| Richard Williams | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Name: | Richard Gene Williams |
| Birth Date: | 4 May 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Galveston, Texas, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Jamaica, Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Trumpet |
| Label: | Candid Records |
Richard Gene Williams (May 4, 1931 – November 4, 1985) was an American jazz trumpeter.
Williams was born in Galveston, Texas, and played tenor saxophone early in his life before picking up trumpet as a teenager. He played in local Texas bands and attended Wiley College, where he majored in music. After serving in the Air Force from 1952 to 1956, he toured Europe with Lionel Hampton, and upon his return took a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music.
Williams played with Charles Mingus at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959, and recorded with Mingus starting in that year. He recorded his only session as a leader, New Horn in Town (1960) for Candid Records, and featuring Reggie Workman, Leo Wright, Richard Wyands, and Bobby Thomas. Williams was a sideman on many releases for Blue Note, Impulse!, New Jazz, Riverside, and Atlantic in the 1960s. Among the musicians he worked with, apart from Mingus, are Oliver Nelson, Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, Yusef Lateef, Gigi Gryce, and Duke Jordan and the big bands of Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Sam Rivers and Clark Terry.
He also found work on Broadway in pit orchestras, in particular the premiere productions of The Me Nobody Knows and The Wiz. He appears on the original Broadway cast recordings of both musicals. Williams also led bands under his own leadership, playing in New York jazz clubs such as Sweet Basil, the Village Vanguard, and Gerald's. In addition to jazz trumpet, Williams also performed with classical orchestras, playing piccolo trumpet and fluglehorn.
Williams died on November 4, 1985, from kidney cancer in his Jamaica, New York home, at the age of 54.[1]
With Ahmed Abdul-Malik
With Mose Allison
With Jaki Byard
With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
With Booker Ervin
With Bill Evans and George Russell
With Red Garland
With Gigi Gryce
With Slide Hampton
With John Handy
With Noah Howard
With Sam Jones
With Duke Jordan
With Rahsaan Roland Kirk
With Yusef Lateef
With Les McCann
With Jack McDuff
With Charles McPherson
With Carmen McRae
With Charles Mingus
With Mingus Dynasty
With Oliver Nelson
With John Patton
With Jimmy Smith
With The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
With Charles Tolliver
With Randy Weston
With Leo Wright
With Max Roach