Joe Williams (also known as Joseph Goreed; born December 12, 1918; died March 29, 1999) was an American jazz singer. He performed with large musical groups, such as the Count Basie Orchestra and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, as well as with small groups. He sang in two films featuring the Basie Orchestra and occasionally worked as an actor.

Early life

Williams was born in Cordele, Georgia, to Willie Goreed and Anne Beatrice, née Gilbert. When he was about three years old, his mother and grandmother moved him to Chicago. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he attended Austin Otis Sexton Elementary School and Englewood High School. In the 1930s, as a teenager, he was part of a gospel group called the Jubilee Boys and performed in churches in Chicago.

Career

Williams started singing professionally as a solo performer in 1937. He sometimes performed with large musical groups. From 1937, he sang with Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra and also toured with Les Hite in the Midwest. In 1941, he traveled with Coleman Hawkins to Memphis, Tennessee. In 1943, he performed in Boston with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. He sang with Red Saunders at the Club DeLisa in Chicago in 1945, and in 1946, he was in New York with Andy Kirk.

In the late 1940s, Williams was sick and performed only occasionally. By October 1950, he was back at the Club DeLisa with Red Saunders, where Count Basie heard him.

From 1954 to 1961, Williams was the singer for the Count Basie Orchestra. Songs like "Every Day I Have the Blues," recorded in 1955, and "Alright, Okay, You Win" were among many successful recordings made during this time.

After leaving the Basie band, Williams had a successful career as a solo performer at festivals, in clubs, and on television. He and Basie stayed in good contact, and he often performed with the Basie Orchestra. He toured and recorded with many musicians, including Harry "Sweets" Edison in 1961–62, Junior Mance between 1962 and 1964, George Shearing in 1971, and Cannonball Adderley between 1973 and 1975. He went on a long tour from Egypt to India with Clark Terry in 1977 and toured Europe and the United States with Thad Jones and the Basie Orchestra in 1985. He also worked with his own small musical groups, which from 1970 to 1990 usually included pianist Norman Simmons, and often had Henry Johnson on guitar.

Williams sang with the Basie Orchestra in two films: Jamboree in 1957 and Cinderfella in 1960. He sometimes worked as an actor and had a supporting role in the movie The Moonshine War, released in 1970. He appeared several times on Sesame Street in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1982, Joe played the role of jazz musician Sonny Goodman in an episode ("Jazz") of the television series Lou Grant. Later, he portrayed Al Hanks, father of Clair Huxtable, in three episodes of the 1984–1992 series The Cosby Show ("Clair's Sister," season 2; "The March," season 3; "And So We Commence," season 8).

In later life, Williams often performed in hotels and clubs in Las Vegas, Nevada, but also sang at festivals and worked on cruise ships. He toured again with the Basie Orchestra, this time under the direction of Frank Foster, who had taken over from Thad Jones as leader of the band. Williams sang with Louie Bellson, the former drummer of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra, in Duke Ellington’s jazz suite Black, Brown and Beige. Around 1993 or 1994, he toured again with George Shearing.

Death

Williams died on March 29, 1999, in Las Vegas, at 80 years old. He was hospitalized the week before for a respiratory ailment.

Awards and honors

In 1984, Williams won the Best Jazz Vocal Performance Grammy Award for his album Nothin' but the Blues. The same album also won the Traditional Blues Album award at the Blues Music Awards of the Blues Foundation in 1985. Williams was nominated for seven other Grammy Awards: for the album Prez & Joe (1979); the song "8 to 5 I Lose" (1982); the album I Just Want To Sing (1986); the live album Every Night: Live At Vine St. (1987); the song "I Won't Leave You Again" (with Lena Horne, 1988); the song "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" (with Marlena Shaw, 1989); and the album In Good Company (1989).

In 1988, Williams received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music. He also helped start the Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College, where he received another honorary degree.

In 1992, his 1955 recording of "Every Day I Have the Blues" with Basie was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame, which honors recordings of historical or artistic importance. In 2001, Williams was added to the Jazz Wall of Fame by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

In 1988, Williams, along with his wife Jillean and friends, created the nonprofit Joe Williams Every Day Foundation to provide scholarships for talented young musicians.

Discography

• Sings Everyday (Regent, 1952–1953, released in 1956)
• Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Clef, 1955)
• The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards (Verve, 1956)
• At Newport (with Count Basie) (Verve, 1957)
• One O'Clock Jump (with Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald) (Verve, 1957)
• A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry (Roulette, 1958)
• Memories Ad-Lib (with Count Basie) (Roulette, 1959)
• Joe Williams Sings About You! (Roulette, 1959)
• Everyday I Have the Blues (with Count Basie) (Roulette, 1959)
• Joe Williams with Songs About 'That Kind of Woman' (Roulette, 1960)
• Just the Blues (with Count Basie) (Roulette, 1960)
• Sentimental & Melancholy (Roulette, 1961)
• Together (with Harry "Sweets" Edison) (Roulette, 1961)
• Have a Good Time with Joe Williams (Roulette, 1961)
• Joe Williams Live! A Swingin' Night at Birdland (Roulette, 1962)
• Jump for Joy (RCA Victor, 1963)
• At Newport '63 (RCA Victor, 1963)
• One Is a Lonesome Number (Roulette, 1963)
• Me and the Blues (RCA Victor, 1964)
• A New Kind of Love (Roulette, 1964)
• We Three (with Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan) (Roulette, 1964)
• The Song Is You (RCA Victor, 1965)
• Scat Man Crothers & Joe Williams (Pickwick, 1965)
• The Exciting Joe Williams (RCA Victor, 1966)
• Alright, Okay (with Count Basie) (Verve [UK], 1966) compilation
• Presenting Joe Williams and Thad Jones Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra (Solid State, 1967)
• Something Old, New and Blue (Solid State, 1968)
• Worth Waiting For… (Blue Note, 1970)
• The Heart and Soul of Joe Williams and George Shearing (Sheba, 1971)
• With Love (Temponic, 1972)
• Joe Williams Live (with Cannonball Adderley) (Fantasy, 1973)
• Prez & Joe: In Celebration of Lester Young (with Dave Pell's Prez Conference) (GNP Crescendo, 1979)
• Nothin' but the Blues (Delos, 1983)
• Then and Now (Bosco; Sea Breeze, 1984)
• I Just Want to Sing (Delos, 1985)
• Having the Blues Under European Sky (Denon, 1985)
• Every Night: Live at Vine St. (Verve, 1987)
• In Good Company (Verve, 1989)
• That Holiday Feelin' (Verve, 1990)
• Ballad and Blues Master [live] (Verve, 1992)
• Live at Orchestra Hall, Detroit (Telarc, 1993)
• Here's to Life (Telarc, 1994)
• Feel the Spirit (Telarc, 1995)

• Count Basie, A Night at Count Basie's (Vanguard, 1955)
• Count Basie, Breakfast Dance and Barbecue [live] (Roulette, 1959)
• Count Basie, Sing Along with Basie (with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) (Roulette, 1959)
• The Capp-Pierce Juggernaut, Live at the Century Plaza (Concord Jazz, 1978)
• Benny Carter, Benny Carter Songbook (MusicMasters, 1996)
• Benny Carter, Benny Carter Songbook Volume II (MusicMasters, 1997)
• Lena Horne, The Men in My Life (Three Cherries, 1988)
• Milt Jackson, The Prophet Speaks (Qwest, 1994)
• Marian McPartland, Piano Jazz with Joe Williams (Jazz Alliance, 1991)
• Diane Schuur, Pure Schuur (GRP, 1991)