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"The Ultimate In Student Living
WILLIAMS
From page 5
The stride pianist must keep a steady bass beat
with the left hand. There are no lengthy rests or
pauses, so the music "swings very hard," Williams
said. "It doesn't give you a break. It's very busy."
Many jazz musicians are composing more of their
own musk these days, but Williams plays few
original songs. Instead, he's following the fingers of
his primary influence — jazz great Art Tatum, who
often took standards and "jazzed them up."
"I like to take familiar tunes and turn them into
something unfamiliar. That's what I'm about," he
said.
When jazz musicians change a tune an audience
knows, they reach that audience more deeply
because there's already a "connection," said
Williams.
Williams does the same with old stride numbers
and classical pieces, though he wasn't classically
trained. In fact, except for six months of lessons as a
child, he's self-taught.
Williams started playing his parents' piano when
he was six years old. "I knew I had a special
aptitude," he said. "I knew it probably when I was
six." At first he didn't play seriously. But then young
Williams saw the "Peanuts" cartoon series on TV,
which was scored by jazz composer Vincent Giraldi.
After that, his musical direction was set. "I used to
listen to him and freak out," Williams said. "One of
the first pieces 1 used to play was 'Linus and Lucy.'
He was my first influence."
Williams then began listening seriously to jazz,
and he started practicing more often. As a teenager,
he'd occasionally sit in with jazz bands in New
Orleans.
While learning to play jazz. The Panther was also
learning about jazz history and the field of
journalism. He earned his bachelor's degree in
Louisiana, then earned his masters at the
University of Illinois. In 1989, he earned his
doctoral degree from the University.
Williams's doctoral thesis reflected his love of
jazz. It was a survey on how people "use" music,
whether to change their moods, escape from reality
or accompany a monotonous activity.
"He's very complex," said Jeff Wilkinson, who was
a doctoral student with Williams. "Mercurial is the
word that comes to mind."
As he studied at the university, Williams also
took time out to work as a DJ for WUCA-FM, where
he brought his theory of jazz education through
"humanization" to the airwaves. Instead of just
reading the name of a song and putting it on the
turntable, Williams would talk about the musicians,
the time in which they made the record, and the
importance of their recording to the history of jazz.
If people understand the music they're hearing, he
said, they'll be more interested in It.
The Panther also spent time practicing and
developing his style. He would occasionally record
these practice sessions and play them on the radio.
One night, he played a session on the air and
attracted the attention of Gordon Stelter, 33, a
ragtime pianist who lives in Athens. Stelter,
hearing The Panther on the radio, said his
immediate reaction to the music was jealousy. His
next reaction was to meet Williams and learn from
him.
"I think he's amazing," Stelter said. "1 took him
down to the music library and played some Liszt for
him because he had never heard any Franz Liszt. I
played Hungarian Rhapsodies two, six and 11,
which are the most dazzling of Liszt's Hungarian
Rhapsodies, and Luther took off the headphones
and in all sincerity asked me, 'Are these considered
difficult?'
"In order to do the runs that he does with his
right hand takes the highest level of mental acuity,"
said Stelter.
In Athens, Stelter has been promoting
"Declaration of a Reclamation ft. 1." He put up
promotional fliers around town, and he took copies
of the single to Downtown Records. The single,
Williams said, is the beginning of a series of
professional recordings. "Declaration of a
Reclamation ft. U" will be released next month.
There are only a few hundred copies of his first
professional recording, but Williams said the single
has been distributed selectively. "Sales right now
are going very well on the West Coast, and in Paris
and the South of France, where it has been
extremely well received."
In the South of France, 'The Bulletin of the Hot
Club" — a popular jazz magazine — gave
"Declaration of a Reclamation ft. 1" its highest
rating. It also compared Williams's playing to that
of his idol. Art Tatum. "He has been the man who
has influenced me for the longest. I started listening
to him 10 years ago," said Williams.
'He's very complex.
Mercurial is the
word that comes
to mind.'
- Jeff Wilkerson
Being compared to Tatum (whose technique
stretched jazz piano beyond the imagined confines
of its day) "Is really the highest compliment,"
Williams said. "You've made my lifetime."
Williams plans to continue living and working in
New Orleans. He said he enjoys teaching radio,
television and film courses at Xavier. But the job
has drawbacks. To play his best, he needs three to
four hours of practice a day. But he's so busy now he
rarely gets a spare hour. The Panther also plans to
keep developing his style and recording, eventually
on a larger label.
'I'm always expanding," he said. "I need to soak
up some contemporary influences and integrate
them into my style. Somebody's got to embrace the
entire history of jazz. That's the statement that I'm
making musically."
Williams said his nickname also makes a
statement: 'It means something to have an animal
nickname," he said. "That identifies me with the
stride tradition." So many of legendary stride
players had animal nicknames, Williams said, that
a friend of his decided he needed one too. The friend
suggested Williams call himself "The Panther."
"I said, “Panther? That sounds pretty good," said
Williams.
As devotees of his music know, it sure does.
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