View source for Dave "Fat Man" Williams

{{Short description|New Orleans jazz, blues, and rhythm & blues pianist, bandleader, and singer-songwriter}}
{{About|New Orleans jazz, blues, and rhythm & blues pianist|other uses|David Williams (disambiguation){{!}}David Williams}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name         = Dave "Fat Man" Williams
| image        = Portrait_of_Dave_"Fat_Man"_Williams.jpg
| birth_name   = Dave Albert Williams Jr.
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1920|8|20}}
| birth_place  = New Orleans, Louisiana
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1982|3|12|1920|8|20}}
| death_place  = New Orleans
| genre        = [[Jazz]], [[blues]], [[rhythm and blues]]
| occupation   = Pianist, singer, songwriter, bandleader
| instrument   = Piano
| years_active = 1930s – 1982
| label        = Ego, [[New Orleans Records|New Orleans]], [[GHB Records|GHB]], Music Mecca, [[Ace Records (United States)|Ace]], CSA, Black Magic, [[Black Top Records|Black Top]]
}}
'''Dave Albert Williams Jr.''' (August 20, 1920 - March 12, 1982) was an American jazz, blues, and rhythm & blues pianist, bandleader, singer, and songwriter.<ref name="The Black Perspective in Music">{{cite journal |journal=The Black Perspective in Music |title=The Black Perspective in Music Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 231 |year=1983}}</ref> He was the author of "I Ate Up The Apple Tree", a staple of contemporary New Orleans brass bands. His career as a working musician spanned five decades.
== Early life ==
Williams was born in [[New Orleans]], Louisiana on August 20, 1920, to Dave Sr. and Viola (nee Frazier) Williams.<ref name="Berry"/> His mother, who played piano and organ at the First Free Will Baptist Church, was his first teacher. He was playing piano by age five.<ref name="Times-Picayune">{{cite news |title=Dave 'Fat Man' Williams Obituary |newspaper=New Orleans Times-Picayune |date=March 16, 1982}}</ref> Williams grew up in an extended musical family that included his cousin Preservation Hall drummer [[Josiah "Cie" Frazier]]. Frazier commented, "In my family there are many musicians interrelated. My father played guitar, my two brothers played piano. My cousins Simon, Eddie, John, and their father Billy Marrero all played. Also there was my brother Sam who played drum, my two sisters Victorine and Loretta played piano, and my cousin Dave Williams piano."<ref name="Barker">{{cite book |last1=Buerkle |first1=Jack V. |last2=Barker |first2=Danny |title=Bourbon Street Black: The New Orleans Black Jazzman |date=1973 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195016904}}</ref> In his youth Williams studied with [[Papa Celestin]],<ref name="Times-Picayune"/> and by age twelve was playing "nickel parties". He explained, "... you paid a nickel to come in and anything from a penny to a nickel for homemade ice cream, pies, and things like that. It was supposed to be for the children, but grown-up people would buy alcohol and water undercover." Three years later Williams was recruited to play with his second cousins [[Paul Barnes (musician)|Paul Barnes]] ("Polo") and [[Lawrence Marrero]] at the Cadillac Club in the Ninth Ward.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Clive |title=Time of My Life: A Jazz Journey from London to New Orleans |date=2019 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781496821171}}</ref> He also worked at the San Jacinto Club and the old [[Perseverance Hall]], social clubs that sponsored dances and jazz performances. Williams' career as a musician was interrupted when he entered the Army in 1941.<ref name="Times-Picayune"/> He served in the 590th Ordnance Ammunition Company in the Pacific theater.<ref name="Tulane">{{cite web |title=Music Rising at Tulane- The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South: Oral Histories from the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University |url=https://musicrising.tulane.edu/listen/interviews/page/6/ |access-date=November 30, 2019}}</ref>
== Education ==
Williams had his first formal musical instruction when he enrolled at the Grunewald School of Music in 1948 under the [[G.I. Bill]].<ref name="Times-Picayune"/> Faculty members included [[Louis Barbarin]], [[Willie Humphrey]], Sr., Clyde Kerr Sr., and [[Wardell Quezergue]]. During this time he played at many of New Orleans' legendary nightclubs including Club Desire, The Hideaway, and the [[Dew Drop Inn (New Orleans, Louisiana)|Dew Drop Inn]]. Williams also often played at affairs for black social organizations. He played in the [[Freddie Kohlman]] band, then in bands at many of the music clubs on Bourbon Street beginning in the 1950s and through the early 1980s.<ref name="Tulane"/>
== Career ==
In 1967 New Orleans clarinetist [[Louis Cottrell Jr.]] was chosen for a U.S.O. tour to entertain U.S. troops in Vietnam.<ref name="Cottrell">{{cite web |title=The Cottrell Legacy – A New Orleans Jazz Tradition Since 1888 |url=http://louiscottrell.com/louis-cottrell-jr.html |access-date=December 10, 2019}}</ref> He took a band that included Williams on piano and vocals. Headquartered in Saigon, the band performed twice a day, moving around the country from show to show by helicopter. Williams recalled the junket in an interview with The Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. He noted that the Army helicopters were sometimes co-opted to carry out casualties, "packing up dead people, put 'em in a bag, put you right along with 'em." The tour also traveled to Thailand for two weeks.<ref name="Tulane"/>
By the 1970s Williams was performing with [[Kid Thomas Valentine]]'s band at [[Preservation Hall]]. During the 1970s and early 1980s he traveled frequently to Europe and Japan with jazz bands and as a solo act.<ref name="Times-Picayune"/><ref name="Berry">{{cite book |last1=Berry |first1=Jason |last2=Foose |first2=Jonathan |last3=Jones |first3=Tad |title=Up from the Cradle of Jazz: New Orleans Music Since World War II |date=1986 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=0820308544}}</ref><ref name="Variety">Variety April 21, 1982, David "Fat Man" Williams obituary</ref> Williams toured and performed with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band across the United States in the 1970s and into the 1980s.<ref name="Hartford Courant">{{cite news |title=Music Notes |newspaper=Hartford Courant
|date=November 12, 1982}}</ref> He appeared nationwide on the National Public Radio broadcasts Folk Festival U.S.A. and Jazz Alive from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.<ref name="Folklife Festival">{{cite news |title=ETSU News- KETR-FM |work=Commerce-Journal |date=March 31, 1977}}</ref><ref name="Jazz Alive">{{cite news |title=Television & Radio WGBH
|newspaper=Boston Globe |date=April 17, 1979}}</ref> He played in Denmark with Peter Nissen's New Orleans Band in 1976, and led his own Dave Williams' International Jazz Band in Copenhagen in 1981.<ref name="Jazzology"/>
Williams appeared as a sideman on recordings from the 1950s through the 1970s, including sessions with [[Pleasant Joseph]] (Cousin Joe), [[Captain John Handy]], [[Kid Howard]], [[Little Sonny Jones]], and [[Freddie Kohlman]].<ref name="Cousin Joe">{{cite book |last1=Joseph |first1=Pleasant "Cousin"
|last2=Ottenheimer |first2=Harriet |title=Cousin Joe: Blues From New Orleans |date=2019 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-41198-9}}</ref><ref name="Syncopated Times">{{cite web |title=The Genius Of Captain John Handy |url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/the-genius-of-captain-john-handy/ |website=Syncopated Times |accessdate=December 24, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Allmusic2"/>
He cut four sides under his own name for [[Specialty Records]] in 1959, all of which remained unreleased until 1986 when his cover of the [[Fats Domino]]/[[Dave Bartholomew]] composition ''Don't You Hear Me Calling You'' appeared on the compilation ''Crescent City Bounce'' on Ace Records (U.K.). His first release was ''I Would If I Could'' b/w ''It's Me, O Lord'' on Ego, Inc. Records in 1963.<ref name="45cat">{{cite web |title=I Would If I Could b/w It's Me, O Lord - Dave (Fat Man) Williams {{!}}
|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/nc165308us |website=45cat |accessdate=September 29, 2019}}</ref> These two songs were included on his 1974 LP ''New Orleans Jazz and Blues "I Ate Up The Apple Tree"'' by Dave Williams, released on [[New Orleans Records]]. The majority of the songs on the album were recorded at Lu and Charlie's jazz club in New Orleans on March 5, 1974, with a band that included Williams on piano and vocals, Clive Wilson on trumpet, Clarence Ford on clarinet and tenor sax, James Prevost on bass, and Chester Jones on drums. Also on the disc were four songs recorded in 1963 featuring Williams on piano and vocals, Ernest Poree on alto sax, [[Narvin Kimball]] on string bass, and Lloyd Washington on drums.<ref name="Wilson"/> In 2014 GHB Records released ''Dave Fat Man Williams- I Ate Up The Apple Tree'' which adds six additional songs from a 1975 session.<ref name="AllMusic2014">{{cite web |title=I Ate Up the Apple Tree – Dave "Fat Man" Williams: Release Info |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/i-ate-up-the-apple-tree-mr0004164583 |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=December 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="The Peoples Daily Morning Star">{{cite web |title=Memories of a Key Change | url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-b189-Memories-of-a-key-change | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130190319/https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-b189-Memories-of-a-key-change | archivedate=November 30, 2016 |website=The Peoples Daily Morning Star (U.K.) |accessdate=October 4, 2019}}</ref> A 1981 live set from Femø Island, Denmark featuring Williams, [[Sammy Rimington]] and Doc Houlind was released by GBH Records in 1996.<ref name="Allmusic"/> Recording sessions with Peter Nissen's New Orleans Band in 1976 from Herlev, Denmark and Dave Williams' International Jazz Band in 1981 from Copenhagen, Denmark have not yet been issued. Williams is featured on piano and vocals on two cuts of ''[[Little Sonny Jones]] New Orleans Rhythm & Blues''.<ref name="blues bibliography"/>
Williams spoke of his unusual approach to songwriting. "I think of the words and music at the same time. They come to me in my sleep and wake me up. I just go to the piano. They're so beautiful sometimes I hates to get up." When asked how his wife felt about these early morning sessions Williams said, "I've got me a good wife; she never complains."<ref name="Wilson"/> Williams' signature song ''I Ate Up The Apple Tree'' was covered by The [[Dirty Dozen Brass Band]] on their first album in 1984.<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web |title=I Ate Up the Apple Tree – The Dirty Dozen Brass Band|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/i-ate-up-the-apple-tree-mt0036082565 |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=September 15, 2019}}</ref> The song was subsequently recorded by [[Rebirth Brass Band]],<ref name="Last.fmRebirth">{{cite web |title=I Ate Up the Apple Tree – Rebirth Brass Band |url=https://www.last.fm/music/Rebirth+Brass+Band/_/I+Ate+Up+the+Apple+Tree |website=Last.fm |accessdate=September 15, 2019}}</ref> Original Pin Stripe Brass Band,<ref name="NPR.org">{{cite web |title=Five New Orleans Brass-Band Jams |url=https://www.npr.org/2010/04/19/126109484/five-new-orleans-brass-band-jams |publisher=NPR |accessdate=September 15, 2019}}</ref> [[Dr. John]],<ref name="radioswissjazzDr.John">{{cite web |title=I Ate Up The Apple Tree- Dr. John –  |url=https://www.radioswissjazz.ch/en/music-database/title/50894454e9485d038f4edab970df203f9d83 |website=radioswissjazz.ch |accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref> [[Kermit Ruffins]],<ref name="Offbeat">{{cite web |title=I Ate Up The Apple Tree – Kermit Ruffins  |url=http://www.offbeat.com/music/kermit-ruffins-livin-a-treme-life-basin-street/ |website=offbeat.com |accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref> [[New Birth Brass Band]],<ref name="Last.fm">{{cite web |title=I Ate Up The Apple Tree – New Birth Brass Band |url=https://www.last.fm/music/New+Birth+Brass+Band/_/I+Ate+Up+The+Apple+Tree |website=Last.fm |accessdate=September 15, 2019}}</ref> and numerous others.
Among the noted musicians Williams performed with in jazz and R&B settings are [[Louis Cottrell Jr.]], [[Lizzie Miles]], [[Wild Bill Davison]], [[Pleasant Joseph]] (as "Cousin Joe"), [[Freddie Kohlman]], [[George Lewis (clarinetist)|George Lewis]], [[Thomas Jefferson (musician)|Thomas Jefferson]], [[Paul Barbarin]], [[Louis Barbarin]], [[Kid Howard]], [[Big Joe Turner]], [[Lloyd Price]], [[Kid Thomas Valentine]], [[Bunk Johnson]], [[Harold Battiste]], [[Willie Humphrey]], [[Waldren Joseph|Waldren "Frog" Joseph]], [[Papa Celestin]], and [[Alvin Alcorn]].<ref name="Tulane"/><ref name="Blue Island Sun-Standard">{{cite news |title=Blue Island Bicentennial Commission|publisher=Blue Island Sun-Standard
|date=April 15, 1976}}</ref> In 1962 he was honored as Grand Marshall with [[Onward Brass Band]].<ref name="Louisiana Digital Library">{{cite web |title=Onward Brass Band |url=https://www.louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/lsm-jaz%3A11866 |website=Louisiana Digital Library |accessdate= December 24, 2019}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Dave "Fat Man" Williams and his wife Pearl Jones Williams were the parents of six sons and three daughters. Williams was proud that he supported his family working as a musician. "That's all I ever did", he said.<ref name="Tulane"/> [[Tom Sancton]], traditional jazz clarinetist and Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Tulane University, considered Williams a New Orleans music legend.<ref name="Wilson"/> He died at his home in New Orleans on March 12, 1982, and is buried in [[Holt Cemetery]].<ref name="Down Beat">Down Beat Magazine 49 No.6 1982 Dave "Fat Man" Williams obituary</ref><ref name="Blues: A Regional Experience">{{cite book |last1=Eagle |first1=Bob |last2=LeBlanc |first2=Eric |title=Blues: A Regional Experience |date=2013 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0313344237}}</ref>
==Discography==
* "I Would If I Could" b/w "It's Me, O Lord" (Ego, 1963)<ref name="Wilson"/>
* "I Ate Up the Apple Tree" b/w "Jukebox Sadie Lee" (New Orleans, 1974)<ref name="Wilson"/>
* "New Orleans Jazz & Blues" b/w "I Ate Up the Apple Tree" (New Orleans, 1974)<ref name="My New Orleans">{{cite web |title=Dave 'Fat man' Williams |url=https://www.myneworleans.com/dave-williams-apple-tree |website=Myneworleans.com | accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref>
* "I Ate Up the Apple Tree" (GHB, 2013)<ref name="Jazzology">{{cite web |title=Jazzology: Dave "Fat Man' Williams – I Ate Up The Apple Tree – featured on G.H.B. Records Label |url=https://www.jazzology.com/item_detail.php?id=BCD-511 |website=Jazzology.com |accessdate=September 15, 2019}}</ref>
* ''Dave "Fat Man" Williams featuring Sammy Rimington and Doc Houlind'' (GHB, 1996)<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web |title=Dave 'Fat Man' Williams |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dave-fat-man-williams-mw0000419886 |publisher=AllMusic | accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref>
* ''"Fat Man" Williams & Houlind-Rimington International Jazzband Live at Femø'' (Music Mecca, 1981)<ref name="Jazz Danmark">{{cite web |title=Fat Man Williams and Houlind/Rimington International Jazzband. |url=https://jazzdanmark.dk/sites/jazzdanmark.dk/files/media/dokumenter/2019-05/Danish%20jazzdiscography%201945-2000_v.1a. |website=JazzDanmark.dk |accessdate=November 30, 2019}}</ref>
* "Don't You Hear Me Calling You" from ''Crescent City Bounce'' (Ace, 1986)<ref name="Wavelength">{{cite web |title=Various – Crescent City Bounce |url=http://docplayer.net/65086314-Wavelength-july-1987.html |website=Docplayer.net |accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref>
* "She's 'My Desire", "Here I Stand with My Heart in My Hand" from ''Little Sonny Jones New Orleans Rhythm & Blues'' (CSA, 1975),<ref name="Ford">{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Robert |title=A Blues Bibliography |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135865085 |page=560}}</ref> (Black Magic, 1993),<ref name="blues bibliography">{{cite web |title=Little Sonny - New Orleans Rhythm & Blues |url=https://jukegh.blogspot.com/2019/03/little-sonny-jones-complete-recordings.html |website=Jukegh.blogspot.com |accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref> (retitled ''Little Sonny Jones New Orleans R&B Gems'') (Black Top, 1995)<ref name="Allmusic2">{{cite web |title=Little Sonny Jones – New Orleans R&B Gems |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-sonny-jones-mn0000265856 |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=September 28, 2019}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Dave}}
[[Category:Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:20th-century American pianists]]
[[Category:American blues pianists]]
[[Category:American male jazz pianists]]
[[Category:American jazz pianists]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Jazz musicians from New Orleans]]