Tribute to Anthony Williams and Bertie Marshall - PAN FUSION - VA (1994)
Channel: Visual Art and Production
Date: 2021-12-28

Beautiful tribute to Dr. Anthony Williams from Andy Narell:
"Tony Williams passed away last week. It’s been nice to see the outpouring of appreciation and respect on social media since his passing. He was one of my heroes. I always have to clarify which Tony Williams I’m talking about, because both of them - the drummer and the pan man - were musical pioneers in the 60’s who blazed a path for everyone that followed. The drummer left us a long time ago, way too soon, but it’s the pan man I want to say something about today. 
Tony was already a major contributor at the age of 20, when he created a double guitar/cello for TASPO in 1951. Ellie Mannette made a 3-bass for the tour, and together they paved the way for all the ranges of pans to become chromatic orchestral instruments. He went on to invent the spider web pans, the circle of fifths tenor, and was the captain, tuner, and arranger for Pan Am North Stars. 
The 1960’s was a golden age in steel band music, a decade exploding with innovation in the development of both the instruments and the music. Tony was a visionary. His explorations in tuning harmonics and his orchestrations set the pace and gave birth to the modern steel band, and he was the first to put the band on wheels. 
I was just a little kid when I first heard Pan Am North Stars - I listened over and over to the album with Voices of Spring, Women and Money, Moon River… They had shocked the steel band world in 1962 by playing a strictly classical interpretation of Voices of Spring at the National Music Festival. Then came Panorama, which started in 1963 and they won the first two. By 1964 Tony had created the template for the modern Panorama arrangement with Mama Dis is Mas - he had introduced counterpoint, theme and variation, modulations… I saw them at Carnegie Hall that year, a life changing experience. Then I saw them twice at the 1966 Music Festival in Queens Hall, and we went to the yard to listen to them practice for the Finals. I remember hearing thirty players all practicing different stuff at the same time and Tony just tapped lightly on the side of a pan and there was silence. Tony spoke quietly to the band and they rehearsed. It sounded like perfection. 
Look at the video of them on Ed Sullivan in 1964. They play an edited version of Voices of Spring. The touch, balance, technical finesse, phrasing, dynamics, the ebb and flow of changing tempos - all without a conductor or rhythm section - have perhaps never been surpassed since. Tony’s just standing there with his scratcher, watching the band. After they nail Voices of Spring they launch into Mama Dis is Mas and put on a clinic of swinging calypso. 
If you listen to the two albums from the early sixties, then the Intermezzo in Eb from the 1966 Music Festival album, and on to the recordings with Winifred Atwell in 1969, you can hear a total breakthrough in the sound of the pans. That was all Tony - he had created a set of pans different from everybody else, introduced harmonics, and developed a distinctive voice as an arranger. His impact is still felt today. 
Tony lost the band in the early 70’s - I don’t know the story - and he seemed to disappear from steel band music. I spoke with him about 10 years ago and I asked him why he’d quit. He said “I didn’t quit. I just lost the support I needed to continue.” Sometimes I try to imagine what he would have come up with had he been able to keep on working and experimenting. Regardless, we can treasure what he accomplished in his time. 
RIP Tony - you were a giant among us, an inspiration to all"....
This documentary series won the RBTT Media award for best Cultural/entertainment programme in 1995.
Producers - Carol Mora & Lorraine O'Connor...
Director/Editor - Timmy Mora