Tony Williams - 19 Albums [FLAC]

Anthony Tillmon Williams (December 12, 1945 – February 23, 1997) was an American jazz drummer. Williams first gained fame as a member of Miles Davis' "Second Great Quintet," and later pioneered jazz fusion with Davis' group and his own combo, the Tony Williams Lifetime.In 1970, music critic Robert Christgau described him as "probably the best drummer in the world." Williams was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1986.

At 17 Williams gained attention by joining Miles Davis in what was later dubbed Davis's Second Great Quintet. Williams was a vital element of the group, called by Davis in his autobiography "the center that the group's sound revolved around."[8] His playing helped redefine the role of the jazz rhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation. Meanwhile, he recorded his first two albums as a leader for the Blue Note label, Life Time (1964) and Spring (1965). He also recorded as a sideman for the label including the classics Out to Lunch! with Eric Dolphy and Point of Departure with Andrew Hill, both in 1964.

In 1969 Williams formed the Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ.[5] Lifetime was a pioneering band of the fusion movement.

Their first album was Emergency!. For the Turn It Over album, the trio were joined by bass guitarist and vocalist Jack Bruce. After several more releases and touring, Lifetime disbanded. In 1975, Williams formed “The New Tony Williams Lifetime” featuring bassist Tony Newton, keyboardist Alan Pasqua and guitarist Allan Holdsworth, who recorded two albums for Columbia Records, Believe It and Million Dollar Legs.

In 1976, Williams reunited with his colleagues from the Miles Davis Quintet- saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter.[5] (Davis himself was in the midst of a six-year hiatus and was "replaced" by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.) [5] A record of their concert was later released as V.S.O.P (“Very Special One-time Performance”), the name under which the group toured and recorded for several years. [5][9]

In 1979, Williams, McLaughlin and bassist Jaco Pastorius united for a performance at the Havana Jazz Festival.[5] This trio came to be known as the Trio of Doom, and a recording of their performance (along with some studio tracks recorded in New York shortly thereafter) was released in 2007. Williams and Pastorius also played together on “Good Question” from the 1978 Herbie Hancock album Sunlight. Williams appears with the group Fuse One on their 1980 album.[10]

In 1985, he returned to Blue Note with the Foreign Intrigue album. Eventually Williams formed his own acoustic quintet with trumpeter Wallace Roney, saxophonist Bill Pierce, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Ira Coleman. The quintet played Williams's compositions almost exclusively, recording and touring extensively from 1986 to 1992, culminating in The Story of Neptune album