Joe Williams was born 96 years ago today. Williams was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs and jazz standards. Born Joseph Goreed in the small farming town of Cordele, Georgia, William’s father, Willie Goreed, left the family early on, but Williams mother, Anne Beatrice Gilbert, who was 18 when she had her only child, provided a strong emotional bond until her death in 1968. Soon after Williams was born, his mother moved them in with her parents, who had enough money to support an extended family. During this time, Anne Gilbert was saving for a move to Chicago. Once she had made the move — alone — she began saving the money that she earned cooking for wealthy Chicagoans so that her family could join her. By the time Williams was four, he, his grandmother and his aunt had joined his mother in Chicago, where they would live for many years. Probably most important to Williams later life was the music scene — fueled largely by African-American musicians —t hat thrived in Chicago in the early 1920s. Years later, he recalled going to the Vendóme Theatre with his mother to hear Louis Armstrong play the trumpet. Chicago also offered a host of radio stations that featured the then-rebellious sounds of jazz, exposing Williams to the stylings of Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Big Joe Turner and many others. By his early teens, he had already taught himself to play piano and had formed his own gospel vocal quartet, known as The Jubilee Boys, that sang at church functions. During his mid-teens Williams began performing as a vocalist, singing solo at formal events with local bands. The most that he ever took home was five dollars a night, but that was enough to convince his family that he could make a living with his voice; so, at 16, he dropped out of school. After discussing it with his family, he began using the name Williams as a stage name, and he began marketing himself in earnest to Chicago clubs and bands. His first job was at a club named after Kitty Davis. Williams was allowed to sing with the band in the evening and keep the tips, which would sometimes amount to $20. Williams had his first real break in 1938 when clarinet and saxophone player Jimmie Noone invited him to sing with his band. Less than a year later, the young singer was earning a reputation at Chicago dance halls and on a national radio station that broadcast his voice from Massachusetts to California. He toured the Midwest in 1939 and 1940 with the Les Hite band, which accompanied the likes of Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. A year later, he went on a more extensive tour with the band of saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. Williams enjoyed a successful career and worked regularly until his death, which occurred at age 80, on March 29, 1999, in Las Vegas. He collapsed on a city street a few blocks from his home after walking out of Sunrise Hospital, where he had been admitted for a respiratory ailment. The hospital had reported him missing several hours before his body was found. Here, Williams sings “Here’s to Life.”
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 10:42:58 +0000
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