Alfred Williams (December 17, 1919 – November 15, 1998) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

pianist. Born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, he moved as a young child with his family to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He studied classical piano, and worked as a professional pianist from the age of 16, initially as leader of a 12-piece dance orchestra in local venues. In 1942, he formed a trio, the Three Dudes, and also played with trumpeter

Henry "Red" Allen Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstr ...

, clarinetist

Jimmie Noone Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical ...

, and violinist

Erskine Tate Erskine Tate (January 14, 1895, Memphis, Tennessee, – December 17, 1978, Chicago) was an American jazz violinist and bandleader. Tate moved to Chicago in 1912 and was an early figure on the Chicago jazz scene, playing with his band, the Ven ...

. He wrote

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s for many Chicago bands. After marrying singer Audrey Hobbs, the couple performed together in the late 1940s as Alfred and Audrey."Williams, Al", in Barry Kernfeld (ed.), ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. Macmillan, London, 1988, , p.1289Biography by Chris Kelsey, ''Allmusic''
Retrieved October 24, 2023. From the early 1950s he performed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at venues including the

Savoy Ballroom The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harle ...

and the

Metropole Cafe The Metropole Cafe was a jazz club that operated in New York from the mid-1950s through 1965. Located at 7th Avenue and 48th Street, it was primarily noted in the bebop and progressive jazz era as being a venue for traditional musicians. Henry "Red ...

. He played in a

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

band, and also with

Sam "The Man" Taylor Samuel Leroy Taylor, Jr. (July 12, 1916 – October 5, 1990), Sam Taylor Biography ''AllMusic'' known as Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, and blues tenor saxophonist. Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee, United St ...

Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901 – June 8, 1972) was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948. Rushing was known as " Mr. Five by ...

, and others. He made recordings as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, and appeared on

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

' 1958 album ''

Weary Blues "Weary Blues" is a 1915 tune by Artie Matthews. Despite the name, the form is a multi-strain ragtime rather than a conventional blues. (At the time it was published, many hot or raggy numbers were published with the word "Blues" in the title). It ...

''. He toured Europe with

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...

in 1959 and

Johnny Hodges Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano ...

in 1961. He also recorded as the leader of a trio, accompanied the 1968 satirical

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...

''The Establishment'', and in the 1970s worked as arranger and pianist with the

Deep River Boys The Deep River Boys were an American gospel music group active from the mid-1930s and into the 1980s. The group performed spirituals, gospel, and R&B. Members The original group consisted of Harry Douglass (baritone), Vernon Gardner (first teno ...

. His playing style was described as "essentially that of a blues pianist, but

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

some elements of swing". Williams died in New York in 1998 at the age of 78.U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, SSN 340165603

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Al 1919 births 1998 deaths American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists