Clarence Williams

Clarence Williams (October 8, 1898 or October 6, 1893

Williams started a music publishing business with violinist/bandleader Armand J. Piron in 1915, which by the 1920s was the leading African-American owned music publisher in the country. He toured briefly with W. C. Handy, set up a publishing office in Chicago, then settled in New York in the early 1920s. In 1921, Williams married blues singer and stage actress Eva Taylor, with whom he would frequently perform.

Williams and his wife, Eva Taylor, purchased a large house on Ruscoe Street (108th Ave near Addisleigh Park) and turned it into a gathering place for black artists, musicians, and intellectuals. They hosted regular parties and events, which attracted many notable figures from the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Duke Ellington.

Harlem Renaissance He was one of the primary pianists on scores of blues records recorded in New York during the 1920s. He supervised African American recordings (the 8000 race series) for the New York offices of Okeh phonograph company in the 1920s in the Gaiety Theatre office building in Times Square. He recruited many of the artists who performed on the label. He also recorded extensively, leading studio bands frequently for OKeh, Columbia and occasionally other record labels. and others. Two of his 1924 recording bands, "The Red Onion Jazz Babies" and "Clarence Williams' Blue Five" featured cornetist Armstrong and soprano saxophonist Bechet, two of the most important early jazz soloists, in their only recordings together before the 1940s. Clarence Williams' Blue Five, a studio band only, formed after the success of King Oliver's recordings in order to explore the market for blues-oriented music. The rivalry between Armstrong and Bechet, who tried to outdo each other with successive solo breaks, is exemplified in "Cake Walkin' Babies from Home", the most celebrated of these performances, which survives in versions recorded by both bands. Although the narrative of a rivalry during these recordings is frequently discussed in scholarship, Armstrong and Bechet do have moments of friendly collaboration, such as the shared break in "Texas Moaner Blues." King Oliver played cornet on a number of Williams's late 1920s recordings. He was the recording director for the short-lived QRS Records label in 1928. Among his own compositions was "Shout, Sister, Shout" (1929), which was recorded by him, and also covered by the Boswell Sisters, in 1931. He later recorded some of its musical numbers with Clarence Williams' Orchestra and Clarence Williams' Jazz Kings .

Clarence Williams was also credited as the author of Hank Williams' 1949 hit "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It", a song that was later recorded by Louis Armstrong. In 1970, Williams was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. "" (with Spencer Williams, 1919) "Sugar Blues" (1919) "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" (1919) "Royal Garden Blues" (with Spencer Williams, 1919) "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (and others, 1922) "Shout, Sister, Shout" "You Missed A Good Woman" "That Ought To Do It" "Look What A Fool I've Been" "Got To Cool My Doggies Now" "I Can Beat You Doing What You're Doing Me" "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" (1931) "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" (1933)

Discography 1921–24 – The Chronological (Classics 679?) 1924–26 – The Chronological (Classics 695?) 1926–27 – The Chronological (Classics 718?) 1927–00 – The Chronological (Classics 736?) 1928–29 – The Chronological (Classics 771?) 1929–00 – The Chronological (Classics 791?) 1930–31 – The Chronological (Classics 832?) 1933–00 – The Chronological (Classics 845?) 1933–34 – The Chronological (Classics 871?) 1934–00 – The Chronological (Classics 891?) 1934–37 – The Chronological (Classics 918?) 1937–41 – The Chronological (Classics?)