John Williams

John Williams: Guitar Recital

by AAJ Staff
February 27, 2011

John WilliamsGuitar RecitalDecca Records1996 (1959) In 1958, guitar virtuoso John Williams was a gifted teenager, and had studied with Andres Segovia. In that year he recorded an album of primarily Segovia-inspired (or themed) compositions from the growing classical guitar repertoire. The album, Guitar Recital (originally released on Delyse in 1959), was in two volumes, though the sessions were continuous. (The album has since been released by Decca). It does not contain ...

Stan Getz: At The Shrine

by Chris May
June 27, 2008

> Stan Getz At The Shrine Verve 1955

Bookended between The Complete Roost Recordings (Verve, 1950-55) and The Steamer (Verve, 1956), this November 8, 1954 live recording from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles is often overlooked when checklists of tenor saxophonist Stan Getz's early classics are compiled. Originally released over two LPs, it includes in its entirety an outstandingly vibrant 53 minute set by the Getz quintet--in a package tour ...

Stan Getz: Jazz Giants '58

by Samuel Chell
April 11, 2008

Although one could quarrel easily enough with the title, this meeting rises above the usual jam session produced by impresario Norman Granz for his Verve label because of the personnel. Gerry Mulligan, Sweets Edison, Oscar Peterson (practically the “house pianist" at Verve), Ray Brown--these are inimitable and personal instrumental voices in American music, and each speaks with sufficient authority to be considered “leader" on the date. But it's Stan Getz who makes the lasting impression.

Getz--a brilliant, “natural" ...

John Williams Has Died

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
December 21, 2018

It can be discouraging, but we are resigned to keeping you up to date on the deaths of prominent musicians. The latest bad news is about the pianist John Williams, who died On December 14 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Williams achieved substantial renown in the 1950s for his work with several prominent leaders and for leading his own trio. Inevitably, he was occasionally misidentified as another John Williams who was once a jazz pianist but became known primarily as a ...
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John Williams: Before Star Wars

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 24, 2015

If you intended to become a jazz musician in the 1950s, “John Williams" was probably not the most ideal name to go with. By my count, there were eight during this time period. This doesn't include several John Williams with middle initials and others known as Johnny Williams. Perhaps the best known of the bunch today is John T. Williams, also known as John Towner Williams, the movie-score arranger, composer and conductor who orchestrated Superman and Star Wars among many ...
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John Williams or John Williams?

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 23, 2011

An old bit of confusion revived for a time this week when Mosaic Records announced a Stan Getz box set to be issued next spring. The electronic news release about the 1950s Getz quintet recordings for Norman Granz's Norgran label mentioned Getz, Bob Brookmeyer and “pianist Johnny Williams (who later became film composer John Williams)." After several people hopped on the web with corrections, Mosaic commander-in-chief Michael Cuscuna explained, “Earlier version of the write-up got pasted in by mistake." Mosaic ...
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