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When Miles came to Boston to play Lennie’s on the Turnpike in 1967 my brothers and I were there. The band now included Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson on tenors plus Eddie Gomez filling in
for Ron Carter. Needless to say, they blew the walls down. At one point Tony had played so hard that Miles jokingly threw a towel at him to wipe his face.
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I had some first-hand experience with Tony Williams while attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in1965 and several years after that.
Read moreThroughout his career Tony inspired countless drummers to strive for excellence and find their own voices, as he had done throughout his remarkable career. Drummers such as Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford, Billy Cobham, Vinnie Colaiuta, Peter Erskine, David Garibaldi, Steve Jordan, Jim Keltner, Michael Shrieve, Steve Smith, Charlie Watts and Dave Weckl have all named Tony Williams as an important influence on their playing.
Read moreMy teaching studio was directly across the hall from his, where he was conducting group classes. I could hear him in there sounding like he sounded on all those Miles and Herbie recordings. Cool stuff. Because we were right there close, we started hanging out after our teaching sessions and basically just bullshitting about everything.
Read moreI was always totally enthralled by Tony Williams’ playing. Ever since I was first aware listening to him on Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" I was a total fan... Absolutely stunned by his depth, feel, and creativity. Also, he seemed completely fearless and willing to just completely throw it out there when the spirit hit him
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Tony's band, Lifetime, was playing at Ungano's, so I went to check them out. I had a seat about six feet from Tony's left side, and not only was the band incredibly loud in this little hard-surfaced bar, but I walked away thinking Tony was playing a different instrument than I was. I don't think I learned or understood one thing he was playing... Just simply ferocious and amazing playing!
Read more"I first heard Tony Williams when I was in the army band. That was in 1963 and Tony had just joined Miles Davis. He was only seventeen and I couldn't believe how he expressed himself so differently than other drummers!
Read more“Like many of us, I was pondering Tony Williams' effect on the music world.
I remember how we all sounded before Tony and after. Very Different... Most of us were trying to sound like Max Roach, or Philly Joe Jones but then 'Four and More' came out. Within a year on the West Coast if you wanted to work with guys like Bobby Hutcherson or Woody Shaw - you had to have some sort of answer for this 'new and modern' type of playing. Tony turned the jazz drumming world upside down.
Read more“Tony was, in my opinion, one of the few master improvisers of our instrument. He added significantly to the vocabulary of jazz drumming and though his earliest recorded output is now over sixty years old, it nonetheless sounds as ground breaking and innovative as if recorded yesterday."
Read moreTony developed under the tutelage of master drummer/teacher, Alan Dawson. Miles Davis opened more avenues for development by stating, “You can’t make any mistakes in my band.” This encouraged Tony and gave him a clear musical canvas to create and develop his improvisational skills.
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Tony performed with such energy you could feel it propel the rest of the band. Miles himself said that Tony was “the center that the group's sound revolved around.”
Read moreI only got to see Tony play on two occasions. Once at The Blue Note and again at Birdland. Both nights, I received the drum lesson of my life and learned firsthand about control, finesse, and confidence. He played that massive canary yellow drum kit with the three floor toms and used every drum melodically and musically. His flams and single stroke rolls knocked me out on the spot. Looking back now, I wish I would’ve checked him out live more, but am grateful for the two times I did.
Read moreSeveral months before he passed in October of 1996, we played The Florida Drum Festival to 2,000 drummers. Tony was at the top of his game... Expressive, powerful, creative and you always expected the unexpected. We had the chance to talk for a while before his performance. He had an album coming out, 'Young At Heart' which he was excited about. He talked about wanting to be known as a composer and an individual artist. I told him, you are already there! Tony really appreciated that. He was, and still is such a powerful force in drumming and music.
Read more…the tricky syncopation and meter change in the seventh bar, the minor blues form and the improvisation of the piece still blow my mind to this day and served to open my young ears to form and melody in Jazz. Tony’s cymbal sound of the period is so organic it doesn’t even sound like stick on metal to me. His orchestration of phrases across the whole set, the use of the bass drum as an extra tom voice, the shift of the primary time keeping to stepped 1/8th notes on the hi hat, splashes of colorful cymbal work, all new to my ears, and everybody else’s too. Like so many other musicians I fell under the influence of Anthony Tillman Williams.
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“I first became aware of Tony Williams from my drum teacher John Wadham. He had me listen to Tony playing with Miles Davis. “I want you to listen to this drummer and then tell me what you hear “. After what seemed to be a long while as the record turned – the hiss was silenced by the sound of a furious trumpet, drums, and upright bass. It sounded so raw - like the musicians were right there in the room with me.
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Later in 2006, I would start drum lessons with legendary drummer Joe Porcaro in Thousand Oaks CA. Joe had many of Tony Williams’s transcriptions, and even had a story about his son Jeff and Tony recording together at Capital Records studio, saying, “Tony hurried in at the last minute, did the session and left soon after to catch a flight.” On Les Dudek’s ‘Zorro Rides Again’ , Tony’s sound is unique and identifiable - K Zildjian cymbals, Gretsch drums in 24" bass drum, 18' 16" 14" floor toms 14" 13" mounted toms, and 14" snare drum with Remo Black dots on all the toms and snare. His new signature sticks had dimensions similar to a 2B.
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“Tony Williams was also a big Buddy Rich fan. At the Grammy awards Steve Peck, Buddy’s tour manager said, Tony was beaming at Buddy from behind the stage. Miles Davis also claimed that Buddy was a ‘prince of a drummer’ and that “there isn’t a drummer alive who doesn’t have a Buddy Rich lick in them”.
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By the time the Quintet had taken the stage, most of the crowd had left, not willing to endure the weather. I stood amongst a small group of die hards at the front of the stage. It was a torrential downpour at this point. Herbie Hancock had drops of water dripping from his sleeves and onto the piano. I seem to remember it was during Pinnochio when Tony started dropping bombs on the bass drum that the crackle through the PA became more pronounced with each bomb. Eventually the PA went completely out! The band kept on cooking as though nothing had happened. We were listening to them acoustically.
Read moreOn the day of the clinic I was looking out the front window of Creative watching as a Ford Econoline van pulled into the parking lot… Through the rear windows I could see Tony, his bass player, and a set of Canary Yellow Gretsch drums thrown in the back with No Cases !! OMG, I was star-struck - but it was kind of amusing because Tony’s drums were always bigger than life to me – And there they were just lying in the back of a van.
Read moreot So Modern Drummer continues to celebrate the life and music of legendary drummer Tony Williams in our new ongoing series. Chapter Eight presents the recollections of Adam Nussbaum.
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