By Donald True Van Deusen
The tasty jazz pot served up by the Tony Williams Quartet is still
cooking at Lakey's Restaurant (215.247-5354) 8215 Stenton Avenue,
Philadlephia every Monday night, 5:30-9 p.m., for just a $6 cover. Williams
and his men have been there for two years now following their 10 year gig
at the now defunct Blue Note where memories of the spirited sessions there
still bring a smile to club-goers faces. That same joy of jazz prevails at
Lakey's under the sure hand of Williams.
Williams plays alto sax and is not locked into any one style or format
going seamlessly from mainstream to swing and bop according to the tune and
audience. Even when he plays as a sideman, he infuses his feeling of joy in
the music, clapping his hands in tempo when he waits for a solo. He, like
Louis Armstrong or Dizzy Gillespie, is not merely a fine craftsmen on his
horn, but a delightful entertainer.
A native Philadelphian and life-long resident here, he went to Abington
High School with Eddie Green, that master piano man who worked with him for
many years. Williams has worked with the very best in the field from Wild
Bill Davis to Dakota Staton and the late Shirley Scott, for whom he
participated in a memorial tribute at the Cleff Club just last Saturday.
Williams, like many jazz alto players, acknowledges Charlie Parker as a
major influence, but notes that he does not feel locked into any one style
or format. As he explained it to me, "It doesnÃÂÃÂÃÂùt matter what style, but it
has to come from the heart." That is something he is richly endowed
with--heart.
The regular group working with Williams are as fine a back-up crew as
you can find anywhere today: Don Wilson, piano; Mike Boone, bass; Leon
Jordan, drums and Stan Wilson, tenor sax. Like many of the jam sessions held
at the famed MintonÃÂÃÂÃÂùs Playhouse, various top jazz men may sit in for a
session. They generally limit those sitting in to trained musicians because
as Williams explains it, "A jam session is like a sandwich--it has to come
together." And, the way they bring it together makes for a very tasty
sandwich.
