Smiley Winters
William "Smiley" Winters (* 1929 in St. Louis ; † 18th December 1994 in Oakland ) was an American jazz - drummer .
Live and act
Winters' mother was a tap dancer who gave William first lessons in drums. Important mentors for him were blues musicians such as Harry Wynn and Eddie and The Blue Devils . A guest appearance by Charlie Parker in the Jay McShann band finally brought him to jazz. After completing his military service in the US Navy in 1945, he played in Jerome Richardson's band and stayed for a while in New York in jazz clubs on 52nd Street such as the Onyx Club and Kelly's Stable . He performed with Billie Holiday in Honolulu. In favor of his family life - he had ten children - he limited his activities to the San Francisco area and from the late 1940s played in the Bay Area's club scene and club. a. with Dexter Gordon , Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis , Billy Eckstine , King Pleasure , Ben Webster , Sonny Stitt , Mark Levine and Charlie Parker, and later with musicians of the jazz avant-garde such as Ornette Coleman , John Handy and Pharoah Sanders . He lived in Oakland and was a member of the Now Creative Arts Jazz Ensemble in 1968 , which he also recorded with.
In 1969, with him as a leader that also the free jazz open album Smiley Etc. on the label Arhoolie Records , where u. a. Barbara Donald , Bert Wilson , Rafael Garrett , Michael White , James Zitro and Eddie Marshall participated. Bert Wilson released the 1971 Berkeley album The Smiley Winters Memorial Quartet on his FMO label (with Bert Wilson (tenor saxophone), Warren Gale (trumpet), Gary Todd (bass), two musicians from the Stan Kenton band). In 1987 Touché published the compilation William Richard Smiley Winters Sr. Esq. - HMIC - Head Musician In Charge , which contains recordings with Winters from the 1980s.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Discography Bert Wilson
- ↑ Smiley Winters at Arhoolie Records ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Discogs
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Winters, smiley |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Winters, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz musician and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Louis |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 18, 1994 |
| Place of death | Oakland |