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Buster Williams

An enduring jazz bassist, composer, and educator, Buster Williams has flourished through many periods of changing fashions in jazz due to his fat, authoritative, dark tone and his highly refined technique on the acoustic bass. Though he began his recording career in the early 1960s with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, Sarah Vaughan, Jack Wilson, and the Jazz Crusaders, his earliest celebrity was as a member of Herbie Hancock's exploratory Mwandishi Sextet from 1969 to 1973, doubling on acoustic and electric basses -- sometimes attached to electronic effects devices. He began recording as a leader with a trilogy of albums on Muse Records in the mid-'70s. Of these, his leader debut, Pinnacle, is widely considered a modern jazz masterpiece. His notable achievements include appearances as a member of Sphere for 1982's Four in One, and later in the decade as a member of pianist Kenny Barron's trio. In addition to working in Denny Zeitlin's and Lenny White's groups in the early 21st century, Williams released the celebrated Griot Liberte in 2004 with White on drums and Stefon Harris on piano and marimba. After a six-year break from recording, (from 2009- to 2017), he focused on both teaching and touring; he returned to tape as a member of Cyrus Chestnut's studio band on There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit before resuming his own career as a leader with 2018's Audacity and 2023's Unalome. Born in 1942 in Camden, New Jersey, Williams learned both the double bass and the drums from his father, but having been enormously impressed by Oscar Pettiford's recordings, he ultimately decided to concentrate on the bass. After studying theory and composition at Philadelphia's Combs College of Music in 1959, Williams joined Jimmy Heath's unit the following year and played with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt in 1960 and 1961, as well as behind singers Dakota Staton (1961-1962), Betty Carter (1962-1963), Sarah Vaughan (1963), and Nancy Wilson (1964-1968). The gig with Wilson prompted a move to Los Angeles, where the Jazz Crusaders used him for concert dates and recordings from 1967 to 1969, and he also played briefly with Miles Davis in 1967 and the Bobby Hutcherson/Harold Land quintet. Moving to New York in 1969, Williams joined Hancock's sextet, appearing on all of his Warner Bros. albums, as well as The Prisoner (Blue Note) and Sextant (Columbia), and with trumpeter Eddie Henderson's spin-off group on Capricorn and Blue Note. Over a five-year period (1976-1981), Williams led his own groups, releasing albums like Pinnacle, Crystal Reflections, Heartbeat, and Dreams Come True. He was also a member of both the Timeless All-Stars and the Thelonious Monk repertory ensemble Sphere, writing a number of compositions for the latter. In 1980, he picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Jazz Album for his bass work on the Great Jazz Trio's Love for Sale with pianist Hank Jones, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. In 1989, he reunited with longtime associates Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Foster, and Shunzo Ohno for Something More. More albums followed, including 1998's Somewhere Along the Way, 1999's Lost in a Memory, and 2001's Houdini. In 2004, he delivered Griot Liberte, featuring his group with drummer Lenny White and pianist Stefon Harris. There was also 65 Roses, a 2008 trio session with White and pianist Kenny Barron. From 2009 to 2017, Williams toured while also focusing on his teaching duties at New York's The New School. He eventually joined pianist Cyrus Chestnut, along with drummer White, for 2016's Natural Essence and 2017's There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit. He resumed his recordings as leader with 2018's Audacity for Smoke Sessions, working with White, pianist George Colligan, and saxophonist Steve Wilson. A similar group was on board for 2023's Unalome, this time featuring the same rhythm section with the addition of vocalist Jean Baylor, saxophonist Bruce Williams, and vibraphonist Stefon Harris.
© Matt Collar & Richard S. Ginell /TiVo
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