Christopher Acree

Jury paper: Drummer/Style

Tony Williams

Anthony Tillman Williams, better known as Tony Williams, is the

undisputed king of jazz drumming of the past fifty years. Though many

incredible drummers have come after him, and even concurrently, he

is the single biggest influence on nearly every drummer of jazz and

contemporary music.

Tony Williams was born in Chicago in December of 1945. It is

commonly believed that he started playing the drums when his family

moved to Boston when he was eight years old, but he has been quoted

as saying that he started playing before then, perhaps while still in

Chicago. When his family came to Boston, he began getting more

experience playing the drums. His father, Tillman, was a saxophonist,

and allowed him to sit in with his band when he was still a child. This

gave him a great deal of on-the-job experience, and right away

catapaulted him to being an exceptional drummer at a young age.

As Tony grew older, his skills improved exponentially. He states

that he would put on records of his favorite drummers and emulate

them completely, down to the tuning of the drums. His favorite

drummers, and the ones that he modeled his playing after completely,

were Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, and a local Boston player,

that no one seems to remember the name. They embodied, to him, a

great groove, consummate musicianship, chops and flair, and

versatility and big ears. These are the landmarks of his skills as a

musician, and the things that he has become known for.

As a teenager, Tony says that he was practicing up to twelve

hours a day. He would practice at his house as soon as he woke up,

then would go to friends houses that also played drums, and would

practice with them. At that point he had also become a student of Alan

Dawson, the famed teacher. Tony says that he only studied with

Dawson for a year, but it has been stated that he studied with him at

any and every chance that he could after leaving Boston.

At the age of thirteen, Tony began playing with the great tenor

man Sam Rivers. Tony told stories that the group would go to the

Boston Museum of Art, and play pieces inspired by the artwork in the

galleries, and other creatively based musical endeavors based on

artwork. This sparked an interest in Tony in free music, which greatly

influenced his sound, as is seen on his debut album, Life Time. He

continued playing with Sam Rivers, and in house bands around the
city, until he was discovered by Jackie McLean and moved to New York

at the age of 16.

After moving to New York, he played with McLean for a few

months, and then joined the Miles Davis group, while at the age of 17.

He played on several classic albums immediately after joining the

group, and also as a sideman on the classic albums, Una Mas (Kenny

Dorham) and Out to Lunch (Eric Dolphy). His style of playing could be

understated or as forceful as he wanted to be, and he took the

drumming world by storm. He remained with the Miles Davis group

until 1968.

After leaving Davis, he set out to create his own group, and did

so with the group Lifetime. Their first album, Emergency!, was a jazz-

rock masterpiece, and the album that inspired the Miles Davis album

Bitches Brew. When Miles heard the group Tony was playing with, he

immediately wanted to play with them. Tony didn’t want his group to

be connected with Miles, however, as he wanted to strike out on his

own. Miles went behind his back, however, and hired the group, Larry

Young and John McLaughlin, in addition to his working group at the

time. Tony was furious, and swore to never play with Davis again.

Tony led numerous groups after the Lifetime group, most notable
of which was his group featuring Mulgrew Miller, Wallace Roney, and

Ira Coleman. This group allowed Tony to flex his muscle as a composer,

producing such music as Sister Cheryl, and the Suite of Neptune. This

group was primarily a hard bop outfit, a sort of modern day Jazz

Messengers, but the tunes Tony wrote for them had a more modern

bent to them. He broke up the group in 1996, and was doing more

work in a trio setting, and with the free-jazz/rock group Arcana. All of

his astounding work was cut short, however, when he was killed by a

heart attack during a routine gall bladder surgery.