Tony Williams (drummer)

Tony Williams in Half Moon Bay, California, 1986.

Williams was born in Chicago and grew up in Boston.[5] He was of African, Portuguese, and Chinese descent.[5][6] 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.[5][7]

At 17 in 1963 Williams gained attention by joining Miles Davis in what 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."[8] 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 leader for Blue Note label, Life Time (1964) and Spring (1965). He also recorded as a sideman for the label including, in 1964, Out to Lunch! with Eric Dolphy and Point of Departure with Andrew Hill.

In 1969, he formed a trio, the Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ.[5] Lifetime was a pioneering band of the fusion movement.

Their first album was Emergency!. After the departures of McLaughlin and bassist Jack Bruce, who had joined the group for its second album, and several more releases, 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.[5] Davis was in the midst of a six-year hiatus and was "replaced" by Freddie Hubbard.[5] The record was later released as V.S.O.P.[5] The group toured for several years and a series of live albums were released under the name "V.S.O.P." or "V.S.O.P.: The Quintet."[5][9]

In 1979, Williams, McLaughlin and bassist Jaco Pastorius united for a one-time performance at the Havana Jazz Festival.[5] 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's original composition "Para Oriente" and McLaughlin's "Are You the One?"[5] 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 an album in 1980.[10]

In 1985, he returned to Blue Note and the result was a series of recordings for the label beginning with 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's compositions almost exclusively. Williams also played drums for the band Public Image Limited, fronted by John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols), on their release Album/Cassette/Compact Disc (1986, 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.

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. Williams was 51 years old.[11][12]

Williams lived and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death from a heart attack following routine gallbladder surgery.[13][14] One of his final recordings was The Last Wave by the trio known as Arcana, a release organized by Bill Laswell.[15]

• Colin_Larkin (ed.) (1992) The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 1st ed., pg. 2699; ISBN 1-882267-04-4
• Thom Holmes (2006) American Popular Music: Jazz, pg. 216; ISBN 0-8160-6928-X

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tony Williams.

• Tony Williams discography at Discogs
• Tony Williams discography at MusicBrainz