Palacio Podcast
Dave Williams Has A Lot to Say with His Music and His Mind
Dave Williams hesitantly throws out words when you ask him to describe himself in a word or sentence.
“Wow…cantankerous…you know I wouldn’t want to be that hostile sounding.”
Prodded, the jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and writer tries again.
“I can’t. I think I need a paragraph. Driven…maybe I have a bit of chip that I’m trying to whittle down from a plank to a little tiny toothpick.”
I stepped in to help him with a description written in 2012 by a mutual friend in the Long Beach Post, Sander Roscoe Wolff:
“As a trumpet player, he’s in complete command of his instrument, able to move easily from whisper soft to full-throated wail and back in an instant. As a composer, his diversity is breathtaking. He seems perfectly happy blending both contrasting and complementary idiomatic references in his tunes, and embraces modern recording and production techniques.”
Anyone who has listened to Dave Williams’s music would agree. But, it’s not just his music or his knowledge of its history that fascinates me, it’s his sometime unfiltered postings on social media. He pulls no punches in his social or personal commentary. Reading his often emotional words is like listening to him playing the horn: stark, loud, soft, threatening, powerful, loving, and my favorite emotion “Don’t mess with me. I ain’t got time.”
PalacioMagazine.com sat down recently outside a Bixby Knolls coffee shop to interview Dave Williams. We discovered a sensitive, sometimes reticent human being who loves his music and opinions and wants to share them with the world.
More on Dave Williams
Dave Williams is a Long Beach Artist of many Disciplines–Jazz Trumpeter, Bandleader, Composer, and Writer. Dave leads three Long Beach bands: Funky Jazz Ensemble MajicBulletTheory (or MBT), Directed Improvisation Ensemble NotQuiteFree, and his Rhythm Agents, a Straight Ahead Jazz Trio.
Williams learned to play in Long Beach, teaches Trumpet, and lends his talents to the Community as often as possible. A graduate of Millikan High School, and a Veteran of the US Navy Submarine Force, Williams brings multi-faceted life experiences to his approach to his art and his dealings with people.
You can follow MBT ON Facebook HERE. Make friends with Dave Williams on Facebook HERE.
