Some very fine jazz musicians never lead a band or a recording session, instead spending their careers as sidemen making other people sound good. Drummers, in particular, tend not to be full-time leaders (
Art Blakey,
Elvin Jones, and
Max Roach notwithstanding), probably because there's such a heavy demand for their services.
Leroy Williams is a prime example; a musician' musician if ever there was one,
Williams played in the bands of
Thelonious Monk,
Sonny Rollins,
Booker Ervin,
Clifford Jordan,
Stan Getz, and
Hank Mobley, to name only a few -- the complete list is long and impressive.
Mostly self-taught,
Williams began playing drums in his teens. He played with pianist
Judy Roberts for several years beginning around 1959. He moved to New York in the mid-'60s and played with tenor saxophonist
Ervin in 1967. The next year he played with
Rollins, tenor saxophonist
Archie Shepp (at the Newport Jazz Festival), and tenor saxophonist
Jordan. In 1969,
Williams began a long-standing association with
Barry Harris, recording the first of several albums with the pianist. He played with tenor saxophonist
Mobley and bassist
Wilbur Ware in 1970; he also got the job with
Monk that year (probably through
Ware, who was also in the band).
Williams toured with
Monk that summer; he left just prior to an October tour of Japan, replaced by
Lenny McBrowne. During the '70s, he freelanced with such leaders as tenor saxophonist
Yusef Lateef, pianist
Ray Bryant, and saxophonist
Charles McPherson; also
Getz, pianist
Andrew Hill, saxophonists
Sonny Stitt,
Junior Cook,
Al Cohn,
Buddy Tate, and
Bob Wilber, among many others. In the '80s, he combined with bassist
Art Davis to form a rhythm section for two different pianists,
Barry Harris and
Tommy Flanagan. He also recorded with trombonist
Steve Turre and trumpeter
Bill Hardman. In the early '90s, he recorded with alto saxophonist
Lee Konitz, and also
Anthony Braxton on one of the avant-gardist's "standards" projects.
By the mid-'90s, most of the legends
Williams had played with were gone, but he remained active, playing with a new generation of bop-oriented players including saxophonist
Ralph Lalama and pianist Pete Malinverni. At the turn of the decade,
Williams was a member of the cooperative band el Mollenium, which also included guitarist
Roni Ben-hur, pianist
Bertha Hope, and bassist
Walter Booker. The band is devoted largely to interpreting the music of
Hope's late husband, the pianist
Elmo Hope. ~ Chris Kelsey