Clarence Williams (musician)

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Clarence Williams
Background information
Born(1893-10-08)October 8, 1893 or (1898-10-08)October 8, 1898 (sources differ)
Plaquemine, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedNovember 6, 1965 (age 67 or 72)
Queens, New York City
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)Piano

Clarence Williams (October 8, 1898[1][2] or October 6, 1893[3] – November 6, 1965)[1][2][3] was an American jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, theatrical producer, and publisher.

Biography

Williams was born in

African American vaudeville theater as well as at various saloons and dance halls around Rampart Street, and at clubs and houses in Storyville.[3][4]

Williams started a music publishing business with violinist/bandleader Armand J. Piron in 1915, which by the 1920s was the leading African-American owned music publisher in the country. He toured briefly with W. C. Handy, set up a publishing office in Chicago, then settled in New York in the early 1920s. In 1921, he married blues singer and stage actress Eva Taylor, with whom he would frequently perform.[3][4] They moved to Queens in the 1920s with the intention of creating a community of black artists. He envisioned a space where African American artists could live, work, and collaborate together, free from the racial discrimination and segregation that was prevalent in other parts of the city at the time.[5][6]

Williams and his wife, Eva Taylor, purchased a large house on Ruscoe Street (108th Ave near Addisleigh Park)[7] and turned it into a gathering place for black artists, musicians, and intellectuals. They hosted regular parties and events, which attracted many notable figures from the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Duke Ellington.[8]

Harlem Renaissance

He was one of the primary pianists on scores of blues records recorded in New York during the 1920s. He supervised African American recordings (the 8000

Gaiety Theatre office building in Times Square.[9] He recruited many of the artists who performed on the label. He also recorded extensively, leading studio bands frequently for OKeh, Columbia and occasionally other record labels.[3][4]

He mostly used "Clarence Williams' Jazz Kings" for his hot band sides and "Clarence Williams' Washboard Five" for his

QRS Records label in 1928.[3][4]

"I Can Beat You Doing What You're Doing Me" by Clarence Williams and Armand J. Piron, 1915 sheet music cover

Most of his recordings were songs from his publishing house, which explains why he recorded tunes like "Baby Won't You Please Come Home", "Close Fit Blues" and "Papa De-Da-Da" numerous times.[14] Among his own compositions was "Shout, Sister, Shout" (1929), which was recorded by him, and also covered by the Boswell Sisters, in 1931.[3][4]

Labels

In 1933, he signed to the

Vocalion label and the recordings mostly featuring washboard percussion, through 1935 (and a session in 1938).[3][4] He also recorded for Bluebird
in 1937, and again in 1941.

In 1943, Williams sold his extensive back-catalogue of tunes to

Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale on Long Island. On her death in 1977, his wife, Eva Taylor, was interred next to him.[3][4]

Personal life

Clarence Williams' grandson is actor Clarence Williams III.[1]

Work

Clarence Williams' name appears as composer or co-composer on numerous tunes, including a number which by Williams' own admission were written by others but which Williams bought all rights to outright, as was a common practice in the music publishing business at the time. Clarence Williams was also credited as the author of Hank Williams' 1949 hit "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It", a song that was later recorded by Louis Armstrong. In 1970, Williams was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[3][4]

Songs

Sheet music cover

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Clarence Williams: Composer, Producer, Director, Performer, Writer, Lyricist, Musical Director". Internet Broadway Database (The Broadway League). Archived from the original on June 1, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Clarence Williams, Entrepreneur and Jazz and Blues Artist". African American Registry. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Clarence Williams Biography". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "The Music of Clarence Williams". Basin Street. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  5. ^ "Fun Maps: The Queens Jazz Trail by Ephemera Press". Untappedcities.com. 12 December 2013.
  6. ^ "Addisleigh Park | HDC". Hdc.org. 31 August 2012.
  7. ^ "A self-guided jazz tour through Queens". Qchron.com. 30 January 2014.
  8. ^ [1] [dead link]
  9. ISBN 978-0203644355
    . Retrieved 16 April 2023 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ "Katherine Henderson accompanied by Clarence Williams and his Orchestra". Redhotjazz.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
  11. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4
    .
  12. ISBN 978-0-253-00747-6
    , p. 87
  13. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4
    .
  14. ^ Lockhart, John M. "Words & Music", The Riverside Reader Archived 2012-12-14 at the Wayback Machine, February 4, 2008, p. 5
  15. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4
    .

External links
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