Richard Williams (musician)

Richard Williams (musician)
Richard Gene Williams (May 4, 1931 – November 4, 1985) was an American jazz trumpeter.
Biography
Williams was born in Galveston, Texas, and played tenor saxophone early in his life before picking up trumpet as a teenager. He played in local Texas bands and attended Wiley College, where he majored in music. After serving in the Air Force from 1952–56, he toured Europe with Lionel Hampton, and upon his return took a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music.
Williams played with Charles Mingus at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959, and recorded with Mingus starting in that year. He recorded his only session as a leader, New Horn in Town (1960) for Candid Records, and featuring Reggie Workman, Leo Wright, Richard Wyands, and Bobby Thomas. Williams was a sideman on many releases for Blue Note, Impulse!, New Jazz, Riverside, and Atlantic in the 1960s. Among the musicians he worked with, apart from Mingus, are Oliver Nelson, Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, Yusef Lateef, Gigi Gryce, and Duke Jordan and the big bands of Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Sam Rivers and Clark Terry.
He also found work on Broadway in pit orchestras, in particular the premiere productions of The Me Nobody Knows and The Wiz. He appears on the original Broadway cast recordings of both musicals. Williams also led bands under his own leadership, playing in New York jazz clubs such as Sweet Basil, the Village Vanguard, and Gerald's. In addition to jazz trumpet, Williams also performed with classical orchestras, playing piccolo trumpet and fluglehorn.
Williams died on November 4, 1985 from kidney cancer in his Jamaica, New York home, at the age of 54.
Discography
As leader
New Horn in Town (Candid, 1960)
As sideman
With Ahmed Abdul-Malik
Sounds of Africa (New Jazz, 1961)
With Mose Allison
Hello There, Universe (Atlantic, 1970)
With Jaki Byard
Out Front! (Prestige, 1964)
With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Trane Whistle (Prestige, 1960)
With Booker Ervin
Cookin' (Savoy, 1960)
The In Between (Blue Note, 1968)
With Bill Evans and George Russell
Living Time (Columbia, 1972)
With Red Garland
Soul Burnin' (Prestige, 1960)
Rediscovered Masters (Prestige, 1977)
With Gigi Gryce
Saying Somethin'! (New Jazz, 1960)
The Hap'nin's (New Jazz, 1960)
The Rat Race Blues (New Jazz, 1960)
Reminiscin' (Mercury, 1960)
Doin' the Gigi (Uptown, 2011)
With Slide Hampton
Sister Salvation (Atlantic, 1960)
Somethin' Sanctified (Atlantic, 1960)
Drum Suite (Epic, 1962)
Exodus (Philips, 1962 [1964])
With John Handy
In the Vernacular (Roulette, 1958)
With Noah Howard
Red Star (Boxholder, 2001)
With Sam Jones
Something New (Interplay, 1979)
With Duke Jordan
Duke's Delight (SteepleChase, 1975)
With Rahsaan Roland Kirk
The Roland Kirk Quartet Meets the Benny Golson Orchestra (Mercury, 1964)
Left & Right (Atlantic, 1968)
Other Folks' Music (Atlantic 1976)
With Yusef Lateef
The Centaur and the Phoenix (Riverside, 1960)
Jazz 'Round the World (Impulse!, 1963)
Live at Pep's (Impulse! 1964)
With Les McCann
Comment (Atlantic, 1970)
With Jack McDuff
The Fourth Dimension (Cadet, 1974)
With Charles McPherson
Today's Man (Mainstream, 1973)
With Carmen McRae
Something to Swing About (Kapp, 1959)
With Charles Mingus
Mingus Dynasty (Columbia 1959)
Pre-Bird (Mingus Revisited) (Mercury 1961)
The Complete Town Hall Concert (Blue Note, 1962 [1994])
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Impulse!, 1963)
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse!, 1963)
With Mingus Dynasty
Reincarnation (Soul Note, SN1042, 1982)
With Oliver Nelson
Screamin' the Blues (New Jazz, NJ 8243, 1960)
With John Patton
The Way I Feel (Blue Note 1964)
With Hilton Ruiz
Excition (SteepleChase, 1977)
Steppin' Into Beauty (SteepleChase, 1977 [1982])
With Jimmy Smith
Hoochie Coochie Man (Verve, 1966)
With The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
Presenting Thad Jones/Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (Solid State, 1966)
Presenting Joe Williams and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, The Jazz Orchestra (Solid State, 1966)
Live at the Village Vanguard (Solid State, 1967)
The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Featuring Miss Ruth Brown (Solid State, 1968)
Monday Night (Solid State, 1968)
Central Park North (Solid State, 1969)
With Charles Tolliver
Music Inc. (Strata-East, 1971)
Impact (Strata-East, 1975)
With Randy Weston
Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960)
With Leo Wright
Blues Shout (Atlantic, 1960)
With Max Roach
It's Time (Impulse!, 1962)
References
External links
1931 births
1985 deaths
Musicians from Galveston, Texas
American jazz trumpeters
American male trumpeters
Candid Records artists
Wiley College alumni
20th-century American musicians
20th-century trumpeters
Jazz musicians from Texas
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
Mingus Dynasty (band) members
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra members
Deaths from kidney cancer