Background
Williams, Martin Tudor was born on August 9, 1924 in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Son of John Bell and Rebecca (Yancey) Williams.
(The Washington Post has called Martin Williams "the most ...)
The Washington Post has called Martin Williams "the most knowledgeable, open-minded, and perceptive American jazz critic today," and countless others share that sentiment. To Gary Giddins of the Village Voice he is "one of the most distinguished critics (of anything) this country has ever produced,: and Nat Hentoff has observed, "Martin Williams persistently gets at essences, and that is why he has contributed so much to the very small body of authentic jazz criticism." A companion volume to his seminal, prizewinning The Jazz Tradition, this book is divided into four sections. The opening part is a collection of reviews and critiques of figures as diverse as Fats Waller and Count Basie, Bud Powell and Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald and the World Saxophone Quartet. The second section shows us musicians at work during rehearsals, recording dates, nightclub performances; these include Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman. In a rare feature for a book on jazz, the third section brings together some of Williams's "liner notes"--record annotations from outstanding LP albums by musicians from Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver through Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, and including Cecil Taylor. In the last section, Williams discusses some of the pboblems jazz has encountered as it has acquired intellectual and academic status, and there are some provocative comments on the black contribution to American musical theatre and whether or not the United States has a true folk music. About the Author: Martin Williams is the author of Where's the Melody?, Griffith: First Artist of the Movies, and TV: The Casual Art. His articles have appeared in such publications as The Village Voice, High Fidelity, Evergreen Review, Kulchur, Saturday Review, and The New York Times.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195036115/?tag=2022091-20
(Jazz Changes is the late Martin Williams's third and perh...)
Jazz Changes is the late Martin Williams's third and perhaps best collection of jazz portraits, interviews, narrative accounts of recording sessions, rehearsals, and performances, important liner notes, and far reaching discussions of musicians and their music. The collection includes thirty years of Williams's finest pieces taking readers on an engaging tour of the changing jazz world. There are appreciation-profiles and comments on such performers as Ross Russell--about the noted Dial Record sessions with Charlie Parker--and greats like John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Jelly Roll Morton, Ornette Coleman, Dinah Washington, and Thelonious Monk. Williams also offers parodies of how jazz critics in 1965 might have assessed the Beatles, and reflections on the Ellington era. He concludes with an elegant plea for critics to pay attention to jazz history, always exhibiting his keen mind and gifted pen.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195083490/?tag=2022091-20
(Praised variously as "perhaps the greatest living jazz cr...)
Praised variously as "perhaps the greatest living jazz critic" (Gunther Schuller) and "one of the most distinguished critics (of anything) this country has produced," (Gary Giddins, The Village Voice), Martin Williams has been perceptively chronicling the development of jazz for more than 30 years. Both The Jazz Tradition, which many consider a classic history of jazz, and his previous collection of jazz writings, Jazz Heritage, received the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Criticism. In this, Williams's newest jazz collection, the author gathers together many of his best pieces and covers new ground, with short columns on Teddy Wilson and George Winston and a longer article, "How Long Has This Been Going On?," examining the current state of jazz. In this last work, Williams notes that jazz is experiencing a period of "stylistic retrenchment or, if you will, a period of conservatism," and questions the fusion of jazz with rock. Williams cites the opinion of Wynton Marsalis and a number of other musicians, who "seem to see the whole fusion thing as a kind of commercial opportunism and artistic blind alley, maybe even a betrayal of the music." Arranged roughly according to the form of the writing (music reviews, profiles, etc.) the pieces included here examine the musicianship of jazz greats from Sidney Bechet to Ornette Coleman, including Lionel Hampton, Lee Konitz, Art Farmer, and others. There are also thought pieces on the development and direction of jazz and jazz scholarship. Together, these works provide an insightful overview of the development of jazz over the past 20 years.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195054598/?tag=2022091-20
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include companion materials, may have some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include CDs or access codes. 100% money back guarantee.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010TSYJOU/?tag=2022091-20
Williams, Martin Tudor was born on August 9, 1924 in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Son of John Bell and Rebecca (Yancey) Williams.
Williams attended Saint Christopher Episcopal Preparatory School, then entered the United States. Army during World World War World War II After his military service during World World War II, which included Battle of Iwo Jima, Williams first studied law, then literature at the University of Virginia (Bachelor 1948), at the University of Pennsylvania (Master of Arts 1950) and at Columbia University.
Williams, beginning in the early 1950s, became a prolific jazz critic, contributing articles to The Saturday Review, The New York Times, Harper"s Magazine, Down Beat, and The Jazz Review, which he founded in November 1958 with National Hentoff, which often featured contributions by jazz musicians, including Gunther Schuller, Dick Katz, and Cecil Taylor. The Jazz Review also featured contributions by other notable people, including Sheldon Mayer and Dan Morgenstern. Williams authored many books on jazz, a collection of sixteen essays, profiling jazz musicians, in a book titled The Jazz Tradition.
From 1971 to 1981 Williams headed the jazz and "American Culture Program" at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington District of Columbia, where, in 1973, he compiled and wrote liner notes for The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz.
In 1983, he Gunther Schuller, and the Smithsonian — in collaboration with Radio Corporation of America Records — produced Big Band Jazz. With animation historian Michael Barrier, Williams co-edited A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics (1982).
(Praised variously as "perhaps the greatest living jazz cr...)
(Jazz Changes is the late Martin Williams's third and perh...)
(The Washington Post has called Martin Williams "the most ...)
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
(Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)
Children from former marriage: Charles, Frederick, Frank.