Supporting Jazz in the Mid South

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Memphis Jazz Extravaganza!

Remembering Jazz Legend James Williams

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

8:00 pm

Tickets are $20.00 and available now at:

Bartlett Performing Arts Center - 901.385.6440

The Memphis Drum Shop - 901.276.2328

Lane Music - 901.755.5025

Striclty Jazz Entertainment - 901.292.6347 or 901.690.6875

For more information, contact Michael Jefry Stevens at MJSJazz@mac.com

Jazz Artists Scheduled to Perform Include:

Mulgrew Miller is an internationally reknowned jazz pianist born in 1955 in Greenwood, Mississippi. On May 20, 2006, Miller was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Performing Arts at Lafayette College's 171st Commencement Exercises.  As of 2006 he is the Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University (taking that position over from James Williams after his death) Pianist Mulgrew Miller's  massive discography includes recording and/or touring with musical legends including Art Blakey, Tony Williams, Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard.

Pianist Donald Brown was born in Mississippi in 1954, grew up in Memphis and attended Memphis State University (1972-1975).  Brown replaced James Williams with the Jazz Messengers (1981-1982). He went on to teach at Berklee (1983-1985) and the University of Tennessee (starting in 1988) where he is currently the Director of Jazz Studies.  Donald Brown has gone on to work in bands of such-greats as Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Johny Griffin and many others.  Brown is noted by jazz critics and other greats as a master composer. and, without doubt, one of the most original and versed piano players of his generation. 

Bill Mobley was born in Memphis, TN and has lived in New York City
since 1987.  He was a classmate of James Williams, performing with James since his High School days. He has performed some of the most major living jazz legends including, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Clifford Jordan, George Coleman, Goeff Keezer, the Mingus Dynasty Band, the T.S. Monk Band, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra and many more. Bill taught music at the Berklee School of Music in Boston from 1982-1986, and presently teaches at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Bill Mobley is also known for his work as a composer, and will perform two original compositions dedicated to James Williams with Johnny Yancey's Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra.

Billy Pierce (born September 25, 1948 in Hampton, Virginia) has played with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in the early 1980s (with James Williams) and in Tony Williams's quintet in the mid-1980s to early 1990s (with Mulgrew Miller). He studied at Berklee College of Music and is currently the school's woodwind department chair. He has performed and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Art Farmer, James Williams, Hank Jones, Art Blakey, Branford Marsalis, and Wynton Marsalis  His students include Antonio Hart, Mark Gross, Javon Jackson, Walter Smith, Mark Turner and Miguel Zenon.  He is one of the most important saxophonists of his generation! 

Gary Topper is a woodwind player, composer, arranger and educator whose career began in Memphis playing jazz and producing commercial music. He recorded with Al Green, Jimmy Buffet, Keith Richards, Toots Hibbert and the Memphis Horns. Gary relocated to New York City in 1989 where he performed with jazz greats such as Jerome Richardson, Bob Cranshaw, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Wayne Andre, Chip Jackson, Bill Mays, Lew Soloff, David Matthews and Candido. Other live performance credits include Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Michel Legrand, Michael Bolton, Nancy Wilson, Lena Horne as well as several Broadway shows. He played in the big bands of Mike Longo, Ed Palermo, Bill Mobley, Lew Anderson and performed on recordings for Patti LaBelle, Gary Lemel, and the Grammy winning “Tony Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot and Cool. Gary had performed with James Williams since their High School days together.

Local Jazz Musicians will Include:

Johnny Yancey and the
Sanctuary Jazz Orchestra.

Trombones: 
Jason Yasinsky - Victor Sawyer - Anthony Williams

Trumpets: 
Ken Wendt - Kyle Millsap -
Paul McKinney -Benjamin Pierre-Louis

Rhythm Section: 
Piano: J. Michael Shaw

Bass: Daniel McKee 
Drums: Renardo Ward

Rhythm Section for the concert will feature:
 
Errol Thomas on Bass
 
Renardo Ward on Drums

Additional guest artists include:
 
Michael Jefry Stevens - piano
 
Sal Crocker - Tenor Sax .

James Williams (1951 - 2004)
Born in Memphis on March 8, 1951, Williams began piano lessons at age 13. A fan of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Ramsey Lewis, he spent six years as the organist with Memphis' Eastern Star Baptist Church before studying music education at Memphis State University. After befriending fellow pianists Mulgrew Miller and Donald Brown, Williams turned his focus to jazz, drawing influence from Hank Jones, Ahmad Jamal, and local legend Phineas Newborn. At just 22 Williams joined the faculty of Boston's Berklee School of Music, additionally backing touring jazz dignitaries like Milt Jackson, Art Farmer, and Sonny Stitt in groups led by colleague Alan Dawson. During his five years at Berklee, the pianist also developed his compositional skills, and in 1977 issued his first LP as a leader, the Zim label release Flying Colors. Williams joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers the following year, completing a lineup that included a young Wynton Marsalis. This iteration of Blakey's long-running group cut no fewer than ten LPs over the next four years. Upon exiting the Jazz Messengers Williams settled in New York City, where he collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, and Kenny Burrell in addition to leading his own projects, among them his vocal/instrumental combo Intensive Care Unit, a group featuring saxophonist Bill Pierce, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Tony Reedus. In 1987 Williams reunited with Blakey and bassist Ray Brown in the Magical Trio. Later incarnations included drummers Elvin Jones and Jeff "Tain" Watts. He also founded his own production firm, Finas Sound, and with Miller and Brown launched the Contemporary Piano Ensemble, a group dedicated to preserving and promoting the music of Phineas Newborn. In 1999 William Paterson University named Williams its director of jazz studies; he remained with the school until he was diagnosed with the liver cancer that claimed his life on July 20, 2004. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide