Anthony Tillmon Williams was an American jazz drummer.
Williams first gained fame as a member of Miles Davis' "Second Great Quintet," and later pioneered jazz fusion with Davis' group and his own combo, the Tony Williams Lifetime. In 1970, music critic Robert Christgau described him as "probably the best drummer in the world." Williams was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1986.
Williams in 1969
Williams in Half Moon Bay, California, 1986.
Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz fusion and 1980s-era Latin jazz. The techniques and instrumentation of this type of performance have evolved over several periods, influenced by jazz at large and the individual drummers within it. Stylistically, this aspect of performance was shaped by its starting place, New Orleans, as well as numerous other regions of the world, including other parts of the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Max Roach (1924–2007), one of the pioneers of modern jazz drumming during the 1940s bebop era
The Old Plantation (late 1700s), illustrating some slave traditions
Image of Sonny Greer with his drum set, which included timpani among other accessories
