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Jeff Williams: Lifelike
by Mike Jurkovic
Sounding as real as real gets, Lifelike's forward thinking drummer/composer Jeff Williams' heady sextet sure sound like they're all sitting in on a late night, cramped back room cutting session, with each player challenging, coaxing the other to new heights and horizons. Williams, an alumni of such name drops as Stan Getz, Dave Liebman, Ted Curson, Lee Konitz and Joe Lovano, knows a thing or twenty about assembling and writing for hot bands and Lifelike, recorded live last ...
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by Roger Farbey
Based in London and Brooklyn, drummer Jeff Williams is a busy man. In addition to gigging and recording with his own group he currently teaches at the Royal Academy Of Music and at the Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK. This is Williams's fourth album for Whirlwind since his debut on the label with 2011's Another Time and the follow-up to 2016's Outlier. Recorded live at London's Vortex Jazz Club on 13 June 2017, Lifelike features a top-notch cast of musicians ...
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by Luigi Sforza
Outlier è un disco che rassicura sulle sorti del filone mainstream e conferma quanta vivacità musicale ci sia ancora nel perseguire un codice espressivo basato sostanzialmente sull'alternanza regolare tra temi e soli accompagnati. Guidati dal pregevole batterista Jeff Williams -che sa accarezzare discretamente, ma anche in profondità, oltre che in maniera intelligentemente coloristica il set di cui dispone -i giovani musicisti che con lui condividono questo progetto inanellano una serie di appasionate divagazioni sonore che sempre e comunque rimangono ...
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by Roger Farbey
Drummer Jeff Williams is an American expatriate now residing in London, England. Following his formal drumming studies commencing in 1968 at Berklee College of Music, Williams became a seasoned veteran of the U.S. jazz scene, accompanying some of the biggest names in the business including Stan Getz, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Cedar Walton, Lee Konitz, Bill Evans, John Scofield, and Miroslav Vitous. Outlier is his third album for Whirlwind and he's assembled a great line-up of British jazz ...
read moreJeff Williams: The Listener
by C. Michael Bailey
It may be a poor-man's explanation, but here it goes: bebop begat hard bop begat the freer post-bop. Free jazz emerged among them. What next? Jeff Williams' The Listener. The greater freedom of post bop compared to its predecessor is given more freedom, but not so much that the music descends into the ravenous particles of John Coltrane In Japan (Impulse!, 1973). So, where does that leave us? Williams often programs solos against the ...
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by Dan Bilawsky
Drummer Jeff Williams spent the first part of his career building a name for himself as a supporting player, laying down the rhythmic law for Lookout Farm and serving as sideman to the jazz stars, but these days he's making waves as a leader. He turned plenty of heads with Another Time (Whirlwind Recordings Ltd., 2011), which announced his return to recording under his own name and featured a potent piano-less quartet; that same foursome returns for this intriguing live ...
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by Glenn Astarita
Drummer Jeff Williams' affiliation with New York City's fabled loft scene, amid stints with saxophonist Dave Liebman's revered 1970s band Lookout Farm, is but one highlight of a sprawling career positioned in numerous jazz-based platforms. On this quartet date, featuring an impressive supporting lineup, Williams draws a paradox of sorts via subtle complexities often filtered through modern mainstream and off-kilter thematic ventures. His crafty use of space decrees a purer concentration on soloing activities; unhurried, but deterministic, the artist's uncanny ...
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