Buster Williams

Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams (born April 17, 1942) is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, as well as working with guitarist Larry Coryell, the Thelonious Monk repertory band Sphere and as the accompanist of choice for many singers, including Nancy Wilson.

Biography

Early life and career Williams' father, Charles Anthony Williams Sr., was a musician who played bass, drums, and piano, and had band rehearsals in the family home in Camden, New Jersey, exposing Williams to jazz at an early age. Williams was particularly inspired to focus on bass after hearing his father's record of Star Dust, performed by Oscar Pettiford, and started playing in his early teens.

He had his first professional gig while he was still a junior high school student, filling in for Charles Sr., who had double booked himself one evening. Williams later spent his days practicing with Sam Dockery, who was playing in Jimmy Heath's band in Philadelphia on a regular double bill with Sam Reed. Charles Sr. hosted a jam session at a club called Rip's and gave Williams the opportunity to put his own group together for a Monday night show in 1959, and in an effort to work his way into Heath's band, Williams hired Sam Reed. The plan worked, as two days later Reed contacted Williams about playing in his band that coming Saturday, which demonstrated Williams' talent to Heath, who in turn hired Williams the following week.

Williams attended Camden High School. Just after graduating high school in 1960, Williams had the opportunity to play with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt when Nelson Boyd reached out to Charles Sr. to cover for him. Charles Sr. was also unable to make the gig, and sent Buster in his stead. After the first set on a Friday night, Ammons and Stitt asked Williams to join the band on tour, starting in Chicago, after playing through the weekend in Philadelphia. Williams toured with them for about a year, from 1960 into 1961, until the group got stranded in Kansas City and was abandoned by Ammons, who fled without paying the band. The rhythm section managed to work with Al Hibbler for one week in order to earn enough for train fare to return home. Williams made his first two recordings with the Ammons/Stitt group in August 1961, Dig Him! for Argo Records and Boss Tenors for Verve, both recorded in Chicago.

Education Williams attended Combs College of Music in Philadelphia irregularly during and after his tenure with the Ammons/Stitt group. He learned composition, syntax, harmony and theory from Dr. Roland Wiggins.

Herbie Hancock Sextet In October 1968, Williams moved to New York City and continued to work steadily, playing shows with Art Blakey, Herbie Mann, and Mary Lou Williams, while recording for Atlantic, Blue Note, and Prestige with artists such as McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon, Roy Ayers, Stanley Turrentine, Frank Foster, Illinois Jacquet, and, once again, Gene Ammons (recently returned from a seven-year stint in Joliet). Having worked with Herbie Hancock in the Miles Davis Quintet, Williams became a fixture of Hancock's Mwandishi Sextet, recording three albums for Warner Bros., Sextant for Columbia, The Prisoner for Blue Note, and two more under Eddie Henderson's name for Capricorn. The Mwandishi Sextet explored new electronic sounds in jazz and featured Williams on both acoustic and electric bass. For 18 years between 1980 and 1998, Williams made only one record as leader, 1989's Something More, with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Foster, and trumpeter Shunzo Ono, featuring five original compositions by Williams. He continues to perform with a rotating lineup as Buster Williams' "Something More", touring Europe in 2013 with Joey Baron, Eric Reed, and saxophonist Bruce Williams. In June 2008, Williams self-released Live Volume 1 exclusively as a digital download.

Further collaborations

Williams was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work with Hank Jones and Tony Williams on Love For Sale, the first of Jones' records credited to "The Great Jazz Trio". Williams also continued to tour with Herbie Hancock throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and performed at a Grammy Awards ceremony with Hancock, Tony Williams, and Bobby McFerrin. 1982 saw Williams form two important collaborative ensembles, the Timeless All-Stars, a sextet featuring Harold Land, Curtis Fuller, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, and Billy Higgins, which recorded four albums for the Dutch label Timeless Records, and Sphere, featuring Kenny Barron, Ben Riley, Charlie Rouse, and later Gary Bartz.

Recent work

From 2010 into 2014, Buster Williams toured with Sonny Fortune, Mike Stern, and Jimmy Cobb as "4 Generations of Miles", named after a 2002 concert and recording for Chesky representing four different eras of Miles Davis bands. The original group featured Ron Carter and George Coleman in place of Williams and Fortune. The Buster Williams School of Music developed from a summer class Williams ran for the IDEA Performing Arts Center in Camden in 2012. Williams formed his own non-profit corporation to continue this work in 2013. "Something More" performed at the Portland Jazz Festival and Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in February 2014, this time consisting of Williams' former Mwandishi bandmates Bennie Maupin and Julian Priester, along with Cindy Blackman-Santana and George Colligan. Williams made a short tour of Europe in March 2014 as part of the Steve Kuhn trio with Billy Drummond.

Film and television work Williams worked on several film soundtracks and television commercials (including Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Old Spice) throughout his career. The 1969 film Mackenna's Gold featured Williams on the soundtrack working under Quincy Jones. Williams reunited with Ron Carter for Alain Corneau's 1981 film Le Choix des Armes, with music composed by Philippe Sarde and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. In the 1990s, Williams worked with Angelo Badalamenti on David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and with Terence Blanchard for the Spike Lee film Clockers. Williams made several television appearances as well, performing five of his own compositions with Branford Marsalis' The Tonight Show band, and backing Erroll Garner during an earlier Tonight Show appearance. He appeared on The Andy Williams Show with Nancy Wilson, with Bill Cosby on The Joan Rivers Show, and with Joe Williams on Sesame Street. In 2019, Buster Williams, From Bass to Infinity, a documentary film by Adam Kahan was released about Williams' life, career and philosophy.

Personal life Williams was married in 1965 to Veronica, whom he met in junior high school, and as of 2014, he lives in Camden with his wife. Introduced to chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo by his sister in 1972, Williams and his wife took up the Nichiren Buddhist practice after she suffered a concussion in a car accident, and he has continued the practice ever since as a member of the global Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International. His 2004 album Griot Libertè was inspired by another health crisis when Veronica recovered from a coma following a heart attack. Critic Ron Wynn ranked the Mwandishi Sextet "among the finest jazz-rock and pop-tinged units of all time."

Gear Williams' instrument is a copy of a late-1800s Boosey & Hawkes Panormo, using La Bella strings and a Fishman BP-100 pickup, with a 1x15 Polytone Mini-Brute bass amp. (Ubx, 1998)

With Cedar Walton Among Friends (Evidence, 1990) – live rec. 1982 at Keystone Korner Voices Deep Within (HighNote, 2009)

With Mary Lou Williams Free Spirits (SteepleChase, 1975) My Mama Pinned a Rose on Me (Pablo, 1977)

With Nancy Wilson Hollywood - My Way (Capitol, 1963) The Nancy Wilson Show! (Capitol, 1965) Lush Life (Capitol, 1967) Welcome to My Love (Capitol, 1968) Hurt So Bad (Capitol, 1969)

With Denny Zeitlin As Long As There's Music (Venus, 1997) Slickrock (MAXJAZZ, 2004) Trio in Concert (Sunnyside, 2009) Stairway to the Stars (Sunnyside, 2014) – rec. 2001 at The Jazz Bakery

With Others Franco Ambrosetti, Wings (Enja, 1984) Ben Aronov, Bob Brookmeyer and Tom Harrell, Shadow Box (Choice, 1979) Bill Barron, Jazz Caper (Muse, 1982) Gary Bartz, Episode One: Children of Harlem (Challenge, 1994) Cindy Blackman, Arcane (Muse, 1988) Hamiet Bluiett, Dangerously Suite (Soul Note, 1981) Donald Brown, Sources of Inspiration (Muse, 1989) Ted Brown, In Good Company with Jimmy Raney (Criss Cross, 1985) Will Calhoun, Native Lands (Half Note, 2005) Betty Carter, The Betty Carter Album (Bet-Car, 1976) Billy Childs, Skim Coat (Metropolitan, 1999) Cyrus Chestnut, Black Nile (Grave News, 2008) Freddy Cole, It's Crazy, But I'm in Love (After 9, 1997) Junior Cook, Somethin's Cookin' (Muse, 1982) Stanley Cowell, We Three (DIW, 1987) Jaiman Crunk, Encounters (Origin, 2012) Albert Dailey, That Old Feeling (SteepleChase, 1978) Miles Davis, Sorcerer (Columbia, 1967) Walter Davis Jr., Illumination (Denon, 1977) Kenny Drew, Third Phase (Jazz City, 1989) Cornell Dupree, Saturday Night Fever (Versatile, 1977) Teddy Edwards, Midnight Creeper (HighNote, 1997) Kevin Eubanks, Opening Night (GRP, 1985) Gil Evans, Lunar Eclypse (Robi Droli, 1992) – live Joe Farrell, Outback (CTI, 1971) Bruce Forman, The Bash (Muse, 1982) Sonny Fortune, Four in One (Blue Note, 1994) Frank Foster, Manhattan Fever (Blue Note, 1968) Rebecca Coupe Franks, Suit of Armor (Justice, 1992) Nnenna Freelon, Nnenna Freelon (Columbia, 1992) Chico Freeman, Peaceful Heart, Gentle Spirit (Contemporary, 1980) Carlos Garnett, Black Love (Muse, 1974) Stan Getz and Jimmie Rowles, The Peacocks (Columbia, 1975) Benny Green, In This Direction (Criss Cross, 1989) Grant Green, Easy (Versatile, 1978) Charles Greenlee, I Know About the Life (Baystate, 1977) Winard Harper, Be Yourself (Epicure, 1994) Beaver Harris, 360°Experience - A Well-Kept Secret (Shemp, 1980) Heads of State, Search for Peace (Smoke Sessions, 2015) Albert Heath, Kawaida (O'Be, 1970) Joan Hickey, Soulmates (Chicago Lakeside Jazz, 1998) John Hicks, On the Wings of an Eagle (Chesky, 2006) Billy Higgins, Bridgework (Contemporary, 1987) Freddie Hubbard, Outpost (Enja, 1981) Robert Irving III, New Momentum (Sonic Portraits, 2007) Illinois Jacquet, The Blues; That's Me! (Prestige, 1969) Etta Jones, Ms. Jones to You (Muse, 1976) Hank Jones, Love for Sale (East Wind, 1976) – as The Great Jazz Trio Willie Jones, III, Groundwork (Wj3, 2016) Rahsaan Roland Kirk, The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man (Warner Bros., 1975) Eric Kloss, Essence (Muse, 1973) Lee Konitz, Yes, Yes, Nonet (SteepleChase, 1979) Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons, Firebirds (Contemporary, 1968) Jeff Lederer, Sunwatcher (Jazzheads, Inc., 2011) Charles Lloyd, Acoustic Masters I (Atlantic, 1994) Jon Lucien, Mother Nature's Son (Mercury, 1993) Marguerite Mariama, Wild Women Never Get the Blues... Well, Not Anymore! (From The Inside Out, 2006) Branford Marsalis, Renaissance (Columbia, 1986) Bennie Maupin, The Jewel in the Lotus (ECM, 1974) Tom McIntosh, With Malice Toward None (IPO, 2004) Ken McIntyre, Open Horizon (SteepleChase, 1976) Carlos McKinney, Up-Front (Sirocco, 1997) René McLean, Watch Out (SteepleChase, 1975) Charles McPherson, McPherson's Mood (Prestige, 1969) Carmen McRae, I'm Coming Home Again (Buddah, 1980) Helen Merrill and Gil Evans Collaboration (EmArcy, 1988) Ralph Moore, 623 C Street (Criss Cross, 1987) James Morrison and Adam Makowicz, Swiss Encounter (EastWest, 1989) Sam Morrison, Dune (Inner City, 1976) Alphonse Mouzon, The Essence of Mystery (Blue Note, 1972) Tiger Onitsuka, A Time in New York (Savoy, 2008) Nathen Page, Page-Ing Nathen (Hugo's Music, 1982) Cecil Payne, Bird Gets the Worm (Muse, 1976) Emily Remler, East To Wes (Concord,1988) Ben Riley, Weaver of Dreams (Joken, 1996) Claudio Roditi, Free Wheelin': The Music of Lee Morgan (Reservoir, 1994) Red Rodney, Red, White and Blues (Muse, 1978) Roots, Saying Something (In+Out, 1995) Renee Rosnes, Without Words (Blue Note, 1993) Charlie Rouse, The Upper Manhattan Jazz Society with Benny Bailey (Enja, 1985) Carl Saunders, Out of the Blue (SNL, 1995) Jim Schapperoew, This One's For Pearle (Kerralee, 1980) Jonathan Schwartz, Sings Arthur Schwartz (Muse, 1977) Jimmy Smith, Go for Watcha' Know (Blue Note, 1986) Dr. Lonnie Smith, The Turbanator (32 Jazz, 2000) Charles Sullivan, Re-Entry (WhyNot, 1976) Charles Tolliver, Connect (Gearbox, 2020) Sarah Vaughan, Sassy Swings the Tivoli (Mercury, 1963) – live Roseanna Vitro, Listen Here (Texas Rose, 1984) Chip White, Harlem Sunset (Postcards, 1994) Lenny White, George Colligan and Steve Wilson, Hancock Island: The Music of Herbie Hancock (Chesky, 2008) James Williams, The Arioso Touch (Concord Jazz, 1982) The Mary Lou Williams Collective, Zodiac Suite: Revisited (Mary, 2006) Larry Willis, The Big Push (HighNote, 2006) Piotr Wojtasik, Quest (Power Bros, 1997)