Leroy Williams

Some very fine jazz musicians never lead a band or a recording session, instead spending their careers as sidemen making other people sound good. Drummers, in particular, tend not to be full-time leaders (<a href="spotify:artist:6QQuESLtKhAOcLW2TeWC2t">Art Blakey</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4dUMhhUjQ2YcNTvab29hYF">Elvin Jones</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6jrlNnS5B830kpi40j3S6g">Max Roach</a> notwithstanding), probably because there's such a heavy demand for their services. Leroy Williams is a prime example; a musician' musician if ever there was one, Williams played in the bands of <a href="spotify:artist:4PDpGtF16XpqvXxsrFwQnN">Thelonious Monk</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1VEzN9lxvG6KPR3QQGsebR">Sonny Rollins</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3ZppcUE7tHnE6SzUR4ipSy">Booker Ervin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0oJCbLnXR9ZfTkwxO9tVNn">Clifford Jordan</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0FMucZsEnCxs5pqBjHjIc8">Stan Getz</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5cbutZUQE7SUCA6MsEMbBv">Hank Mobley</a>, to name only a few -- the complete list is long and impressive.

Mostly self-taught, Williams began playing drums in his teens. He played with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:29aAY67VekXjv4AeAUUGXH">Judy Roberts</a> for several years beginning around 1959. He moved to New York in the mid-'60s and played with tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:3ZppcUE7tHnE6SzUR4ipSy">Ervin</a> in 1967. The next year he played with <a href="spotify:artist:6Jm8KViMNCuYjzrO1hJkcT">Rollins</a>, tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:7C2DSqaNkh0w77O5Jz1FKh">Archie Shepp</a> (at the Newport Jazz Festival), and tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:2mBoEYescv3YHDG5rH6uKd">Jordan</a>. In 1969, Williams began a long-standing association with <a href="spotify:artist:5IgSjABjN0VorY1Vo41ivX">Barry Harris</a>, recording the first of several albums with the pianist. He played with tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:5cbutZUQE7SUCA6MsEMbBv">Mobley</a> and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4NWHLPe11EOyvjbxXprtzK">Wilbur Ware</a> in 1970; he also got the job with <a href="spotify:artist:4PDpGtF16XpqvXxsrFwQnN">Monk</a> that year (probably through <a href="spotify:artist:4NWHLPe11EOyvjbxXprtzK">Ware</a>, who was also in the band). Williams toured with <a href="spotify:artist:4PDpGtF16XpqvXxsrFwQnN">Monk</a> that summer; he left just prior to an October tour of Japan, replaced by <a href="spotify:artist:5X4Izq2I8ct81gKjnHhNLr">Lenny McBrowne</a>. During the '70s, he freelanced with such leaders as tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Yusef Lateef</a>, pianist <a href="spotify:artist:617L0tV5Y7lMvUHGHR43AR">Ray Bryant</a>, and saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:6iRat96avb9tai5DCUZ7qf">Charles McPherson</a>; also <a href="spotify:artist:0FMucZsEnCxs5pqBjHjIc8">Getz</a>, pianist <a href="spotify:artist:4ORSNkNYSzva169PBZCzvy">Andrew Hill</a>, saxophonists <a href="spotify:artist:217b0uqAzsOOhGcnoANZqj">Sonny Stitt</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5tOQYJ46QiQpCWqsVqHexe">Junior Cook</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4yPUoMbYxVJ6XNJWZVJV7Y">Al Cohn</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6epXhvywkJ2aWjO6e5LJ0U">Buddy Tate</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:38ft9KbJkq7eEVAxWt9yOs">Bob Wilber</a>, among many others. In the '80s, he combined with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:77Cyky7bVlWY7RxhTK0yo6">Art Davis</a> to form a rhythm section for two different pianists, <a href="spotify:artist:5IgSjABjN0VorY1Vo41ivX">Barry Harris</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6dUZplQfg5blo0h9HiJ94d">Tommy Flanagan</a>. He also recorded with trombonist <a href="spotify:artist:1fJEAxQLhUQdBmUjsj3vIF">Steve Turre</a> and trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:6UtT3cQVj0QgdZ89f5br5I">Bill Hardman</a>. In the early '90s, he recorded with alto saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:4YNvbaOaqp5pzC5US5t48k">Lee Konitz</a>, and also <a href="spotify:artist:3UXq4fckDmcPmleixlrl6i">Anthony Braxton</a> on one of the avant-gardist's "standards" projects.

By the mid-'90s, most of the legends Williams had played with were gone, but he remained active, playing with a new generation of bop-oriented players including saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:0XgULGnRJGGorwVrKbkDTu">Ralph Lalama</a> and pianist <a href="spotify:artist:6Dy9274WqIHHESHNhLxkCQ">Pete Malinverni</a>. At the turn of the decade, Williams was a member of the cooperative band el Mollenium, which also included guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:7jqV5V4sPGJpEilZ6as1Ju">Roni Ben-hur</a>, pianist <a href="spotify:artist:1pupkjFf2xIMamy0gt7z3c">Bertha Hope</a>, and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:48MnvAc0rqfEfQ8hYgHIf9">Walter Booker</a>. The band is devoted largely to interpreting the music of <a href="spotify:artist:1pupkjFf2xIMamy0gt7z3c">Hope'</a>s late husband, the pianist <a href="spotify:artist:04cRG6y8vsZNbbCqfoopz6">Elmo Hope</a>. ~ Chris Kelsey, Rovi