NOMAD WILLIE WILLIAMS

t Willie Williams (b. 11/1/58, Wilmington, NC) came to New York at the encouragement of Bobby Watson after graduating from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (´80), where he played with local organ trios and did studio work for Philadelphia International Records. In New York he worked with the Odean Pope sax choir (´78-´82), Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, Curtis Lundy, and Rashied Ali in the early ´80s. However, the New York club scene was not so hospitable during the mid-´80s; at this time Willie began to teach at The Harlem School of the Arts and City College New York. Towards the end of the decade, Willie began to work as a performer more frequently, contributing to the ensembles of Art Taylor, Dollar Brand, Butch Morris, Clifford Jordan and T.S. Monk, with whom he has recorded five records; he has also landed pop and R&B gigs with the Temptations, Four Tops, Diana Ross, and Lou Rawls and played in Broadway shows like A Chorus Line, 42nd St., and Ain´t Misbehavin´. As a leader he has recorded for New Note and Enja, displaying a soulful, gospel-inflected edge to his playing.