Dave "Fat Man" Williams

Dave Albert Williams Jr. (August 20, 1920 - March 12, 1982) was an American jazz, blues, and rhythm & blues pianist, bandleader, singer, and songwriter. He was the author of "I Ate Up The Apple Tree", a staple of contemporary New Orleans brass bands. His career as a working musician spanned five decades.

Early life Williams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 20, 1920, to Dave Sr. and Viola (nee Frazier) Williams. Williams grew up in an extended musical family that included his cousin Preservation Hall drummer Josiah "Cie" Frazier. Frazier commented, "In my family there are many musicians interrelated. My father played guitar, my two brothers played piano. My cousins Simon, Eddie, John, and their father Billy Marrero all played. Also there was my brother Sam who played drums, my two sisters Victorine and Loretta played the piano, and my cousin Dave Williams piano." In his youth Williams studied with Papa Celestin, He also worked at the San Jacinto Club and the old Perseverance Hall, social clubs that sponsored dances and jazz performances. Williams' career as a musician was interrupted when he entered the Army in 1941.

Education Williams had his first formal musical instruction when he enrolled at the Grunewald School of Music in 1948 under the G.I. Bill. He took a band with him that included Williams on piano and vocals. Headquartered in Saigon, the band performed twice a day, moving around the country from show to show by helicopter. Williams recalled the junket in an interview with The Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. He noted that the Army helicopters were sometimes co-opted to carry out casualties, "packing up dead people, put 'em in a bag, put you right along with 'em." The tour also included travel to Thailand for two weeks. Williams toured and performed with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band across the United States in the 1970s and into the 1980s. He appeared nationwide on the National Public Radio broadcasts Folk Festival U.S.A. and Jazz Alive from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He played in Denmark in 1976 with Peter Nissen's New Orleans Band, and led his own Dave Williams' International Jazz Band in Copenhagen in 1981. These two songs were included on his 1974 LP New Orleans Jazz and Blues "I Ate Up The Apple Tree" by Dave Williams, released on New Orleans Records. The majority of the songs on the album were recorded at Lu and Charlie's jazz club in New Orleans on March 5, 1974, with a band that included Williams on piano and vocals, Clive Wilson on trumpet, Clarence Ford on clarinet and tenor sax, James Prevost on bass, and Chester Jones on drums. Also on the disc were four songs recorded in 1963 featuring Williams on piano and vocals, Ernest Poree on alto sax, Narvin Kimball on string bass, and Lloyd Washington on drums. A 1981 live set from Femø Island, Denmark featuring Williams, Sammy Rimington and Doc Houlind was released by GBH Records in 1996. The song was subsequently recorded by Rebirth Brass Band, Original Pin Stripe Brass Band, Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, New Birth Brass Band, and numerous others.

Among the noted musicians Williams performed with in jazz and R&B settings are Louis Cottrell Jr., Lizzie Miles, Wild Bill Davison, Cousin Joe, Freddie Kohlman, George Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, Paul Barbarin, Louis Barbarin, Kid Howard, Big Joe Turner, Lloyd Price, Kid Thomas Valentine, Bunk Johnson, Harold Battiste, Willie Humphrey, Waldren "Frog" Joseph, Papa Celestin, and Alvin Alcorn. In 1962 he was honored as Grand Marshall with Onward Brass Band.

Personal life Dave "Fat Man" Williams and his wife Pearl Jones Williams were the parents of six sons and three daughters. Williams was proud that he supported his family working as a musician. "That's all I ever did," he said.

Discography "I Would If I Could" b/w "It's Me, O Lord" (Ego, 1963) "I Ate Up the Apple Tree" (GHB, 2013) Dave "Fat Man" Williams featuring Sammy Rimington and Doc Houlind (GHB, 1996) "Fat Man" Williams & Houlind-Rimington International Jazzband Live at Femø (Music Mecca, 1981) "Don't You Hear Me Calling You" from Crescent City Bounce (Ace, 1986) "She's 'My Desire", "Here I Stand with My Heart in My Hand" from Little Sonny Jones New Orleans Rhythm & Blues (CSA, 1975), (Black Magic, 1993), (retitled Little Sonny Jones New Orleans R&B Gems) (Black Top, 1995)