Born in Chicago in 1945, Tony grew up in Boston and began studying with Alan Dawson at age eleven. Dawson went out of his way to encourage and support Tony and in an interview Tony said, "On Saturday nights Alan would drive one hundred miles out of his way to pick me up in Roxbury, Massachusetts and drive to Cambridge to let me perform with his trio and gain valuable experience, and then return me safely home. I was twelve years old."
Tony spent his early years studying the great drummers who had defined the art. As a young drummer, Tony would buy every record he could find with Max Roach on it and then would learn and play exactly what he played on the record, including Max’s solos. He also did a deep dive into studying drummers like Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Roy Haynes and all the drummers that inspired him. Tony has said in an interview that people try to get into drums today, and after a year they're working on their own style. You must first spend a long time doing everything that the great drummers do. Not only do you learn how to play something, but you also learn why it was played."
While in his teens Tony began gigging with saxophonists Sam Rivers, and Jackie McLean. When he was seventeen, Williams was hired by Miles Davis…Becoming part of a quintet that included saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter. Even in his early performances and recordings with Miles, Williams proved that he had not only mastered the jazz drumming vocabulary of the masters who had preceded him but that he was ready to take jazz drumming to the next level.
Tony himself always looked for ways in which he could improve. "I've always been a student," he said in Knoxville. "Learning has always been exciting for me”.
Throughout 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.
Tony is a drumming legend that we miss and continue to learn from and honor. Thank you Tony for your endless inspiration and amazing contributions to the worlds of drumming and music.
Sometimes in Life, it is not only what you do while you are here that inspires people, But it is the legacy that you leave behind, that inspires people even more.
- Joe Gansas and Doug Meola
Doug Meola
Doug is a freelance touring and session drummer as well as an educator and clinician and the owner/operator of The DrumSpot drum studio. He is also a writer for the “Around The Kit” Drum Talk Radio Podcast. See more info at:
Joe Gansas
Joe has been a Drummer for 40 years, and also the Creator & Host of the Great Drumming Podcast, “Around The Kit”.
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