James Williams MARCH 8, 1951 - JULY 20, 2004

Sam Sherry · #1 07-20-2004, 02:39 PM

James Williams passed away last night from liver cancer.

Pianist, composer, bandleader, educator . . . nice guy . . .

NJL · #2 07-20-2004, 02:50 PM

how sad

i really liked his playing on that album "Album of the Year"... i think it was Art Blakey

Ed Fuqua · #3 07-20-2004, 02:58 PM

Man, I didn't see THAT coming. RIP,JW...

McBass · #4 07-20-2004, 04:13 PM

It's a big loss for music.
I'm not sure if this has been covered yet, but I've been told that the recording engineer David Baker also passed away recently.

Dick Them · #5 07-21-2004, 01:33 AM

I´m really sad to hear that. I took part in a seminar in Barcelona, Catalonia, in 1992, where he was a teacher and I can only say that it was a privilege to meet him.Thanks, Mr Williams !

Ed Fuqua · #6 07-21-2004, 07:55 AM

David Baker!?! Man I got about a million records that he engineered. Mike, do you got confirmation of that?

McBass · #7 07-21-2004, 09:00 AM

My only confirmation on David Baker is from two independant sources who say they knew him. I've searched google but haven't found anything yet.

bassgeek · #8 07-24-2004, 10:32 AM

There's an article about David Baker's death on allaboutjazz.com. He was only 58.

Yeah, that sucks about James Williams. He was such a nice guy and incredible player. I saw him a few weeks back at Elvin Jones' Memorial and he sounded great in a duo with a gospel singer. He did look frail, though.