Harold Ivory Williams
Encyclopedia
Harold Ivory Williams, Jr. (August 25, 1949 - June 9, 2010 ) was an American
jazz
keyboardist
most known for working with Miles Davis
, Michal Urbaniak, and the late Rev. James Cleveland
.
, and was named after his father, Harold Ivory Williams (bishop), D.D.
, who was the Senior prelate and one of the Patriarchs of the Mount Calvary Churches Of America and International Inc.. He has one sister, Rev. Hope Mason, who is the creator of Gospel Aerobics
and is the stepson to Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Shirley Caesar
-Williams, god-son to Mahalia Jackson and his grandmother, Rev Ethel Williams,(the first ordained African-American woman in Baltimore, MD), worked as an assistant to Marcus Garvey during the historic movement. Williams started playing piano at the age of 3, becoming an accomplished and sought-after pianist.
Raised in church where his grandmother, father and mother were the Pastors at one time or another, Williams was the church organist. He was often in demand all over the city, as well as up and down the East Coast. Williams appeared on the album, The Best Of James Cleveland and the Gospel Music Workshop of America.
He was heralded by many in the late 1960s - 1980s as a musical genius and electronic wizard (long before technology became the norm), and was consequently revered as being ahead of his time. He played a very active role in the development of the Jazz Fusion Era introducing elements of Gospel and classical music to the mix as evidence on the Big Fun, Miles Davis album.
Equally proficient in jazz
, gospel, and classical music
, Williams is a former student of the Peabody Institute
.
Williams has appeared as a solo artist at Carnegie Hall
and has performed with Miles Davis
, James Cleveland
, George Duke
, MFSB
TSOP, Albertina Walker
, David Liebman, Michal Urbaniak
, and his wife, singer Urszula Dudziak
, Herbie Hancock
, Chick Corea
, and others while still a teenage prodigy
. He founded a group with several prominent jazz musicians including Jazz bassist Tony Bunn
. The group, known as Dialect, recorded a demo session for Kenny Gamble’s Philadelphia International Records and was to become the label’s answer to the booming market in jazz/fusion music in the late 1970s. Gamble decided to use the band to back another of his artists, vocalist Jean Carne, while grooming Dialect to spin off on its own. On the verge of international success, was forced to stop due to a debilitating illness. He continue to play in church until his death in 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
most known for working with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Michal Urbaniak, and the late Rev. James Cleveland
James Cleveland
The Reverend Dr. James Cleveland was a gospel singer, arranger, composer and, most significantly, the driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound, bringing the stylistic daring of hard gospel and jazz and pop music influences to arrangements for mass choirs...
.
Biography
Williams was born in Baltimore, MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, and was named after his father, Harold Ivory Williams (bishop), D.D.
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
, who was the Senior prelate and one of the Patriarchs of the Mount Calvary Churches Of America and International Inc.. He has one sister, Rev. Hope Mason, who is the creator of Gospel Aerobics
Gospel Aerobics
Gospel Aerobics is a form of rhythmic aerobic exercise that uses gospel music, spiritual encouragement and motivation during the routine. Both the term ‘Gospel Aerobics’ and the specific concept are the brainchild of Maryland based Hope Mason who was joined by her husband Marc Mason in making the...
and is the stepson to Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Shirley Caesar
Shirley Caesar
Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
-Williams, god-son to Mahalia Jackson and his grandmother, Rev Ethel Williams,(the first ordained African-American woman in Baltimore, MD), worked as an assistant to Marcus Garvey during the historic movement. Williams started playing piano at the age of 3, becoming an accomplished and sought-after pianist.
Raised in church where his grandmother, father and mother were the Pastors at one time or another, Williams was the church organist. He was often in demand all over the city, as well as up and down the East Coast. Williams appeared on the album, The Best Of James Cleveland and the Gospel Music Workshop of America.
He was heralded by many in the late 1960s - 1980s as a musical genius and electronic wizard (long before technology became the norm), and was consequently revered as being ahead of his time. He played a very active role in the development of the Jazz Fusion Era introducing elements of Gospel and classical music to the mix as evidence on the Big Fun, Miles Davis album.
Equally proficient in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, gospel, and classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, Williams is a former student of the Peabody Institute
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
.
Williams has appeared as a solo artist at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and has performed with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, James Cleveland
James Cleveland
The Reverend Dr. James Cleveland was a gospel singer, arranger, composer and, most significantly, the driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound, bringing the stylistic daring of hard gospel and jazz and pop music influences to arrangements for mass choirs...
, George Duke
George Duke
George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
, MFSB
MFSB
MFSB was a pool of more than thirty studio musicians based at Philadelphia’s famed Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bell, and backed up such groups as Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O’Jays, the Stylistics, the...
TSOP, Albertina Walker
Albertina Walker
-Early years:Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camille Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and her father in Bibb County, Georgia. They moved to Chicago between 1917-1920 where they lived out their lives. Albertina had four siblings born in Bibb County...
, David Liebman, Michal Urbaniak
Michal Urbaniak
Michał Urbaniak is a Polish jazz musician and composer born in Warsaw, playing mainly the violin, lyricon and saxophone during concerts and recordings...
, and his wife, singer Urszula Dudziak
Urszula Dudziak
Urszula Bogumiła Dudziak-Urbaniak is a leading Polish jazz vocalist. She has worked with such artists as Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak , Gil Evans, Archie Shepp, and Lester Bowie...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, and others while still a teenage prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
. He founded a group with several prominent jazz musicians including Jazz bassist Tony Bunn
Tony Bunn
Robert Anthony Bunn, also known as Tony Bunn, is an American bassist, composer, producer, and writer.His instruments are bass guitar, upright bass, voice, and mind. His styles are jazz, funk, blues, and rock.-Biography :...
. The group, known as Dialect, recorded a demo session for Kenny Gamble’s Philadelphia International Records and was to become the label’s answer to the booming market in jazz/fusion music in the late 1970s. Gamble decided to use the band to back another of his artists, vocalist Jean Carne, while grooming Dialect to spin off on its own. On the verge of international success, was forced to stop due to a debilitating illness. He continue to play in church until his death in 2010.
Select discography
- Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985, ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
- synthesizer on "Thinkin' One Thing And Doin' Another" - Miles Davis - On the CornerOn the CornerOn the Corner is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in June and July 1972 and released later that year on Columbia Records. It was scorned by critics at the time of its release and was one of Davis's worst-selling recordings...
(1972), Columbia - keyboards - MFSBMFSBMFSB was a pool of more than thirty studio musicians based at Philadelphia’s famed Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bell, and backed up such groups as Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O’Jays, the Stylistics, the...
- MFSB (1973), CBS/Sony - Miles Davis - Big Fun (1974), Columbia - piano on "Ife"
- Urszula Dudziak - Urszula (1976), AristaArista RecordsArista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
- Miles Davis/Bill LaswellBill LaswellBill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
- Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (1998) - Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner SessionsThe Complete On the Corner SessionsThe Complete On the Corner Sessions is the eighth and final deluxe box set in Columbia Records' Miles Davis Series.Columbia has released a series of ten box sets containing recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. These contain material not available on other Columbia albums...
(2007), Columbia - David Leibman - "Tranquility of the Protective Aura" (1977), A&M/Horizon
- Michal UrbaniakMichal UrbaniakMichał Urbaniak is a Polish jazz musician and composer born in Warsaw, playing mainly the violin, lyricon and saxophone during concerts and recordings...
- Body English 1977, Fusion Legends, UBX