Remastering & reissuing drummer Anthony Williams first two albums: Life Time was recorded for Blue Note shortly after joining the Miles Davis Quintet, employing two bassists--Richard Davis and Gary Peacock--along with mentor Sam Rivers and Davis alumni Herbie Hancock & Ron Carter; Spring reflects the new freedom of 60s jazz in a quintet with both Wayne Shorter & Sam Rivers.
Label: ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd Catalog ID: ezz-thetics 1126 Squidco Product Code: 31444
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2022 Country: Switzerland Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded August 21st, 24th, 1964 and August 12th, 1965. Life Time was originally released in 1964 on vinyl LP for the Blue Note label as catalog code BLP 4180. Spring was originally released in 1966 on vinyl LP for the Blue Note label as catalog code BLP 4216.
"Teenage phenoms constitute an intriguing thread through jazz history. Most come and go, making an initial splash, aided by a record deal and the ever-eager jazz press, their profile soon ebbing until they secure their place as an also-ran in the sweepstakes for stardom. Very few exert a permanent influence on their instrument while still in their teens, and make a major contribution to an enduring jazz sub-genre before reaching 25. One that did both was the drummer who briefly went by Anthony Williams in the early to mid-1960s.
Williams was studying with Alan Dawson at 9 and playing with Sam Rivers at 13, notably with the Boston Improvisational Ensemble, who performed in museums, using cards and timetables to shape performances, occasionally in tandem with poets and slide shows of contemporary art. Discovering the drummer at a club gig, Jackie McLean recruited Williams in late 1962, promising the 16-year-old's parents that he would live with the McLean family and work steadily. Within weeks of relocating to New York, Williams played on McLean's pivotal One Step Beyond in April '63.
With Philly Joe Jones in tow to give a second opinion, Miles Davis was scouring New York for a replacement for Jimmy Cobb when he discovered Williams playing with McLean in May. Within days, Tony Williams was finishing Seven Steps to Heaven as part of Davis' new rhythm section with Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock. Davis' quintet then immediately went on the road and was touring Europe within weeks - Miles Davis in Europe documented their July concert at Antibes.
However, completing Davis' new quintet with Wayne Shorter stalled until the saxophonist finished his stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in September. Further complicating matters, George Coleman left after Davis' February '64 concert at Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall, which yielded My Funny Valentine and 'Four' and More. During this lull, Anthony Williams contributed to several cutting-edge Blue Note albums; but it is his work on Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch that best previewed where he was headed.
With a lucrative July tour of Japan fast approaching, Davis hired Rivers on Williams' recommendation. Davis later credited Rivers with energizing the group; evidenced by Miles in Tokyo, the saxophonist's solos atomized the changes of the quintet's well-worn book, and palpably spurred Williams. Given their chemistry, it is unsurprising that Williams enlisted Rivers for his Blue Note debut as a leader, recorded several weeks after their return from Japan.
Life Time posited a radicalism quite different from the other watershed recordings of 1964. Williams had an overt, unconventional approach to form, accentuated by the time constraints of a LP side and the various configurations he employed. Performed by a two-bass quartet with Rivers, Richard Davis, and Gary Peacock, the A side-long "Two Parts of One" is an envelope-pushing study in stark contrasts, "Red" being a brushes-nudged, smoldering theme that frames a stunning, thickly textured bass duet, while "Green" is largely a blazing duet between Williams and Rivers.
The contour of the B side is more startling, particularly as it begins with the robustly swinging "Tomorrow Afternoon." "Third Stream" is only an approximation for "Memory," a trio with Hancock and Bobby Hutcherson, in that its jazz and chamber music tributaries are only suggested. However, it is the closing "Barb's Song to the Wizard" that is truly audacious, as Williams, the budding star, does not perform. Instead, Carter and Hancock mull over the lyrical theme until it peters out into silence.
By the time the 19-year-old Williams returned to Van Gelder Studio to record Spring with Hancock, Peacock, Rivers, and Shorter, the avant-garde was ascending, fueled by A Love Supreme. He retained some of the parameters of Life Time; propelling the themeless, tempo-no-changes opener, "Extras," with brushes, and commencing the B side with "Love Song," the most accessible track of the album. Around them, Williams introduced new gambits like frontloading "Echo," a drum kit solo. However, there were no departures in jazz album construction protocols as pronounced as those on Life Time. Williams even ended Spring with a barnstorming "Tee."
Spring was the last Anthony Williams album. For the rest of his life, Williams went only by Tony. The name change would be innocuous and inconsequential were it not for his Blue Notes standing far apart from his subsequent recordings. The question remains: What motivated Williams to identify as Anthony during this period? For a teenager who wanted to be taken seriously, Anthony is the clear choice. However, he was already being taken very seriously playing with Davis as Tony. Still, formality is a useful one-word explanation. Williams' Blue Notes have a formality, a recital-like posture that he discarded in favor of the colloquialisms of fusion. That formality is the radical core of Life Time and Spring."-Bill Shoemaker, December 2021