Tony Williams

[AgroJJunk]

i cant believe it took THIS long for a Tony Williams thread.
the guy's the best
n'uff said.

The Tony Williams page on DrummerWorld

[finnhiggins]

Originally Posted by AgroJJunk

i cant believe it took THIS long for a Tony Williams thread.
the guy's the best
n'uff said.

Yup. Maybe that's why there's no thread?

[Superlow]

No, I agree with Finn, It's a given with Tony Williams talent. I think the body of his work tends to be remembered as being somewhat differnent and off kilter, which is not a bad thing. He was so ahead of his time at such a young age. I personally enjoy his work on Miles in the Sky, ESP, and In a silent way. He also has pretty great stuff with Herbie Hancock as well.

[darkcherryfade]

Well now there is a thread, so no worries. Tony is amazing and everyone who cares even a slight bit about drumming owes it to themselves to hear some of his work.

[finnhiggins]

Originally Posted by Superlow

No, I agree with Finn, It's a given with Tony Williams talent. I think the body of his work tends to be remembered as being somewhat differnent and off kilter, which is not a bad thing.

Definitely. There's not many drummers who've been on the forefront of new music in the way that Tony was with his first Lifetime record. We tend to follow rather than leading most of the time, which is one of the reasons Tony was such a great player - he was a leader even from his earliest recordings with Miles.

Good call on the recordings. I like Miles Smiles quite a lot as well. Never was a big fan of Four & More though for some reason, couldn't get into it. ESP and Miles Smiles really do it for me.

I really should listen to some of his more recent recordings though, I don't think I've listened to anything newer than 1980 or so in any depth.

[cactusman]

i heart tony williams

[theduke86]

Tony Williams is one of the greatest players in history, and is my personal favorite drummer. He had his playing and individual style completely together by age 16-17. Incredible.

[fly]

Tony is such a influential cat. Man it seems like all the modern cats who have some really heavy s*** happening have all checked out like tony to the max. I look at Tony as someone like Miles u know, someone who was always changing and trying new things, he was seriously dangerous. Lets not forget about his compositions either I mean he was much more than just a drummer.

[thedrumthing86]

to be honest, i think since tony elvin, and mayb dejohnette, there hasn't been any1 who has really changed the way people think bout playing the drums like they did. Mayb some of the free jazz guys too but thats a little different in my opinion.

[Peter J]

After looking at the list of everyone's favorite drummers I thought it would be sacrilegious not to have the late great Tony Williams listed. Tony's sense of time and placement- I believe are unequaled-- not to mention the commitment in his playing--For those not familiar with his work I highly recommend his album "Believe It' -it kills


Keep the Faith

[fly]

man there has already been like 3 tony threads

[Jarek Witkowski]

Tony Williams is one of my favorite drummers.
I like his work with Miles Davis.
I do not mean Tony Williams is better than Steve Gadd.
I like their playing both the same.
Well, he was very important for Jazz world.

[TOMANO]

His work with Miles perfectly reflected the revolutionary nature of the music. Tony was a searcher who used his instrument to seek a higher ground. His work in the Lifetime is outrageous and innovative and remarkable. Tony raised the bar that sets the standard for musicality for drummers and conviction for composers.

[DrewSchultz88]

I just got the Lifetime Collection CD. Protos Cosmos is amazing...
He's definitely one of the best players ever.

[Gary Husband]

Oh yeah. So happy to read people writing of him in this way. To me one of the great greats of all time. A true artist, visionary and poet. One of them comes along like him (if we're lucky) once in a lifetime.



Gary Husband

[Drummer Karl]

Originally Posted by Gary

Oh yeah. So happy to read people writing of him in this way. To me one of the great greats of all time. A true artist, visionary and poet. One of them comes along like him (if we're lucky) once in a lifetime.



Gary Husband

Hihi...Gary...you can just write good of him. lol...He is just amazing and awesome and great!
I love his playing...his style...Yes, he is gone much too early...:-(

[theduke86]

Just an update- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8
Everyone go get this album. Best Tony EVER.

[harryconway]

Arcana - "The Last Wave" and "Arc of the Testimony". Two of his last works and killer shred.

[stumprrp]

im listening to the Four and More with miles, and i thought metal was fast, THIS IS NUTS

[foursticks]

Tony Williams deserves all the credit he gets, I love Agitation by Miles Davis, great solo....

[stumprrp]

i listened to that same cd over again in aw of how good the playing is, lol, how fast is the freakin swing 350? how they go from the slow classy stuff to the fast madness is intense.

[tambian89]

Anyone ever see the open handed hihat thing he does. Basically he plays the hihat in an open handed position, and then he move the stick up and down, and hits both sides of the hats int he process. It's really cool.

- Marc

[foursticks]

Just bought 'Seven Steps To Heaven' where he only drums on a few tracks, but he's on the title song and I just can't get enough of it. its so damn catchy and has such a great solo. you can always tell when tony's playing......

[berlioz]

Originally Posted by foursticks

Just bought 'Seven Steps To Heaven' where he only drums on a few tracks, but he's on the title song and I just can't get enough of it. its so damn catchy and has such a great solo. you can always tell when tony's playing......

Yes some very mature drumming for a young Tony Williams, if memory serves me correct he was only 17 when he recorded this.. some beautiful phrasing.

here is the solo

[darkcherryfade]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc4Ev...ony%20Williams




When it comes right down to it, this is what drumming is all about to me.

someone needs to post a buch of sound clips like that guy over in the Steve Gadd thread did!

[theduke86]

Originally Posted by darkcherryfade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc4Ev...ony%20Williams




When it comes right down to it, this is what drumming is all about to me.

Crappy sound aside, this is AWESOME DRUMMING. God, Tony rules.
I have a new appreciation for Tony Williams. I transcribed the solo from Mr. Spock off of "Believe It" and it's a mother. There's two killer hard flam licks in there. One is flam accents between the high tom and snare in 16ths at 160 bpm. The other one is swiss triplets between the toms which isn't as hard but sounds so cool. There's also a hard BD pattern under a snare drum accented line. That's kicking my butt. I think the hardest are those damned flam accents though... It's impossible to hold for me over 150 bpm. Lucky it's only for one bar, I can pull it off sometimes. Man, Tony rules.

[darkcherryfade]

Originally Posted by theduke86

Crappy sound aside, this is AWESOME DRUMMING. God, Tony rules.
I have a new appreciation for Tony Williams. I transcribed the solo from Mr. Spock off of "Believe It" and it's a mother. There's two killer hard flam licks in there. One is flam accents between the high tom and snare in 16ths at 160 bpm. The other one is swiss triplets between the toms which isn't as hard but sounds so cool. There's also a hard BD pattern under a snare drum accented line. That's kicking my butt. I think the hardest are those damned flam accents though... It's impossible to hold for me over 150 bpm. Lucky it's only for one bar, I can pull it off sometimes. Man, Tony rules.

Y'know, somehow I've never really ended up practicing flams, and I was thinking yesterday about whether or not to start incorporating them, and hearing Tony use them finally convinced me I should.

[theduke86]

I hear that. Tony makes rudiments sound so cool.

[bigbeatbenny]

Another great albulm with Tony Williams that many people havent heard is one he made with Eric Dolphy called Out to Lunch.

[mattsmith]

Originally Posted by bigbeatbenny

Another great albulm with Tony Williams that many people havent heard is one he made with Eric Dolphy called Out to Lunch.

I agree. Out to Lunch is a great album. Tony Williams compliments Bobby Hutcherson's vibes so well. And Freddie Hubbard was so creative when he was playing in the avant garde style as a kind of outside member of the Coltrane-Dolphy music family.

[LinearDrummer]

Man Dude was the King of flams....I've just started really checkin out his stuff and the power and speed is incredible...especially that signature ride....

Funny thing is when I see Steve Smith play I now realize those licks he uses are alot of hybrid-type Tony Willams chops...

[Bobhead]

All of Tony's Blue note stuff in the 60's is great. The 70's stuff has great drumming, though i didn't get into the music as much. Personally, when "Foreign Intrigue" came out I was impacted in a huge way. I love all of his solo stuff in the 80's and 90's the best ( I wish that they were still in print. I can't believe that they aren't. I'm always checking Ebay.) and a close second is anthing with him and Ron Carter and Herbie H.
It such a big inspiration for a drummer to writing so many originals put them out with a great band and so much success as he had. He really took his music to new levels and pushed himself further each time. He also raised up some young great players in his band (aka Art Blakley).
I feel blessed to have heard him live!! I had him sign some albums at that time, but I don't have them anymore. DOH! Well, I'm not really into autographs myself.

[rendezvous_drummer]

Tony Williams is amazing! Honestly I don't know of a better jazz drummer. "Red Alert" is defintely my favorite song of tony williams drumming. it just sounds........so damn cool.

[Bobhead]

Originally Posted by rendezvous_drummer

Tony Williams is amazing! Honestly I don't know of a better jazz drummer. "Red Alert" is defintely my favorite song of tony williams drumming. it just sounds........so damn cool.

Is Red Alert off of the Angel Street??
I don't have the LP anymore, and I don't think its in print on CD. I'm going to keep checking EBay.

[rendezvous_drummer]

Red Alert is on this site on tony williams page. I've been listening to this song for the past 30 minutes now.

[rendezvous_drummer]

Oh and it's from the Album "Believe it" i think.

[Loge]

Originally Posted by Bobhead

Is Red Alert off of the Angel Street??
I don't have the LP anymore, and I don't think its in print on CD. I'm going to keep checking EBay.

Was just listening to the 'Angel Street" cd the other day. It's out of print?!!! Can't believe it! I was fortunate to see that lineup of Tony's quintet live a couple of times. Fantastic band. I truly feel blessed. Mulgrew, Bill and Wallace just blast through the fog! I was always impressed by the way Tony approached his late compositions. Think about it. Here's a guy who had honestly earned his reputation as one of the greatest (if not maybe THE greatest) drummers in history, but was himself disatisfied with his lack of understanding as regards musical theory and academic training in composition. So what does he do? He goes back to school and works hard. Forgot who his composition professor was, but it was a person of note and great reputation. The results were 'Angel Street', "Native Heart' (my favorite), 'Wilderness' et al. A stunning career, indeed.

It's often said that people remember where they were, and what they were doing, when they hear the news of some momentous event (like Kennedy being killed, or more recently, 911). I remember hearing of Tony's untimely death on a late afternoon broadcast on NPR. I just couldn't believe it. I still can't.

[theduke86]

Red Alert is on the Lifetime album "Believe It".
Which, coincidentally, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Can't say the same for Million Dollar Legs.

[Loge]

Originally Posted by theduke86

Red Alert is on the Lifetime album "Believe It".
Which, coincidentally, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Can't say the same for Million Dollar Legs.

Agree completely, Duke. The song, "Fred" is from another planet. Some of A. Holdsworth's best work. As for MDL, yeah - please, Tony.....no disco - and especially, no singing!!