Joe Williams
Joe Williams , actually Joseph Goreed (* 12. December 1918 in Cordele , Georgia , † 29. March 1999 in Las Vegas ) was an American jazz - singer who especially for his performances with the Count Basie known band.
Williams came to Chicago as a child , where he was raised by his mother and grandmother. In his youth he performed in the churches of South Side Chicago as a member of the Jubilee Boys vocal group . In the late 1930s he worked as a bouncer and singer in clubs and recorded some 78s with Chicago rhythm and blues orchestras. In 1943 he was hired by Lionel Hampton as a singer, with whose orchestra he toured for several years. He made his breakthrough and actual artistic development as a blues singer as the singer of the Count Basie Orchestra , where he succeeded the legendary band singers Jimmy Rushing and Maxine Sullivan and where his qualities as a shouter are used effectively in blues numbers. From 1954 onwards, Basie and Williams had hits with pieces like Everyday I Have the Blues and Al right, Ok, You Win . The Verve album Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings from 1956 was particularly successful . At the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 he performed with the Basie Band, which Lester Young also made a guest appearance with. At that time a long collaboration with Verve began , around 1959 several albums with string arrangements for Roulette Records ( Joe Williams Sings About You ) and for RCA-Victor ( Jump for Joy , 1963). Even after the Basie period he successfully continued his career with his own band, but later returned to Basie more often. In 1966 he also recorded with the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Big Band (formed the same year) of longtime Basie cornetist and arranger Thad Jones.
In the 1980s he was cast as his father-in-law " Grandpa Al Hanks" by Bill Cosby on his show .
Discography (selection)
Verve Records
- 1956 Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings
- 1957 One o'Clock Jump
- 1958 A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry
- 1963 Jump for Joy
- 1964 Me and the Blues
- 1966 Presenting Joe Williams and the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra
- 1973 Joe Williams Live
- 1985 I Just Want to Sing with Thad Jones , Eddie Lockjaw Davis , Benny Golson , Norman Simmons , John Heard ,
- 1993 Live at Orchestra Hall, Detroit
- 1993 Every Day: The Best of the Verve Years
- 1997 The Best of Joe Williams: The Roulette, Solid State & Blue Note Years
- 1998 One for My Baby
- 1999 Ultimate Joe Williams
- 2001 The Heart and Soul of Joe Williams and George Shearing
- 2002 The Definitive Joe Williams
- 2004 In Good Company (with Shirley Horn, among others )
- 2006 Music For Lovers
Delos Records
- 1984 Nothin 'but the Blues
literature
- Will Friedwald : Swinging Voices of America - A Compendium of Great Voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-WIERT, 1992. ISBN 3-85445-075-3
- Leslie Gourse: The story of Joe Williams , Quartet Books 1985
Web links
- Literature by and about Joe Williams in the catalog of the German National Library
- Joe Williams at Discogs (English)
- Brief biography at Riverwalk Jazz
- Verve page to Williams
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Williams, Joe |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Goreed, Joseph (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz singer |
DATE OF BIRTH | December 12, 1918 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Cordele , Georgia |
DATE OF DEATH | March 29, 1999 |
Place of death | Las Vegas |