This week on Improvised Thoughts with Beegie Adair the late, great pianist James Williams is our guest in a program first heard in 1996. We get a rare opportunity to hear this exceptional, multi-faceted musician perform in 3 different settings - two of them from live performances, all from the same time period (the mid-1990s). He talks about each.
First, James Williams in a solo performance at the renowned Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, California. We move next to the East Coast and another listening room, Bradley's in New York, for a trio performance that finds James Williams with Kevin Eubanks (guitar) and Robert Hurst III (bass). Then it's the James Williams Sextet featuring Clark Terry from a date for Columbia Records titled "Talkin' Trash". He documents all three of these recordings for us and talks about another project there wasn't time to present - his 6-piece Jazz/Gospel group James Williams ICU (Intensive Care Unit) "Truth, Justice and the Blues".
Fond memories of an inspired hour with the amazing James Williams on this installment of Improvised Thoughts with Beegie Adair. on WMOT (89.5FM).