Todd Williams

Biography
Articles

Todd Williams makes appearances from among the finest artists in today’s music scene. Originally known for his saxophone and clarinet performance with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Septet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Williams has also held such positions as Assistant Professor of music at Queens College and Music Director of Times Square Church. Most recently he has been honored to join the music faculty of Indiana Wesleyan University as Assistant Professor of Music Education.

Todd has performed at most every prestigious venue from multiple dates at the White House to Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl. Extensive recording with Marsalis and guest appearances with such artists as Sir Roland Hanna, the Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, and 2012 Grammy Award winner, Christian McBride, decorate his list of accomplishments.

Williams is a four-time recipient of ASCAP’s Plus Award for Composers.

Buselli / Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite

Read "The Gennett Suite" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 6, 2023

This is where music for mass consumption--recorded music--started, in Richmond, Indiana, in the 1920s, in a piano factory by the railroad tracks in a glacier-carved gorge. Established in 1887, in the beginning Starr Pianos' bread and butter was pianos, but they branched out to selling other instruments and eventually photographs and records--their own records, recorded in the piano factory, taking breaks in the process when a train came by. At first, they called their recording side of the business Starr ...

Radio & Podcasts

Todd Williams introduces his Quartet Trio

by David Bixler
June 22, 2022

Saxophonist Todd Williams has a new trio with bassist Yuma Takagi and drummer Robert Rucker he has named the Quartet Trio. I spoke with Todd before he presented the music from their new recording Introducing the Quartet Trio at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. This episode feature music from Todd Williams' Introducing Quartet Trio. ...

Album Review

Eli Yamin: Message From Saturn

Read "Message From Saturn" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
November 12, 2016

The Jazz Drama Program was founded in 2003, in New York City, by pianist and composer Eli Yamin, and educator Clifford Carlson, to stimulate youth by offering diverse and imaginative jazz, theater, and dance programs with active participation of those enrolled. Message From Saturn takes its title from a famous Sun Ra comment: “I just got a message from Saturn. We're not playing enough blues." With this statement as a launching point, the cosmological theme also draws inspiration from “The ...