miles Davis in Europe (1963)

Four & More (1964)

My Funny Valentine (1964)

Miles in Tokyo (1964)

Miles in Berlin (1964)

E.S.P. (1965)

The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel (1965)

Miles Smiles (1966)

Directions (1967, 1968)

Sorcerer (1967)

Nefertiti (1967)

Water Babies (1967, 1968)

Circle in the Round (1967, 1968)

Miles in the Sky (1968)

The Complete Miles Davis–Gil Evans Studio Recordings – four takes of "Falling Water" (1968)

Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968)

In a Silent Way (1969)

Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 (Columbia Legacy, 2012)

Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (Columbia Legacy, 2015)

With Eric Dolphy

Out to Lunch (1964)

With Kenny Dorham

Una Mas (1963)

With Gil Evans

There Comes a Time (RCA, 1975)

With Tommy Flanagan

The Master Trio (1983)

Blues in the Closet (1983)

With Hal Galper

Now Hear This (Enja, 1977)

With Stan Getz

Captain Marvel (1972)

With Dexter Gordon

Round Midnight (1986)

With Herbie Hancock

My Point of View (1963)

Empyrean Isles (1964)

Maiden Voyage (1965)

V.S.O.P. (1976)

V.S.O.P.: The Quintet (1977)

V.S.O.P.: Tempest in the Colosseum (1977)

Herbie Hancock Trio (1977)

Sunlight (1978)

V.S.O.P.: Live Under the Sky (1979)

Mr. Hands (1980)

Herbie Hancock Trio (1982)

Quartet (1982)

Town Hall Concert (1985)

Future2Future (2001)

With Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Wallace Roney

A Tribute to Miles (1992)

With Jonas Hellborg and the Soldier String Quartet

The Word (1991)

With Joe Henderson

Relaxin' at Camarillo (Contemporary, 1979)

With Andrew Hill

Point of Departure (1964)

With Terumasa Hino

May Dance (1977)

With Allan Holdsworth

Atavachron – track 5 (1986)

With Hank Jones

I'm Old Fashioned (East Wind, 1976) with Sadao Watanabe and The Great Jazz Trio

Love for Sale (East Wind, 1976) as The Great Jazz Trio

The Great Jazz Trio at the Village Vanguard (East Wind, 1977) as The Great Jazz Trio

The Great Jazz Trio at the Village Vanguard Vol. 2 (East Wind, 1977) as The Great Jazz Trio

The Great Jazz Trio at the Village Vanguard Again (East Wind, 1977 [2000]) as The Great Jazz Trio

Kindness Joy Love & Happiness (East Wind, 1977) as The Great Jazz Trio

Milestones (East Wind, 1978) as The Great Jazz Trio

New Wine in Old Bottles (East Wind, 1978) with Jackie McLean and The Great Jazz Trio

Direct from L.A. (East Wind, 1978) as The Great Jazz Trio

The Great Tokyo Meeting (East Wind, 1978) as The Great Jazz Trio

With Charles Lloyd

Of Course, Of Course (Columbia, 1965)

With Michael Mantler

Movies (1977)

With Ray Manzarek

The Golden Scarab (1973)

With Branford Marsalis

Renaissance (1987)

With Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis (1981)

With John McLaughlin

Johnny McLaughlin: Electric Guitarist (1978)

With Jackie McLean

Vertigo (1963)

One Step Beyond (1963)

With Marcus Miller

The Sun Don't Lie (1990–92)

With Mulgrew Miller

The Countdown (1988)

With Grachan Moncur III

Evolution (Blue Note, 1963)

Some Other Stuff (Blue Note, 1964)

With Jaco Pastorius and John McLaughlin

Trio of Doom (1979)

With Michel Petrucciani

Marvellous (1994)

With Pop Workshop

Song For The Pterodactyl (1974)

With Public Image Limited

Album (1985)

With Don Pullen

New Beginnings (Blue Note, 1988)

With Sam Rivers

Fuchsia Swing Song (Blue Note, 1964)

With Sonny Rollins

Easy Living (1977)

Don't Stop the Carnival (1978)

No Problem (1981)

With Wallace Roney

Verses (1987)

With Travis Shook

Travis Shook (1993)

With Wayne Shorter

The Soothsayer (1965)

With McCoy Tyner

Supertrios (1977)

Counterpoints (1978)

With Sadao Watanabe & Great Jazz Trio (Hank Jones/Ron Carter)

I'm Old Fashioned (East Wind, 1976)

With Weather Report

Mr. Gone (1978)