BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORK WITH PAT METHENY’S BAND, BASSIST BEN WILLIAMS HAS RECENTLY RELEASED HIS SECOND IMPRESSIVE ALBUM, COMING OF AGE. WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH MR. WILLIAMS AFTER HIS SUCCESSFUL GIG AT THE BLUE WHALE. HIS RISE TO BECOMING ONE OF THE MOST IN-DEMAND ARTISTS OF HIS GENERATION IS SHOWN HERE THAT NOTHING BEATS GOOD OLD FASHIONED HARD WORK. AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, “LUCK” IS WHEN OPPORTUNITY MEETS WITH PREPARATION. THAT AND GOD’S GRACE CAN TAKE YOU WHERE YOUR DESTINY CALLS.
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO MUSIC?
I started pretty informally in the beginning. I grew up not so much in a household of musicians, but there was definitely always music playing around in the house while I was growing up. I was always surround by music. I started playing the piano around age or so, and eventually when I got to middle school I picked up the bass and started learning jazz. They had a jazz band at the middle school interestingly sponsored by The Thelonious Monk Institute. It’s kind of interesting how they’ve help me get started.
WHAT CLICKED FOR YOU
I can pinpoint it to a moment to the first director I had in my first jazz band. He gave me a cassette tape with Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue on one side, and Charles Mingus’ Blues and Roots on the other. I remember playing that tape and something just struck a nerve. I felt something in that sound.
WHY DID YOU PICK THE BASS
It was pretty haphazard; I wanted to play the guitar, but there was no more room in the guitar class, (laughs) so I had to sign up for the closest thing, which was a strings class that I wasn’t really familiar with. I didn’t know that it was going to be orchestral strings. I get to the class and there are all these violins, violas, cellos and there was this one bass. I just happened to be the first kid to get there, and that was exactly what I wanted to play. So, I said, “Yeah, I’ll play that one.”
HOW DID YOU WIN THE MONK AWARD, AND HOW HAS THAT HAD AN EFFECT ON YOUR CAREER?
The award was definitely a turning point. I feel like that was the moment when my career as a bandleader really started. Up to that point I had just been working as a side man with a lot of great musicians, and it hadn’t really crossed my mind too much to lead my own group and write my own music.
So after winning the competition, one of the prizes is, in addition to cash award came a record deal with Concord Records. So I had a record deal in my hands! I realized that I had to put together a record. I had to put together the music. It was something that I was interested in doing. Absolutely So I just started from there and arrange the music and started to write my own original compositions. So everything really just started there and grew.
YOU HAVE PLAYED FOR A LOT OF ARTISTS OVER THE YEARS. TERENCE BLANCHARD, WYNTON MARSALIS, ERIC REED…
And Stefon Harris. I started working pretty early when I was in school. I started going on the road a little bit with Blanchard. He was one of the first guys to really check me out. Cyrus Chestnut was another that I started playing with a lot. I actually met Stefon when I was about 13 years old, so we’ve been spending time together for awhile.
DID ANY OF THE VETERANS GIVE YOU CAREER OR MUSICAL ADVICE?
Not so much directly, but more by example. I learned something different from watching all of these guys, as always I’m very observant. Whatever band I’m playing in I’m always watching to see how the bandleader operates and how he deals with the musicians. They all have different approaches to leading a band, it was great to see how for example Stefan would give so much freedom to the band. Jacky Terrasson was the same way. I feel fortunate to have been in many groups where I have been given so much freedom to explore my instrument and explore the music.
HOW DID YOU GET LINKED UP WITH PAT METHENY?
I was a student at Julliard, and it was my first semester. Christian McBride has been a mentor of mine since I was a teenager, and he was playing with Metheny at the time with his trio. He told Pat about me; he was doing an Artist in Residence at Julliard for a few days and I was in an ensemble that he was working with. We did a concert at the school and Christian invited Pat to come check us out. He said “there’s this new cat named Williams that I think you’ll really dig.” So Pat came by and he heard me play; I didn’t even realize that he was there listening as it was basically a school concert.
WITH HIM YOU GOT TO PLAY IN FRONT OF SOME PRETTY BIG CROWDS. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THAT EXPERIENCE?
It was definitely the big time! I had never before toured that extensively nor had I ever played in front of that many people before. It was another level all the way around. It was musically challenging; I definitely grew in so many ways on my tour with him.
I think that the biggest lesson that I learned from him was there is no substitute for hard work. He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever been around. He’s still devoted to his ideas, and he sees it through to make sure that it happens by any means necessary. His creativity is endless; his imagination is endless. He knows how to create in all of these different environments. Throughout his career I’ve noticed that he’s been able to create his own world that he can live in and operate in. The kind of courage and confidence that it takes to be yourself, no matter what people might think about it, or how people might view it, as “It’s not this” or “It’s not that” or whatever people want to label it. He showed me to just give it 100%, 110% and have a total belief in yourself.
SO, YOU’VE PUT OUT A DEBUT ALBUM, AND TOURED WITH METHENY. WHAT’S YOUR IMPETUS FOR RELEASING A SECOND ALBUM? THEY ALWAYS SAY THAT THE FIRST ONE IS EASY BECAUSE YOU HAVE ALL THESE PENT UP IDEAS, AND WITH THE SECOND YOU HAVE TO ANSWER TO YOUR FIRST ONE.
Yeah, that’s right. I had a lot of fun making the first record. I’m still very proud of it; I think it was a good representation of where I was at the time, and there’s something special about that first record because there were no expectations and it’s your introduction. It’s like “I really don’t know what I’m doing yet, but this is where I’m starting.”
With the second record I had more of a concept of what I wanted to convey musically. It was just a little more thoughtful in putting a lot more work into the music. I think I’ve gotten better at translating my life experiences and my thoughts about certain things into music. I’m writing a lot more, and touring with the band for a couple of years helped a lot to help me flesh out these ideas.
THE ALBUM HAS SO MANY DIFFERENT MOODS, WITH STRINGS, THEN SKA AND THEN A WEATHER REPORT KIND OF FUSION. HOW DID THIS DIVERSE ALBUM COME ABOUT ON STAGE?
I would try out the songs on different gigs. I’ve been very fortunate to have a band that has some of the best young musicians. Naturally, they’d be very busy, but I’ve been very fortunate that we’ve been able to work together as a unit pretty consistently. We work out a lot of the music on gigs. I try not to play new material too much before we record because I want to keep some of that fresh energy.
As far as the string arrangements go, that’s a later item that I added in the studio.
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THE “TOY STORY” SONGS, BOTH THE INSTRUMENTAL AND THE VOCAL VERSIONS?
Basically, the song is a commentary about our country (and many other country) and our willingness to sacrifice the lives of very young people in the name of war and in the name of conflicts. I just put myself in the shoes of a young person who maybe doesn’t have the complete understanding of the p olitics of the situation that they’re involved in. So, I’m using the analogy of “Toy Soldiers” like when I was a kid and would go to the Dollar Store and get a bag of those plastic toy soldiers. There would be a bunch of them. I would move a few of them, but they would just lay there at your disposal.
So, I was using that as a metaphor, and that’s basically what the song is about. The reason that I put it up in two parts was that originally when I started writing the song I envisioned that it would go into another section where it would have vocals and then have a rap thing in it. But, for the album’s sake, it seemed like too much to put it all into one track. So, I separated it.
YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THE SURVEY WHERE JAZZ IS THE LEAST POPULAR MUSIC IN AMERICA. AS A MAN WHO MAKES A LIVING AS A JAZZ MUSICIAN, WHAT CAN YOU INDIVIDUALLY DO TO MAKE IT MORE POPULAR AND ACCESSIBLE? OR IS THAT EVEN YOUR JOB?
I do think that it’s part of my job. At the end of the day, it’s really just about approaching the music honestly. If that reaches 500 people or 5,000 people it’s out of your hands once it leaves you.
I do think that there’s a lot of things that we can do to better market the music. I honestly don’t think it’s the music itself, There are a lot of great young musicians that are doing a lot of cool and creative things. I think that the problem is that a lot of people just don’t know about it. I think that this “jazz world” simply has to do a better job at marketing what we have, and do a better job of just getting the music out there.
Also, we can be a little more responsible about our presentation of our music. Because the music is what I’m least worried about. I’m more concerned with how we’re presenting it at times. These days it’s all about the presentation.
SO, WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR RECORD, YOU’RE NOT WORRIED ABOUT WHO’S GOING TO LISTEN TO IT.
I can’t say I’m not worried about who’s going to be listening to it. But, I feel like my music is accessible for a lot of people. I don’t think you have to particularly be a fan of jazz to enjoy my music, which I think is cool.
ON YOUR LINER NOTES YOU GIVE THANKS TO YOUR CREATOR. DO YOU GO TO CHURCH OR READ THE BIBLE FOR INSPIRATION?
When I grew up, my family wasn’t hard core about religion, but I’ve always grown up with a faith and a belief that there is a God that is with us and that He is the Creator of everything that we have. And for me, being a musician, I feel that music has definitely brought me closer to God. The true essence of beauty is something I associate with Him.
It’s hard for me to go to church regularly because I’m hardly ever in town, but when I’m home I always go to church. Stefon Harris’ mother is a minister, and so is Cyrus Chestnut. It’s one of the interesting things about the experience of the black community; whether you’re a devout Christian or not, we all have this connection or at least a familiarity with the church as it’s such a cornerstone of the community. It’s more than even just the belief in it itself; it’s also about the practice of life as well as all of the music that has come out of the church. The church is still an important part of the black community.
LOOKING BACK ON YOUR OWN CAREER, YOU CAN SEE HOW GOD HAS DIRECTED YOUR PATH
You just gotta have faith, and that’s what my music is all about anyway.