Sammie "Big Sam" Williams is an American trombonist and band leader from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana. He has been a member of the

Dirty Dozen Brass Band The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is an American brass band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen incorporated funk and bebop into the traditional D ...

and leads Big Sam's Funky Nation.

Career

In his youth, he studied with saxophonist

Kidd Jordan Edward "Kidd" Jordan ( Crowley, May 5, 1935 – April 7, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at Southern University at New Orleans from 1974 to 2006. Biography Jordan was born in Crowl ...

and at

New Orleans Center for Creative Arts New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, or NOCCA, is the regional, pre-professional arts training center for high school students in Louisiana. NOCCA opened in 1973 as a professional arts training center for secondary education, secondary schoo ...

. In his teens, Williams was a founding member of the Stooges Brass Band and joined the Dirty Dozen, allowing him to play with

Karl Denson Karl Denson (born December 27, 1956) is an American funk and jazz saxophonist, flutist and vocalist from Santa Ana, California. He plays with The Rolling Stones, and leads his own group, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (KDTU). He co-founded The Grey ...

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...

, and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. After one year with the Dirty Dozen, he began a side project broadening his musical ambitions. In 2006, he played with

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

and

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descr ...

on their album ''

The River in Reverse ''The River in Reverse'' is a collaboration album by Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, released in 2006. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. Track listing All songs written by Allen Toussaint unless otherwise indicated. ...

'' and tour. Big Sam's Funky Nation became his main band, which performed at

Bonnaroo Bonnaroo (or Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival) is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Bonnaroo has taken place at what is now Great Stage Park, a 700-acre (280 ha) far ...

Gathering of the Vibes Gathering of the Vibes (often abbreviated as GOTV) was an annual four-day music, camping and arts festival that celebrated the Grateful Dead and showcased a diverse variety of music. Over the course of the event, styles would often include funk, ...

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

, Voodoo Music Experience,

South By Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, and on the television show ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...

''. Big Sam's Funky Nation is primarily a funk and rock band that has elements of traditional jazz, contemporary jazz, acid jazz, dance, hard rock, and punk. Williams is interviewed on screen and appears in performance footage in the 2005 documentary film '' Make It Funky!'', which presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. In the film, Big Sam's Funky Nation performs "Bah Duey Duey" with guest Troy Andrews. Williams had a recurring role in the HBO series '' Treme''. The series followed residents of New Orleans as they tried to rebuild their lives after

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

. Williams proposed to his wife on stage at the

on May 4, 2014. In 2014 he played on the

Durango Blues Train Durango Blues Train is a blues genre live music event in Durango, Colorado on a train on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It takes place annually over two weekends at the end of the summer. Guests The August 2017 lineup featured H ...

with other blues artists.

Awards and honors

* 2003 OffBeat Awards, Best Emerging Band * 2005 Big Easy Award, Best Funk Band * 2006 Offbeat Awards, Best Funk/R&B Band * 2009 Big Easy Music Award, Best Funk Band of 2008 * 2009 Jam Cruise Golden Mic Award * 2009 Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship * 2009 ''Where Y' at'' magazine, Best of the Big Easy's Reader's Pick: Best R&B Band * 2011 Jam Cruise 9 Golden Mic Award * 2012 Jam Cruise 10 Golden Mic Award * 2014 Big Easy Awards, Best Rock Album * 2016 ''Where Y' at'' magazine, Best New Orleans Band

Discography

* ''Birth of a Nation'' (2003) * ''Take Me Back'' (2006) * ''Peace Love & Understanding'' (2008) * ''King of the Party'' (HyperSoul, 2010) * ''Funky Donkey'' (2012) * ''Evolution'' (2014) * ''Feet on the Floor'' (2015) * ''Songs in the Key of Funk, Vol. One'' (2018) * ''No More Shakes'' (2020)

References

"Big Sam's Funky Nation", Christopher Blagg, ''OffBeat'' magazine

"Review of Take Me Back", Robert Fontenot, ''OffBeat'' magazine

* ttp://www.welovedc.com/2010/05/28/we-love-music-big-sams-funky-nation/ "We Love Music: Big Sam's Funky Nation", by Rachel Levitin, We Love DC Specific

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Sam American jazz trombonists American male trombonists Jazz musicians from New Orleans Jazz-funk trombonists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Dirty Dozen Brass Band members 21st-century American trombonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians