Articles by Steven Mayers

Bishop Norman Williams: Swinging from Kansas City to San Francisco

by Steven Mayers
April 12, 2008

Meeting saxophonist extraordinaire “Bishop" Norman Williams in the early '90's, and sitting in on guitar at his jam session with local legend B.J. Papa on piano at North Beach's Gathering Café which closed in the late '90's, I was first taken by his extraordinarily swinging melodies--here's a seasoned Kansas City be-bop player with a boundless ability to improvise--and then by his humble and magically mystifying nature, the impish gleam in his eyes, and the understated depth of his passion that ...