If one were to categorize the great male voices of the past 50 years, the name of Joe Williams would pop up time and time again. "Neither the passing years nor changing musical styles seem to affect Joe Williams, whose remarkable baritone remains one of the wonders of jazz. Supple, flexible, lithe, warm, embracing--it's an unusual instrument, and Williams does a great deal with it." (12/6/92, Chicago Tribune, Howard Reich). "Aging gracefully is no easy task for a vocalist. Joe Williams defies the odds by getting better as time passes, and he should consider giving lessons ." (5/13/93, Boston Globe, Bob Blumenthal).
December 12, 1993 marked the 75th birthday, the 58th year in the business of show and so many more milestones for Joe Williams. Although he is probably better known as a blues singer (Ev'ry Day was placed in the Recording Industry Hall of Fame in 1993), he is known by many of his fans as a balladeer, as evidenced in A Man Ain't Supposed To Cry. Above all, Joe is definitely a stylist who can interpret any kind of music. But the one ingredient all the songs he's chosen to sing have in common is that underlying swinging style.
Here's To Life, Joe's second release for Telarc, is a magical piece of work. The selection of songs (with Johnny Pate), the orchestrations (by Robert Farnon), and his interpretations all meld together form a brilliant musical work of art.
Joe has always loved the kind of music that inspires people to hold one another in each others' arms. "I think that musicians should never forget about the intimacy of bringing two people together, and the aesthetic transference where you're almost vicariously involved in a romance between other people."
l. to r.: Jim Cullum, Mike Pittsley, David Holt, Cullen Offer, Joe Williams, John
Sheridan, Ed Torres, Brian Ogilvie, Don Mopsick, Howard Elkins.
In discussing the selection of the music for Here's to Life and his friend Joe, Johnny Pate recalled when they first met over 40 years ago. "I first met Joe at the Club DeLisa in Chicago. I'll never forget one night when Joe came out on stage in a clown suit and sang an aria from Pagliacci, and sang it legitimately. It showed that he had a valid voice. I have always felt that Joe is the best ballad singer in the world, and at 75, just listen to this most remarkable voice. It astonished all the musicians on the session."
Joe was born in Cordele Georgia in 1918 and raised in Chicago by his mother. Chicago radio served as a vehicle for Joe to experience the many great jazz and blues artists of that time. Chicago's South Side served as a life experience and proving ground. He sang with many bands including Red Saunders, Johnny Long, Erskine Tate, Jimmy Noone, Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, and of course, Count Basie. That association lasted from 1954 to 1961, when Basie's "Number One Son" left the band with Basie's blessing to become a solo performer.
He's had many rich experiences since then, more than 48 albums, television, movies,
commercials, countless awards, honorary Doctorate of Music degrees, a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, and several appearances with symphony orchestra, something he
particularly loves. "I love the lush sound of all the horns, strings, and tympani. My
soul soars as all the round tones just roll out with joy. I get so involved with listening
that I really don't want it to end."
We lost Joe Williams on 3/29/99. The following is a quote from
Jazz Singer Joe Williams Dies
Joe Williams, whose smooth baritone and collaborations with Count Basie won him acclaim as
one of the great
voices of jazz, collapsed and died on a city street after walking away from a hospital. He
was 80.
Williams apparently died of natural causes, Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said. He had
walked several miles Monday and was a few blocks from home.
His wife, Jillean, said he had been admitted to Sunrise Hospital a week ago for a
respiratory ailment. The hospital
reported Williams missing several hours before his body was found.
Singer Robert Goulet said: "At the age of 80, Joe could sing better than most people
at the age of 20. He was one of the greatest jazz and blues singers of all time, and he
was such a good man, too."
Williams' appeal stretched to other mediums: He played Bill Cosby's father-in-law, Grandpa
Al, on "The Cosby Show" in the 1980s. He and Cosby were friends, and the
childhood memories Grandpa Al spun on the show were his own from Chicago.
But his fame was in jazz. Williams became a sensation in 1955 when he recorded
"Everyday I Have the Blues" with Basie, and the two were together for seven
years. Williams repeatedly was chosen the top male jazz singer in readers' polls for
Downbeat and other magazines.
"I'm most pleasantly surprised at what still comes out of my throat,"Williams
said in an 1986 interview. "I'm thrilled and thankful. I remember Edward (Duke
Ellington) saying, 'I'm just a messenger boy for God.' Much of what we do comes through
us. I thank God for what comes through me."Born Joseph Goreed on Dec. 12, 1918, in
Cordele, Ga., the entertainer was raised by his mother and grandmother. He found fun in
playing the piano and singing the spirituals he heard at the Methodist church where his
mother was the organist.
In his teens in the 1930s, he led the singing group The Jubilee Boys in performances in
Chicago churches. He later sang solo in a Chicago club, and made his professional debut in
1937 with the late Jimmy Noone.
His big break came in 1943, when Williams was working as a security guard to support
himself. He wound up guarding the front door of the Regal Theater and met jazz luminaries
such as Duke Ellington. The Regal's manager sent Williams to the Tick Tock in Boston to
join Lionel Hampton's band, which had its own powerhouse blues singer, Dinah Washington.
The magic came with Basie. Williams said Basie hired him on the advice of his band.
"Basie said, 'I can't give you what you're worth. But, things get better for me, they
get better for you.' I had the good sense to gowith him," Williams recalled.
The two played together from 1954 to 1961, and Williams oftenperformed with Basie until
his death in 1984; Williams dedicated his renditions of "You Are So Beautiful"
to Basie.
"As a talent, he was one of the best blues singers in the world and also one of the
best ballad singers," added friend and singer Buddy Greco. "There will never be
anyone like him, again."Tony Bennett recalled Williams once telling him: "It's
not that you want to sing, it's that you have to sing."
"He defined who I really am," Bennett said in 1992.
Even in his later years, Williams sang on cruise ships, at festivals, in hotels and clubs,
working about 40 weeks a year. He was an avid golfer.
Joe Williams is featured in the Riverwalk programs:
Everyday I Have the Blues: A Tribute to Legendary Bluesman, Joe Williams
