Fess Williams

Fess Williams

Fess Williams

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Latest Release

A Few Riffs from Fess album art
  • A Few Riffs from Fess
  • July 2025
  • 13 Songs

Top Songs

1
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Do Shuffle
2
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Kentucky Blues
3
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Aligator Crawl
4
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Buttons
5
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Sweet Savannah Sue

Albums

  • Fess Williams 1926-1930

    Sep 2019 • 50 songs

  • Gamblers' Blues

    Dec 1927 • 1 song

Similar Artists

About

Fess Williams

Biography

Williams came from--and fathered--a musical family; his brother Rudolph was a saxophonist and clarinetist, his sons Rudy and Phil were both saxophonists, and his daughter Estella was a pianist and vocalist. He was also bassist Charles Mingus's uncle. Williams started on violin. He attended Tuskegee in his teens and studied with Major N. Clark-Smith, learning several instruments but settling finally on clarinet. He moved to Cincinnati in 1914 and played saxophone in a local band. He also led his own group for several years before moving to Chicago around 1923. He moved to New Y...
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