LEGENDS OF JAZZ DRUMMING - TONY WILLIAMS

Like Elvin Jones, Tony Williams was another beast on the drums. One indicator of how good he was was who he was playing with at a very young age: he started playing with Miles Davis at age 17! Tony was a fantastic player who also (like Elvin) really wanted to push the limits of how the drums were played.

Tony had heard all the greats before him and learned their styles, and then made this statement (one way or another) to the world: "I am going to play the drums in a completely new way that is unique only to me." That is a big reason Miles Davis liked him. Miles was into that same kind of trendsetting and experimentation when he met Tony. Miles said of Tony, "Our group's sound is centered around what Tony is playing." That's powerful!

Tony was great at using metric modulation (transitioning between mathematically related tempos and/or time signatures), which was kind of new thing in jazz drumming at the time. When metric modulation is done right, it can really make the time feel like it is being stretched in various directions. Yet, the player is always aware of the 'home' time signature and how to stay within its confines, even while sounding like he is playing outside of the confines.

Let's see and hear some of Tony's amazing playing with the absolute top-level players in jazz in the 1960's - Ron Carter, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter: 

Tim Kurteff-Schatz

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