happy birthday Tony

I was listening to him while washing dishes at work yesterday and also all day today. Now I know why! Happy birthday.
 
You said it, man. Thanks for starting this thread, Gvd.

One of the special few drummers who left an indelible mark on the music landscape. Tony's playing completely blew my mind. When I first heard the Miles Complete 1964 concert, my life changed. Such a young cat with such a fully-formed approach to the music and the instrument, just doing his thing.

Happy Birthday, Tony.

I think I'll spin that '64 concert record tonight in honor of Anthony Tillmon.
 
Herbie Hancock has a funny story about how this kid kept calling him just to chat and wanting to jam.
he said he sounded like a child so he didn't want to be mean but the kid was a little annoying

Jackie McLean who lured Tony to NY from Boston called Herbie for a gig one day and Herbie asked who was on the gig and Jackie mentioned Tony........Herbie was shocked that this young kid who was calling him was on the gig with these heavy players ......
so he asked Jackie can this kid really play?
Jackie replied.....go to the gig and check it out for yourself

Herbie says he had never heard anyone play drums like that


the rest was history

so we can thank Jackie McLean for unleashing Anthony Williams on the world

Miles himself said that a drummer like Tony only comes around every 50 years or so
 
I was listening to "Fred" just as i opened up this thread. Happy Birthday Tony!
 
I have an amusing Tony Williams story

while attending IAR in Manhattan in the early 90s I was walking across 6th ave. on a gloomy winter morning and who is walking toward me crossing the street?.....Tony Williams wearing a black trench coat, black leather gloves, a black Kangol, and cowboy boots smoking a cigar

he walks past me and I spin like a top .......of course say the most creative thing I could think of.......Tony Williams!!!!!

he turns and gives me a thumbs up and kept walking

I get hit by a cab and fall like a jackass in the middle of a wet 6th ave.

and thats my Tony Williams story
 
I have an amusing Tony Williams story

while attending IAR in Manhattan in the early 90s I was walking across 6th ave. on a gloomy winter morning and who is walking toward me crossing the street?.....Tony Williams wearing a black trench coat, black leather gloves, a black Kangol, and cowboy boots smoking a cigar

he walks past me and I spin like a top .......of course say the most creative thing I could think of.......Tony Williams!!!!!

he turns and gives me a thumbs up and kept walking

I get hit by a cab and fall like a jackass in the middle of a wet 6th ave.

and thats my Tony Williams story

Awesome story... I just about spit my coffee out....

Yes, happy birthday to someone that gave new meaning to so many musical things.
 
Gvd, awesome, my man. Funny, too! The fact that you even HAVE a Tony Williams story is pretty incredible.
 
so we can thank Jackie McLean for unleashing Anthony Williams on the world

Amen! Jackie's records Vertigo and One Step Beyond are just brilliant. It's mind-boggling how fully formed young Tony sounded on these early sessions. Especially his playing on "Frankenstein" and "Ghost Town" from One Step Beyond which are just face-melting with the ideas he unleashed!

Just gets missed more and more every year.
 
Amen! Jackie's records Vertigo and One Step Beyond are just brilliant. It's mind-boggling how fully formed young Tony sounded on these early sessions. Especially his playing on "Frankenstein" and "Ghost Town" from One Step Beyond which are just face-melting with the ideas he unleashed!

Just gets missed more and more every year.
Hell yes.

I say it half-jokingly, but the truth is I really do believe that Tony's work in 1964 was like a style unto itself. He had a particular lightness of touch at that point, and his use of the left foot for more sparse patterns and accents was only around for a very short time. By the year 1966, Tony was using the four on the floor hi-hat style that he'd become famous for innovating. He also hit much harder by the late 60s as he made his foray into fusion.

But his style and 64 and 65, that was really something. He had a way of playing the unexpected. He didn't finish phrases where you thought he would. Instead of crashing at the end of a big fill on one, he would just decrescendo and let it sort of fade away. Tony was just like the opposite of a cliché at that point.

I really don't think there has been anyone like him, before or since.
 
Hell yes.

I say it half-jokingly, but the truth is I really do believe that Tony's work in 1964 was like a style unto itself. He had a particular lightness of touch at that point, and his use of the left foot for more sparse patterns and accents was only around for a very short time. By the year 1966, Tony was using the four on the floor hi-hat style that he'd become famous for innovating. He also hit much harder by the late 60s as he made his foray into fusion.

But his style and 64 and 65, that was really something. He had a way of playing the unexpected. He didn't finish phrases where you thought he would. Instead of crashing at the end of a big fill on one, he would just decrescendo and let it sort of fade away. Tony was just like the opposite of a cliché at that point.

I really don't think there has been anyone like him, before or since.

Tonys uptempo playing is pretty much unfathomable to me

he is the one cat that I can literally say that I have no idea what the hell he is doing in his uptempo stuff

it just doesn't even look humanly possible to me.......and the cat is like 19
 
Tonys uptempo playing is pretty much unfathomable to me

he is the one cat that I can literally say that I have no idea what the hell he is doing in his uptempo stuff

it just doesn't even look humanly possible to me.......and the cat is like 19

I know what you mean! It's inspiring and frustrating, but more on the inspiring side for me.

This thread prompted me to go back and listen to McLean's One Step Beyond for the first time in years. Why did I wait so long to check this one out again? This is one of the best jazz records I've ever heard, but I just sort of forgot about it for a while. It's so good to break it out again.

This period on Blue Note was just heaven for me. Eric's Out To Lunch is one of my desert island discs and this record captures so much of what I love about that date. The presence of Blue Note staples Hutcherson and Moncur is part of it. But the way Blue Note recorded jazz was something I don't think has been improved upon in the 50 years since most of these records were made. They just have THAT sound.

Tony's playing (at age 17!!) on One Step Beyond is just epic. Thanks, Gvd, for mentioning Jackie on this thread and prompting me to revisit this music.
 
I know what you mean! It's inspiring and frustrating, but more on the inspiring side for me.

This thread prompted me to go back and listen to McLean's One Step Beyond for the first time in years. Why did I wait so long to check this one out again? This is one of the best jazz records I've ever heard, but I just sort of forgot about it for a while. It's so good to break it out again.

This period on Blue Note was just heaven for me. Eric's Out To Lunch is one of my desert island discs and this record captures so much of what I love about that date. The presence of Blue Note staples Hutcherson and Moncur is part of it. But the way Blue Note recorded jazz was something I don't think has been improved upon in the 50 years since most of these records were made. They just have THAT sound.

Tony's playing (at age 17!!) on One Step Beyond is just epic. Thanks, Gvd, for mentioning Jackie on this thread and prompting me to revisit this music.

I pulled that out last night as well.....Vertigo also

my goodness was he burning at a young age

I have been paying most of my attention to uptempo playing lately .....so much of what Tony is playing at those break neck speeds is so impressive

I feel myself getting better at it....but my god is it difficult not to trip over yourself and sound like some cat who is just trying to play some uptempo Tony

if ya know what I mean


300+ bpm doesn't give you much time to think......just gotta react ....and reacting and not repeating myself is what I am struggling with right now

tough for me and I love working on it.......gets me high
 
You said it, man. Thanks for starting this thread, Gvd.

One of the special few drummers who left an indelible mark on the music landscape. Tony's playing completely blew my mind. When I first heard the Miles Complete 1964 concert, my life changed. Such a young cat with such a fully-formed approach to the music and the instrument, just doing his thing.

Happy Birthday, Tony.

I think I'll spin that '64 concert record tonight in honor of Anthony Tillmon.

This was my first introduction to Tony as well, and this recording remains to blow me away every time I listen to it. The thing that struck me most when I first listened to this was Wow! that is the most creative cymbal work I have ever heard! (and I wasn't drumming back then)

Happy B-Day indeed !!
 
Amen! Jackie's records Vertigo and One Step Beyond are just brilliant. It's mind-boggling how fully formed young Tony sounded on these early sessions. Especially his playing on "Frankenstein" and "Ghost Town" from One Step Beyond which are just face-melting with the ideas he unleashed!

Just gets missed more and more every year.

Amen! Awesome albums!
 
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