"FESS" WILLIAMS

B. April 10, 1894 Danville, KY D. December 17, 1975 New York City, NY

"KENTUCKY BLUES"

By Doug Van Buren

Stanley Rudolph "Fess" Williams was born in Danville, Kentucky April 10, 1894 in a middle class black family.

He started in music with the violin at Tuskogee Institute. His father died in 1899 and the family moved to Cincinnati.

Later to be called "Fess," as in 'perfesser' from his teaching days, plus playing sax and settling on clarinet with a

then rare knowledge of reading and writing musical notation, he was destined to be a band leader. From a musical

family, his brothers also played reed instruments and his sister was a vocalist who played piano. It was in that port

town he discovered blues and jazz from the entertainment on touring riverboats, Williams, after graduation in 1914,

appeased hid mother by taking a teaching position in Winchester, Kentucky. His mother died in peace in January,

1916, as Stanley married schoolmate Louise Phillips in 1915. But the pull of the music life was too great and by

1919, he was leading local bands and had played with Frank Port's Quartet throughout the South and Mid-west.

The family moved to Chicago in 1923, where Williams became friends and played with the great Joseph "King"

Oliver. It's reported he went with Oliver to Gennett studios to record. Perhaps this was the genesis for his Gennett

contract several years later. Between 1923 and 1930 "Fess" Williams recorded for Gennett, Victor, Vocalion, OKeh,

Brunswick, Champion and Harmony. In Chicago, Fess Williams played the 'breakfast dances', meaning three am to

eight am. Here he joined Ollie Power's (B. 1886 Louisville, KY) Harmony Syncopators and started a habit of hiring and touring with Kentucky talent !

He moved to New York City in 1924 and by late 1925 created his Royal Flush Orchestra. The band played

Brooklyn's Rosemont Ballroom 1925 until February 1926. From early 1926 until January 1928, Fess was the house

band at the newly built Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. His pianist was Henry "Hank" Duncan from Bowling Green, Kentucky. This smaller version of his orchestra had their recording career beginning with Gennett. Showman Fess directed his band in white tie and tails with a top hat a la Ted Lewis. Williams also copied his 'gas-pipe' style clarinet shrieks and novelty sounds. Later, Benny Goodman also employed this 1920s style. Early Williams recordings are captured on Retrieval RTR 79032. The Victor era 2 CD set is Jazz Oracle BDW 8041 Fess Williams 1926-30. Williams first major release, written by Kentuckian Boyd Atkins, "Heebie Jeebies" (Brunswick 3351) covered an early hit for Louis Armstrong.

Fess Williams composed his biggest hits, "Hot Town" (Victor V 38077) and "Kentucky Blues," written by Walter Brown. Recorded April 17, 1929, this was the flip side of the release, and cut to disc five days later on the 22, was well received. But it was the earlier (rec. February 25, 1927) "Gambler's Blues" (Vocalion 1087 that tied so nicely with 1920s Kentucky artists. Fess William's vocal for the Royal Flush Orchestra was the first recording with lyrics of what became "St. James Infirmary." Four instrumentals in 1924 as "Charleston Cabin" by various bands had the melody of the classic.Our Danville guy was first of later hundreds of recordings of the jazz and blues standard. The lady blues singers started recording the song three months later in May of '27 with Martha Copeland (Bowling Green's Portrer Grainger acc. piano), then Mamie McKinney in June followed by Viola McCoy in August (Grainger acc.), finishing in September with Rosa Henderson from Henderson, Kentucky! A ballad that began in England as "The Unfortunate Rake" in the 1800s, crossed the Atlantic to become "St. James Infirmary." It still had life to come on American charts : Louis Armstrong 1929, King Oliver 1930, Cab Calloway 1931 and Artie Shaw 1942 !

The Royal Flush Orchestra disbanded in 1934. Several tours included Fess Williams into the late 1930s, including one with Edith Wilson (Louisville) and the Deep River Boys. He played various gigs until the 1960s. He had gone into real estate in the '40s. He became an officer in Musicians Union Local 802 in New York. Fess Williams died in Parkway Hospital, Forest Hills, NY on December 17, 1975, at the age of 81.