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Dalt Williams

Just "keep on swingin' " baby.

About Me

DALT WILLIAMS, acoustic bass, leader, composer/arranger Dalt was born and raised in Vallejo, CA where his music education began(on trumpet and tuba). After high school he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a bandsman where he became interested in the acoustic bass. He first studied bass with Jack Weeks(Cal Tjader and Dave Brubeck). While in Korea he performed with the U.S. 8th Army Band and drummer Ed Thigpen(Oscar Peterson Trio),guitarist Rod Lewis(Anita O'Day), and pianist DaveHildinger.

Dalt is a graduate of San Francisco State University where he studied bass with Charles Siani(San Francisco Symphony) and earned a degree in Music Education. While in San Francisco he appeared with the Al Trobbe Trio, Dave Van Kriedt, Vince Guaraldi, Larry Vuckovich, Eddie Peabody, the Rudy Salvini Big Band, and as a sideman with numerous other groups.

During his 35 year teaching career he started the music program at Vanden High School and later moved to Benicia High School. At Benicia he developed an award winning program in Jazz Band, Symphonic Band, and Vocal Jazz. In 1994 he was voted Benicia's Teacher of the Year. In 1995 he was awarded the Outstanding Music Educator Award for the CMEA Bay Section. Dalt is a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators, the American Federation of Musicians, the California Music Educators Association, and the Northern California Band Association.

Dalt now writes for and performs with his own group Jazz For All Occasions “JFAO”

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because...because of it's freedom to create I was first exposed to jazz...in high school I met Ray Brown after he appeared with Oscar Peterson & Louie Bellson at the Mondavi Winery. I photographed their gig and 30 years later I saw Ray again at Yoshi's (Oakland,CA)& gave him a photo. Ray was a GREAT person. The best show I ever attended was Stan Kenton in Kansas City (1954) The first jazz record I bought was the Modern Jazz Quartet My advice to new listeners is listen, listen, & listen some more. Or whatever else you have in mind.