Al Williams
Alfred W. "Al" Williams (born December 17, 1919 in Memphis ) is a former American pianist of early jazz and rhythm and blues .
Williams came to Chicago in 1922 and played in various orchestras from 1936, from 1940 also with Red Allen , Jimmy Noone and Erskine Tate . In 1942 he had his own trio. In 1946 he accompanied Big Joe Turner on recordings for Savoy Records ("I Got My Discharge Papers"). From the early 1950s he worked in New York City, so in the Savoy Ballroom with Jimmy Rushing , Lucky Millinder , Dick Vance and Erskine Hawkins . He recorded some rhythm and blues numbers for the new label Atlantic and then worked with Benny Carter , Stuff Smith , in Bermuda in 1953 with King Curtis , in 1954 with Jesse Stone / LaVern Baker and in 1956/57 with Sam "The Man" Taylor .
1957/58 he performed with Sol Yageds Dixieland band in the New York metropolis ; In 1958 he played the album Songs for Swingers with Buck Clayton . With the orchestra he went on a European tour ( Copenhagen Concert ) in 1959 . He also took part in recordings of the poet Langston Hughes ( The Weary Blues ) that year, as well as Vic Dickenson and Joe Thomas . In 1961 he made guest appearances as a member of an all-stars band with Duke Ellington under the direction of Johnny Hodges in Europe, to be heard on the Pablo album Johnny Hodges at Sportpalast Berlin . Nothing is known about his later years.
The pianist should not be confused with the jazz drummer Alfred G. "Al" Williams (* 1943).
Lexical entries
- Bielefeld Catalog 1988
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
- John Jörgensen, Erik Wiedemann Jazz Lexicon . Mosaic, Munich, 1967
Web links
swell
- ^ Atlantic Records discography at jazzdisco.org
- ↑ Other contributors to this session were Red Allen, Vic Dickenson , Osie Johnson , Sam "The Man" Taylor, and Milt Hinton .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Williams, Al |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Williams, Alfred W. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 17, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Memphis |