Richard Williams New Horn In Town (Candid 1960)

The rather overlooked trumpeter Richard Williams boasts an impressive discography, regardless of just one album as a leader, New Horn In Town. A rare Dutch interview reveals that Williams could certainly turn a phrase.

Richard Williams - New Horn In Town

Personnel

Richard Williams (trumpet), Leo Wright (alto saxophone, flute), Richard Wynands (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), Bobby Thomas (drums)

Recorded

on September 27, 1960 at Nola Penthouse Studio, New York

Released

as Candid 8003 in 1961

Track listing

Side A:
I Can Dream Can’t I
I Remember Clifford
Ferris Wheel
Raucous Notes
Side B:
Blues In A Quandary
Over The Rainbow
Renita’s Bounce


1960 was a very good year. A productive hard bop year with excellent releases from Horace Silver, Art Blakey and Cannonball Adderley and a period of challenging and game-changing efforts from John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman. It was a fine trumpet year. Lee Morgan came of age, blazing and burning, Donald Byrd was making a name for himself, darling of the press Miles Davis was in between Kind Of Blue and Sketches Of Spain (not bad). Everybody loves to play the trumpet. Its three valve-system is relatively ‘uncomplicated’, it’s a forthright emotive tool and portable to boot! There were plenty of excellent trumpeters that tried to gain a foothold or solidify their position, among others Joe Gordon, Dizzy Reece, Paul Serrano, Freddie Hubbard, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Dorham and Art Farmer.

Then there was Richard Williams, one of many. Writer Nat Hentoff strived to put Williams in the limelight and produced a record for his short-lived Candid label, New Horn In Town. (note: Hentoff also turned his attention to another excellent trumpeter, Benny Bailey and released Big Brass in the same year; New Horn In Town is Williams’ only record as a leader.

There’s a whole story to be told before ánd after Williams’ solo album from 1960. (A very good one featuring alto saxophonist and flutist Leo Wright, pianist Richard Wynands, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Bobby Thomas; the frontline ensemble sound of Williams and Wright is like good cappuccino, vanilla and citrus flavors topped off with full cream milk, the sound of Williams is brassy and marked by joie de vivre, Wright’s tone is darker and edgy, Williams has a forthright and stately delivery, Wright seems more introverted and self-absorbed, perhaps a difference between swing and bop but anyhow blending smoothly ; I Can’t Dream Can’t I is Californian breeze and Williams beautifully and daringly weaves through the high register, ballad’s Over The Rainbow and Benny Golson’s I Remember Clifford are stately yet imbued with the blue bended notes of Williams, Williams’ self-penned Raucous Notes is fast burning bop and his Renita’s Bounce equates with bubbling and boiling gumbo and tunes and performances by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers circa Clifford Brown/Lou Donaldson; a few examples from a top-rate hard bop record)

Before: Williams was born in Galveston, Texas in 1931. His parents were from New Orleans. Bunk Johnson was a family friend. (“For me he was just an old trumpet player. It was only later that I realized that much of his stories about his important role in jazz was true.”) The sanctified church and high school got him acquainted with music and instruments, Louis Jordan, Illinois Jacquet, Lester Young, Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie got him into jazz. Williams worked in territory bands and r&b outfits in the late 1940’s, was part of army bands in the early 1950’s alongside Cedar Walton, Don Ellis, Ronnie Scott and Dizzy Reece and strengthened the ranks of the Lionel Hampton band in 1956. He arrived in New York and recorded with Booker Ervin, Gigi Gryce, Oliver Nelson, Yusef Lateef and Randy Weston. And Charles Mingus. In the interview in the Dutch magazine JazzNu from October 1979 which provided much of this information, Williams, like many before or after him, mentions not only the demanding and musically profitable Mingus ‘method’ but also the bassist and composer’s extra-curricular outburts. (“I’ve never been the subject of his fury, it was more like the other way around! Once at the Newport Festival, he let the band stop in the middle of a tune, focused on the audience and went into blind rage. It was disgusting and I walked away from the stage. Man, I could tell you stories but I rather won’t.”)

After: Williams played on Mingus Dynasty and Pre-Bird (technically ‘before’ his solo album, as they were recorded in 1959 and early 1960), Mingus Mingus Mingus and Black Saint And The Sinner Lady, quite a resumé. Williams was part of the Duke Ellington band in 1965 and an original member of the famed Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra from 1966 till 1969. As jazz fell on harder times, Williams worked in musicals and at the Radio City Symphony, played in Latin and Mickey Mouse bands, cooperated with Sun Ra and produced jingles. He says about his style and versatility: “Miles Davis must have been an influence through osmosis. You’re unable to avoid such a strong personality. I probably adapted to circumstances because this is a prerequisite of working in big bands. And as you get older and mature you realize that it’s not about the quantity of notes. Whatever situation I’m involved in, I always try to express my feelings. I never prepare solos on different tunes, because I want to remain spontaneous.”

In 1979, the New York loft scene raised a fuzz and was seen as a restart of jazz. “Lofts? Some don’t have a clue about the workings of their instrument. Suddenly you read in the papers that one or another has achieved something extraordinary. It’s like a joke, even the lauded cat is having a laugh. I’ve played with people that didn’t even know when a chorus ends. It’s like giving a monkey a trumpet for Christmas and seeing what happens.”

Williams was put in the spotlight by bop trumpeter and avant-leaning composer Nedly Elstak at the International Jazz Festival Laren. A special broadcast was made by VARA. Musicians were in the know. But the attention of the general audience had generally eluded Williams. How come? “If only I knew. You have to play the game, presumably? It doesn’t have anything to do with music. Maybe I don’t have star personality. I never impose myself upon others. It also depends if anyone is willing to back you up. Take Dexter Gordon. He was doing the same thing for thirty years when CBS pushed him into the market and that was that.”

“You have to realize that the American power system sees music as a commodity. It is sold just like a can of beans, depending on packaging and advertising, all that stuff. Here in Europe it’s different, it’s not the land of milk and honey but at least jazz is respected as art. I’ve been thinking about settling down here, but I have a family and it’s not that easy.”

Apparently, Williams never did settle down with his family but he evidently played and toured in Europe and notably The Netherlands for stretches of time in the early 1980s. He also was part of the Mingus Dynasty tribute band.

Williams passed away in 1985 in New York City.

Gloria Coleman Soul Sisters (Impulse 1963)

Organist Gloria Coleman’s album Soul Sisters is charmingly soft-hued; a conservative yet catchy blues set that’s mellow in a funky way. In 1963 Coleman and drummer Pola Roberts regularly gigged with Grant Green on the East Coast, Leo Wright sometimes subbed for Green. Thus, these jazz ladies were well acquainted with their male counterparts. (Furthermore, Coleman is featured on Leo Wright’s Soul Talk)

Gloria Coleman - Soul Sisters

Personnel

Gloria Coleman (organ), Leo Wright (alto saxophone), Grant Green (guitar), Pola Roberts (drums)

Recorded

on May 21, 1963

Released

as Impulse A-67

Track listing

Side A:
Que Baby
Sadie Green
Hey Sonny Red
Side B:
Melba Minor
Funky Bob
My Lady’s Waltz


Coherence isn’t Soul Sisters‘ only strong point. Green and Wright share the natural proclivity of cookin’ from the word ‘go’; Green’s urgent runs blend well with Coleman’s stripped-down organ sound and a no-nonsense enthousiasm; an ethos of not-laying-it-on-too-thick that climaxes in the charged My Ladies’ Waltz, wherein the excitement is not created by playing louder but playing ever so tight.

Gloria Coleman, then wife of saxophonist George Coleman, started out as bass player and pianist before turning to the organ and picking up some advice from the inventor of modern organ jazz, Jimmy Smith. From her supportive comping on among others Melba’s Minor, a composition that borrows part of Django’s theme, it is evident she took Smith’s lessons to heart.

Gloria Coleman’s discography reads like the manual of a toothpick: it’s very concise. She nevertheless performed regularly and her tunes were in demand. Miss Coleman died in 2010. As you’ll surely agree, the passing of a ‘soul sister’.

Leo Wright Soul Talk (Vortex 1963/1970)

For Leo Wright, transcending the limitations of blues chord sequences seemed to come naturally. At times shoutin’ with Arnett Cobbian delight and almost as vigorous a master of the startling entrance as Dexter Gordon, Wright’s command of the alto saxophone is impressive.

Leo Wright - Soul Talk

Personnel

Leo Wright (alto saxophone, flute), Gloria Coleman (organ), Kenny Burrell (guitar), Frankie Dunlop (drums)

Recorded

on November 1, 1963 in NYC

Released

as Vortex 2011 in 1970

Track listing

Side A:
State Trooper
Blue Leo
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
Soul Talk
Side B:
Poopsie’s Minor
Skylark
Blues Fanfare


Wright assembled a high quality outfit consisting of Frankie Dunlop – at the time Thelonious Monk’s (already longtime) associate – Kenny Burrell and Gloria Coleman. (then wife of tenor saxophonist George Coleman, who in 1963 was with Miles Davis.) Miss Coleman’s seductive, understated playing is in keeping with her Hammond B3’s crisp sound.

Leo Wright’s flute playing on Soul Talk reminds us of the flute chair he held in Dizzy Gillespie’s top bands from 1959 to 1963, a stint Wright not surprisingly is best known for.

Soul Talk was released on Atlantic subsidiary Vortex in 1970. It’s part of its 2000 series and the odd one out in a series of ‘out there’ albums from among others Joe Zawinul, Steve Marcus and Sonny Sharrock. Actually, its session date has been a question mark among cogniscenti for some time, spawning debate about various years on the internet. Yet, it’s highly unlikely that it doesn’t stem from 1963. That year also saw Leo Wright joining Gloria Coleman, drummer Pola Roberts and guitarist Grant Green on the Impulse release Soul Sisters. In fact, that group played the East Coast and had a regular gig at Branker’s in upper Harlem, New York City. Wright stepped in with his alto sax whenever Grant Green was unavailable.

Joe Goldberg’s liner notes conclude with the hope that Wright’s group would make another album. Unfortunately, they didn’t. At the end of 1963 Leo Wright migrated to Europe.