Sammie 'Big Sam' Williams is a trombonist and band leader from New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been a member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and leads Big Sam's Funky Nation.

Career

In his youth, he studied with saxophonist

Kidd Jordan Edward "Kidd" Jordan (born May 5, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. After completing a music degree at Southern University in Baton Rouge, he relocated to New Orleans. He taught at Southern Uni ...

and at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. 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, Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, and

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

. 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 Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

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, descri ...

on their album ''

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

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

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,

Voodoo Music Experience The Voodoo Music + Arts Experience (formerly The Voodoo Music Experience), commonly referred to as Voodoo or Voodoo Fest, is a multi-day music and arts festival held in City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Voodoo Experience has hosted more t ...

South By Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

, and on the television show '' Austin City Limits''. 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 The music of New Orleans assumes various styles of music which have often borrowed from earlier traditions. New Orleans, Louisiana, is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of th ...

and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll,

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 m ...

and jazz. 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 destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. Williams proposed to his wife on stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 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 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 trombonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians