One of jazz's most valuable and enduring sidemen, bassist and composer
Buster Williams has flourished through many periods of changing fashions in jazz due to his fat, authoritative, dark tone and highly refined technique on the acoustic bass. Though he began his recording career in the early 1960s with
Gene Ammons and
Sonny Stitt,
Sarah Vaughan,
Jack Wilson, and the
Jazz Crusaders, his earliest celebrity was as a member of
Herbie Hancock's exploratory Mwandishi Sextet from 1969 to 1973, doubling on acoustic and electric basses -- sometimes attached to electronic effects devices. He began recording as a leader with a trilogy of albums on Muse Records in the mid-'70s. Of these, his leader debut, Pinnacle, is widely considered a modern jazz masterpiece. Since that time, his leader dates have been sporadic, but his career as a sideman has flourished. His notable achievements include appearances as a member of
Sphere for 1982's Four in One, and later in the decade as a member of pianist
Kenny Barron's trio. In the 21st century, Williams in addition to working in
Denny Zeitlin's and
Lenny White's groups, the bassist released the celebrated
Griot Liberte in 2004 with
White on drums and
Stefon Harris on piano and marimba. After a six-year break from recording (2009-2017) while he focused on working as an instructor and touring musician, he returned to tape as a member of
Cyrus Chestnut's studio band on
There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit before resuming his own career as a leader with
Audacity the following year.
Williams learned both the double bass and the drums from his father, but having been enormously impressed by
Oscar Pettiford's recordings, he ultimately decided to concentrate on the bass. After studying theory and composition at Philadelphia's Combs College of Music in 1959, Williams joined
Jimmy Heath's unit the following year and played with
Gene Ammons and
Sonny Stitt in 1960 and 1961, as well as behind singers
Dakota Staton (1961-1962),
Betty Carter (1962-1963),
Sarah Vaughan (1963), and
Nancy Wilson (1964-1968). The gig with
Wilson prompted a move to Los Angeles, where
the Jazz Crusaders used him for concert dates and recordings from 1967 to 1969, and he also played briefly with
Miles Davis in 1967 and the
Bobby Hutcherson/
Harold Land quintet. Moving to New York in 1969, Williams joined
Hancock's sextet, appearing on all of his Warner Bros. albums, as well as
The Prisoner (Blue Note) and
Sextant (
Columbia), and with trumpeter
Eddie Henderson's spin-off group on Capricorn and Blue Note. Over a five-year period (1976-1981), Williams led numerous recording sessions for Muse, Denon, and Buddah while continuing to. In the '80s, he was a member of both the Timeless All-Stars and
Sphere, writing a number of compositions for the latter. Among the musicians for whom he has played since the '80s are
Kenny Barron,
Frank Morgan,
Stanley Cowell,
Steve Turre,
Emily Remler, and
Larry Coryell. ~ Richard S. Ginell