Nolan E. Williams Jr. is an American composer, musicologist, and producer. He was an editor of the ''African American Heritage Hymnal''.

Early life and education

Williams grew up the son, grandson and great-grandson of Baptist ministers. At the age of 4, he heard the song '' Lean on Me'' played by the choir at his father’s church. After the service he asked one of the musicians to play the song for him again on the piano. At home, Williams went to the family’s piano and, with no formal lessons, he sounded out the notes until he could play the song himself. Williams' first piano teacher was his great-aunt Daisy Marie Young. Williams attended St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C. In 1990 he received a B.A. in Music (piano performance) from Oberlin College, and in 1993 he received a Master of Divinity degree in Theology from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

Book publications

As a musicologist, Williams is best known as the Music Editor of the ''African American Heritage Hymnal'', which he began work on in 1993. Working with co-editor Dr. Delores Carpenter, pastor of Michigan Park Christian Church in Washington, D.C., the hymnal took nine years to compile. The 2001 publication included 575 hymnals,

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with Black Americans, which merged sub-Saharan African cultural heritage with the ex ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

songs. Noted musicologist, Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, wrote in the book's foreword that the publication was "the most important addition to Protestant hymnody within the past century." Williams created new arrangements for 92 songs in the book. ''African American Heritage Hymnal'' has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. In 1995, Williams' commentary on the

Book of Habakkuk The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BC. Of the three chapters in the book, the first two are a dialogue betwe ...

was included in the collection ''Many Voices: Multicultural Responses to the Minor Prophets'' written by Howard University School of Divinity students.

NEWorks Productions

Much of Williams’ musical career has been conducted under the umbrella of NEWorks Productions, an arts programming and music production organization that he founded in 2003. He is also the music director of NEWorks Voices of America

VoA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International broadcasting, international radio broadcaster of the United States, United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international br ...

formerly called NEWorks’ Voices of Inspiration choir, a choral aggregation specializing in African-American Sacred Music. Since 2007, the choir has performed at a variety of nationally televised events, with multiple performances at the White House, including the National Christmas Tree Lighting in 2013.

Selected works and performances

Williams has composed, arranged or played music for dozens of albums in the gospel and jazz genres, including albums by Ed Wiley, Jr.,

Lamar Campbell Lamar Christopher Campbell (born August 29, 1976), nicknamed Soup, is a former professional American football player who played cornerback for five seasons for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He also served as the Vice P ...

, and

Regina Belle Regina Elaine Belle (born July 17, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter who started her career in the mid-1980s. Known for her singles " Baby Come to Me" (1989) and "Make It Like It Was" (1990), Belle's most notable for two hit duets, both with ...

. In 2008 he released ''InSpiration'', an original album of worship music. In 2014, a recording of ''

We Shall Overcome "We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert ...

'' arranged by Williams and featuring mezzo-soprano

Denyce Graves Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. Early life Graves was born on March 7, 1964, in Washington, D.C., to Charles Graves and Dorothy (Middleton) Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and ...

was among several works of art, including the poem '' A Brave and Startling Truth'' by Maya Angelou, were sent to space on the first test flight of the spacecraft Orion. In 2017, Williams premiered ''Hold Fast to Dreams'', a commissioned work honoring the legacy of Philadelphia native and NASA astronaut Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr., inspired by the Langston Hughes poem, ''Dreams''. In July 2018, Williams led a group of local choirs in performing th
National Anthem
at the 2018 Major League Baseball All Star Game at

Nationals Park Nationals Park is a baseball stadium along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Home to Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals since its completion in 2008, it was the first LEED-certified green major profe ...

in Washington, D.C. In celebration of composer Leonard Bernstein’s 100 birthday, Williams commissioned the re-working of Leonard Bernstein’s

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

by four Philadelphia composers – Jay Fluellen, Ruth Naomi Floyd,

Rollo Dilworth Rollo A. Dilworth'' (born July 31st, 1970) is an American choral composer, arranger, conductor, and music educator from St. Louis, Missouri. Education Early education Dilworth, as a young boy, was impassioned by singing experiences in his schoo ...

, and Evelyn Simpson. Williams tasked them to “collectively write a new version that expresses their faith or crisis of faith”. The new piece premiered at Philadelphia’s Monumental Baptist Church in August 2018.

Theatrical productions

External links

* Official website
NolanWilliamsJr.com

Nolan Williams music credits

List of selected hymns Nolan Williams Jr. has arranged

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Nolan Jr. 1969 births 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians African-American composers African-American conductors (music) African-American male composers African-American pianists American male conductors (music) American music arrangers Howard University alumni Living people Oberlin College alumni