Tony Williams
Chicago-born and Boston-raised drumming legend Anthony Tillman "Tony" Williams III was recruited by Miles Davis when the young prodigy was only 17-years old. The power phenom was one of the first pieces Davis found to form his new "hard bop" band in the early 1960s--a band that, with the addition of bassist Ron Carter, keyboard phenom Herbie Hancock, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, would become known as Miles' "Second Great Quintet." Tony had has his start at 13-years old playing for Sam Rivers before being picked up by saxophonist Jackie MacLean when he was 16. This is where Miles first became aware of Tony; Jackie actually introducing Tony to Miles because he saw something special in Tony that he thought Miles would appreciate. Miles asked Tony to sit in with him for some sessions in New York City in May of 1963--the sessions that produced what would end up as three of the six songs on Columbia Records' July 15 release of Miles' Seven Steps to...