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Anthony Tillmon "Tony" Williams (December 12, 1945 – February 23, 1997) was an American jazz drummer.
Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential jazz drummers to come to prominence in the 1960s, Williams first gained fame in the band of trumpeter Miles Davisand was a pioneer of jazz fusion.
Williams was born in Chicago and grew up in Boston. He was of African, Portuguese, and Chinese descent.[2] He began studies with drummer Alan Dawson at an early age, and began playing professionally at the age of 13 with saxophonist Sam Rivers. SaxophonistJackie McLean hired Williams at 16. At 17 Williams found considerable fame with Miles Davis, joining a group that was later dubbed Davis's Second Great Quintet. Williams was a vital element of the group, called by Davis in his autobiography "...the center that the group's sound revolved around."[3] His inventive playing helped redefine the role of jazzrhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation (transitioning between mathematically related tempos and/or time signatures)....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Williams_(drummer)
Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential jazz drummers to come to prominence in the 1960s, Williams first gained fame in the band of trumpeter Miles Davisand was a pioneer of jazz fusion.
Williams was born in Chicago and grew up in Boston. He was of African, Portuguese, and Chinese descent.[2] He began studies with drummer Alan Dawson at an early age, and began playing professionally at the age of 13 with saxophonist Sam Rivers. SaxophonistJackie McLean hired Williams at 16. At 17 Williams found considerable fame with Miles Davis, joining a group that was later dubbed Davis's Second Great Quintet. Williams was a vital element of the group, called by Davis in his autobiography "...the center that the group's sound revolved around."[3] His inventive playing helped redefine the role of jazzrhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation (transitioning between mathematically related tempos and/or time signatures)....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Williams_(drummer)
